faint and it took Edith and the
maid quite some time to restore her to consciousness. She became
distracted. She floundered about pitifully, not knowing what to do,
what decision to reach. She tried to conceal the matter from the
father, but he saw that there was something wrong and it didn't take
him long to worm the truth out of her. As the mother on learning the
tragic truth had taken refuge in a dead faint, so he took refuge in a
Berserker rage. He fumed and stormed and was in danger of an
apoplectic stroke. He wanted to strike the daughter, but the mother
interfered. He then ordered Edith to get out of the house and never to
cross his threshold again. Edith looked at him to see if he meant it;
the mother tried to intercede; but he was inflexible, and demanded
that she leave at once. Edith began to gather a few of her belongings,
the tears silently rolling down her face.

And here a sudden change came over the father. Some men (and women)
are crushed by small misfortunes; real catastrophes awaken their
finer qualities, which lay dormant within them and which might have
remained dormant within them forever. In these few minutes he seems to
have undergone a complete metamorphosis. He went up to Edith, took her
in his arms, kissed her, told her to stay, to calm down and they would
see what could be done. In a few days she was taken over to a
physician who performed an abortion. She was a pretty sick girl for
about six weeks, and at one time there was danger of blood poisoning
setting in. But she recovered. And she was a different girl. She had
shed her frivolity and lightheartedness like an old garment. She took
her last year in high school over again, entered Barnard, from which
she was graduated among the very first, and soon began to teach in
that very high school in which she had been a pupil. One of the
teachers fell in love with her and she fell in love with him. He asked
her to marry him. She wanted no skeleton from the past coming down
rattling its bones and marring their married life, and she told him of
the unfortunate incident. A good test, by the way, to find out a man's
real love and breadth of character. Fortunately the man's love was a
true love, not merely passion, and he was truly broadminded, which is
not a very common thing among school-teachers. Their married life is
an uncloudedly happy one. And the relation between the daughter and
the parents is one of sincere love and deep mutual respect.

Is