ent back to him he would kill me," the girl sobbed. "Oh! do not
send me back, Mr. Varrick. Let me stay here where you are.

"You are the only being in the whole wide world who has ever spoken
kindly to me. I can do quite as much for you as I did for my uncle. I
can mend your clothes, see about your meals, and read the papers to you,
and--"

"Hush, child!" said Varrick. "Don't say any more. It is plain to me that
you can not be sent back to your uncle. I will see what can be done for
you. You shall be my _protegee_ for the present."

"How young and sweet and fair and innocent the girl is!" he told
himself.

Placing the girl in the housekeeper's charge, he had a long consultation
with Doctor Roberts.

"If you will allow me to make a suggestion," returned the doctor, "I
would say, send Jessie Bain to school for a year, if you are inclined to
be philanthropic. She is a wild, beautiful, thoughtless child, and it
has often occurred to me that her education must be very limited."

"That will be the very thing," returned Varrick. "I wonder that this
solution did not occur to me before. I am going away to-day," he added,
"and wonder if I could get you to attend to the matter for me, doctor?"

"I will do so with pleasure," returned Doctor Roberts. "In fact, I know
the very institution that would be most suitable. It's a private
boarding-school for young ladies, patronized by the _elite_, and I feel
assured that Professor Graham will take the greatest possible pains with
this pretty, neglected girl, who will be heir only to the education she
gets there, and her youth and strength with which to face the battle of
life."

When the result of this conference was told to Jessie Bain, she sobbed
as if her heart would break.

"I don't want to leave you, Mr. Varrick!" she cried, "indeed I don't.
Let me go home with you. I am sure your mother will like me. I will be
so good to her."

It was explained to her that this could not be. They could scarcely
pacify her. It touched Hubert Varrick deeply to see how she clung to
him.

He parted with her in the doctor's home, whence she had been taken,
leaving his address with her, with the admonition that she should write
to him every week, and tell him how she was progressing with her
studies; and if she wanted anything she was to be sure to let him know.

He went back to the hotel to bid good-bye to Mrs. Northrup; but somehow
he could not bring himself to say one word to her about Je