rm heart."

"Well, then, you come with me some place where we can talk; but," with
sudden cheerfulness, "let's have some ice-cream first. Don't you love
it? I ought to run a mile from the sight of it; and these fried potatoes
I've just been eatin' too. I've no business to look at 'em; but when I
come to town I just kick over the traces. I forget there is such a thing
as Graham bread and I just have one good time."

She laughed and the young girl regarded her wistfully.

"It's a pity you haven't any daughters," she said.

"I haven't even any husband," was the cheerful response, "and I never
shall have now, so why should I worry over my waistline? Queen Victoria
had one the same size and everybody respected _her_. Now I'm goin' to
order the ice-cream. That's my treat as a proof that you and I are
friends. My name is Upton. What's yours, my dear?"

"Melody."

"First or last?"

"Last. Geraldine Melody."

"It's a _nawful_ pretty name," declared Miss Upton impressively. "There
ain't any discord in melody. Now you take courage. Which'll you have?
Chocolate or strawberry?"

CHAPTER II

The Ogre

It proved that Miss Upton's new acquaintance had an appointment later at
a hotel near by, so thither they repaired when the ice-cream was
finished.

"Now tell me all about it," said Miss Mehitable encouragingly, when they
had found the vacant corner of a reception-room and sat down side by
side.

"I feel like holding on to you and not letting you go," said the girl,
looking about apprehensively.

"Are you afraid of the folks you're goin' to meet here? Is it another
job you're lookin' for? I can tell you right now," added Miss Mehitable
firmly, "that I'm goin' to stay and see what they look like if I lose
every train out to Keefe."

"You are so good," said the girl wistfully. "Are you always so kind to
strangers?"

"When they're a hundred times too pretty and as young as you are I am,"
returned Miss Upton promptly; "but this is my first experience. What
sort of position are you tryin' for now?"

"I don't know what to call it," replied Geraldine, with another
apprehensive look toward the door. "General utility, I hope." She looked
back at her companion. "When my father died, it left me alone in the
world; for my stepmother is the sort that lives in the fairy tales; not
the loving kind who are in real life. I know a girl who has the dearest
stepmother. I was fourteen years old when my father married again. M