t. As they started up
the steps, what should they stumble over but the half-frozen form of the
young girl!

Then, there was a great deal of acting, not badly done at all, thought
David, who had had more experience in these matters than his friends.
The bride refused to go on with the ceremony until the poor little thing
was taken care of. The groom would brook no delay, for, oh, perfidy, he
had recognized in the still figure his own child by a former wife
deserted years before.

Slowly the forsaken girl regained consciousness, lifted her head from
the steps, threw back her shawl, and----

"Heavens and earth, it's Anne herself!" exclaimed Grace.

It was Anne. They were so startled and amazed they nearly tumbled off
their seats.

"As I live, it is Anne, and acting beautifully!" whispered David.

"Where did she learn how?" demanded Jessica. "Strange she never told
it."

But they were too interested to reply, for the action of the play was
excellent and the interest held until the curtain rang down on the first
act.

"No wonder he wants to keep her with him," ejaculated David when the
lights went up. "She is the star performer in the show."

"She is wonderful," declared Grace. "To think that little, brown, quiet
thing could be so talented! I always imagined acting was the hardest
thing in the world to do, but it seems as though she had always been on
the stage."

"Are we still going to try to save her?" asked Nora.

"Of course," replied David. "She doesn't want to act. Didn't you hear
her say so that night? She wants to go to school."

"But it seems a pity, somehow, when she is so talented."

"She's just as talented in her studies," said Grace, "and I've often
heard that stage life is very hard. No, no! I intend to do my best to
get Anne away this very night, if it upsets the entire town of Oakdale."

When the second act was over, and Anne had actually so moved her
audience that one old farmer was audibly sobbing into a red cotton
handkerchief, and the girls themselves were secretly wiping their eyes,
Grace whispered to David:

"I'm going to write a note, if you'll lend me a pencil and a slip of
paper, and wrap it around the stem of this chrysanthemum. When Anne
appears in the next act, you go up in the box, and if she's alone an
instant pitch it to her. Then she will know what she's to do."

"But what is she to do?" demanded the others.

"I won't tell," persisted Grace. "You'll object, if I do."

"A