p you from getting into such big trouble, I'd like to know?"

The blue eyes clouded with tears again.

"My father died five years ago," she said, "but I've always tried to do
as he would want to have me do. Only--this--I _couldn't_."

"H'm!" said Jane Carson. "Then he prob'ly wouldn't of wanted you to.
Suppose you take the rest of those togs off. I'll find you a warm
nightgown and we'll get to bed. It's turning cold here. They take the
heat off somewhere about six o'clock in the evening, and it gets like
ice up here sometimes."

Jane shivered and went to her small trunk, from which she produced a
coarse but clean flanellete nightgown, and Betty, who had never worn
anything but a dainty lingerie one before in all her life, crept into it
thankfully and cuddled down with a warm feeling that she had found a
real friend. It was curious why she did not shrink from this poor girl,
but she did not, and everything looked clean and nice. Besides, this was
a wonderful haven of refuge in her dire necessity.

CHAPTER III

MEANWHILE, in the stately mansion that Betty had called home, a small
regiment of servants hastened with the last tasks in preparation for the
guests that were soon expected to arrive. The great rooms had become a
dream of paradise, with silver rain and white lilies in a mist of soft
green depending from the high ceilings. In the midst of all, a fairy
bower of roses and tropical ferns created a nook of retirement where
everyone might catch a glimpse of the bride and groom from any angle in
any room. The spacious vistas stretched away from an equally spacious
hallway, where a wide and graceful staircase curved up to a low gallery,
smothered in flowers and palms and vines; and even so early the
musicians were taking their places and tuning their instruments. On the
floor above, where room after room shone in beauty, with costly
furnishings, and perfect harmonies, white-capped maids flitted about,
putting last touches to dressing tables and pausing to gossip as they
passed one another:

"Well, 'twill all be over soon," sighed one, a wan-faced girl with
discontented eyes. "Ain't it kind of a pity, all this fuss just for a
few minutes?"

"Yes, an' glad I'll be!" declared another, a fresh young Irish girl with
a faint, pretty brogue. "I don't like the look of my Lady Betty. A
pretty fuss Candace her old nurse would be makin' if she was here the
night! I guess the madam knew what she was about when she gi