was Miss Bell who said that.

"Why, Mary Bell!" replied Miss Bennet. "How glad I am to see you! And
what a surprise! You are the new nurse! And I never knew it. I'm just
starting out on such an interesting case! A young girl, the dearest
little thing, has escaped from the sanitarium, and I came out with the
carriage to hunt her up. We had word last night that an old
farmer--named Hobbs--had caught her. It may not be true, but I am
going out there to see. It's a lovely ride. Can you come?"

The girl who escaped! Tavia remembered Sarah's story.

"Miss Bennet, I have a message for you," said Sam, very slowly. "It
came in over the wire a half hour ago." And he handed her the yellow
slip of paper.

Miss Bennet looked at it.

"Oh, my!" she gasped. "My mother!" and she dropped upon a nearby
bench. "She--is--dying!"

Her face turned as white as the linen she wore. Instinctively Tavia
ran for the water at the corner of the room. Miss Bell snatched up a
paper and started to fan her.

"There, dear, don't faint," said the new nurse. "Of course, you must
go to her."

"But! I must go after the escaped girl!" gasped Miss Bennet, and she
again almost swooned. "Oh, my darling mother! All I have in the whole,
wide world!"

"You go to her. Take my coat and hat, and I will take your case.
Agent, what time does a train leave for Mountainview?" She had the
telegram in her hand.

"In just two minutes. There's the bell now."

"Come Laura, get into this coat and take my hat. You will reach home
before anything serious happens, and perhaps, when your dear mother
sees you----. We must hope for the best."

Laura Bennet slipped into her friend's coat and took the little Panama
hat that Miss Bell handed to her. "Then you will go after the girl and
return her to the sanitarium? It will be your first case. Can you
manage it?"

"Certainly I will. You run along for the train. Have you a ticket?
Mountainview," she called to Tavia.

Tavia stamped the ticket. Sam was inside, but she had it ready before
he had made his way to the window.

"And how shall I know the girl?" asked Miss Bell.

"Know her? Oh, yes! Why, you can't mistake her. She's the prettiest
little thing, with yellow hair and blue eyes--there is not another
like her. Oh, how frightened I am! It is so good of you, Mary!"

And she was on the train.

Miss Bell got into the wagon with the driver from the sanitarium.
Tavia was wishing that the drive had been in the other di