ly funny that it
should have happened so. What did you think had become of me?"

"I supposed you had gone off to whatever place you wanted to go to,"
said Lodloe.

She looked at him in amazement.

"Do you mean to say," she exclaimed, "that you thought I wanted to get
rid of my baby, and to palm him off on you--an utter stranger?"

"That is exactly what I thought," he answered. "Of course, people who
want to get rid of babies don't palm them off on friends and
acquaintances. I am very sorry if I misjudged you, but I think you will
admit that, under the circumstances, my supposition was a very natural
one."

"Tell me one more thing," she said; "what did you intend to do with this
child?"

"I intended to bring it up as my own," said Lodloe; "I had already
formed plans for its education."

The lady looked at him in speechless amazement. If she had known him she
would have burst out laughing.

"The way of it was this," she said presently. "I ran off the steamboat
to look for my nurse-maid, and if I hadn't thought of first searching
through the other parts of the boat to see if she was on board I should
have had plenty of time. I found her waiting for me at the entrance of
the pier, and when I ran towards her all she had to say was that she had
made up her mind not to go into the country. I was so excited, and so
angry at her for playing such a trick on me at the last moment, that I
forgot how time was passing, and that is why I was left behind. But it
never entered my mind that any one would think that I intended to desert
my baby, and I didn't feel afraid either that he wouldn't be taken care
of. I had seen ever so many women on board, and some with babies of
their own, and I did not doubt that some of these would take charge of
him.

"As soon as I saw that the steamboat had gone, I jumped into a cab, and
went to the West Bank Railroad, and took the first train for Scurry,
where I knew the steamboat stopped. The ticket agent told me he thought
the train would get there about forty minutes before the boat; but it
didn't, and I had to run every inch of the way from the station to the
wharf, and then barely got there in time."

"You managed matters very well," said Lodloe.

"I should have managed better," said she, "if I had taken my baby ashore
with me. In that case, I should have remained in the city until I
secured another maid. But why did you trouble yourself with the child,
especially when he cried?"

"M