oughtfully on
one side. Betty in her note about the wedding had said she was going to
be married to Bessemer. But Bessemer didn't sound like a bridegroom. Had
Bessemer run away then, or what? But some things looked queer. She
remembered that Aileen had spoken as if Herbert was the bridegroom, but
she had taken it for a mere slip of the tongue and thought nothing of
it. When Aileen next came that way, she asked her if she happened to
have got hold of one of the invitations, and Aileen, with her finger on
her lips, nodded, and presently returned with something under her apron:

"I slipped it from the waste-basket," she said, "and Miss Betty got a
holt of it, and there was a tremenjus fuss about something, I couldn't
make out what; but I heard the missus say it was all a mistake as she
gave the order over the 'phone, and she must have misspoke herself, but
anyhow she thought she'd destroyed them all and given a rush order and
they would be all right and sent out in plenty of time. So she sticks
this back in the waste-basket and orders me to take the basket down and
burn it, but I keeps this out and hides it well. I couldn't see nothin'
the matter with it, can you?"

"There's _all_ the matter with it!" declared the angry nurse as she
glared at the name of Herbert Hutton thoughtfully, and read between the
lines more than she cared to tell.

CHAPTER IV

NOT two miles away, Betty lay safe and warm in the flanellette
nightgown, and watched Jane Carson turn out the light and open the
window. A light leaped up from the street and made a friendly spot of
brightness on the opposite wall, and Betty had a sense of cosiness that
she had not felt since she was in boarding school with a roommate.

"Now," said Jane, climbing into bed and pulling up the covers carefully
lest she should let the cold in on her guest, "let's hear!--You warm
enough?"

There was a curious tenderness in her voice as if she had brought home a
young princess and must guard her carefully.

"Oh, perfectly!" said Betty, giving a little nervous shiver. "And I'm so
glad to be here safe away from them all! Oh, I've needed some one to
advise with _so_ much! I haven't had a soul since they sent my old nurse
away because she dared to take my part sometimes."

Suddenly Betty buried her face in the pillow and began to sob and Jane
reached out quick gentle arms and gathered her in a close comforting
embrace. In a moment more Betty had gained control of herse