.'

"I shall never forget the light that came into Daddy's eyes as he
stopped and turned on her. 'What Rufus Carder has done for me is what
the icy sidewalk does for the man who trips,' he answered. My stepmother
shrugged her shoulders. 'That was your own weakness, then,' she said. 'I
think a more appropriate simile for Rufus would be the bridge that
carried you over!' Her voice was so cold and contemptuous! Daddy came to
me and there was despair in his face. He put his hand on my shoulder
while she went on talking: 'Many times since the day that Rufus saw
Geraldine in the park,' she said, 'he has told me they would be glad to
have her come out to the farm and live with them. I think you ought to
send her. She isn't needed here and they really do need somebody.' The
desperate look in my father's face wrung my heart. He did not look at my
stepmother nor answer her; but just gazed into my eyes and said over and
over softly, 'Forgive me, Gerrie. Forgive me.' I took his hands in mine
and told him I had nothing to forgive." The young girl choked.

When she could go on she spoke again: "A couple of days after that he
died. My stepmother was angry because he left no life insurance, and she
talked to me again about going to work, and again brought up the subject
of the Carder farm. She tried to flatter me by talking of her cousin's
admiration of me the day he saw me in the park. I told her I could not
bear to go to people who had not been kind to my father, and she replied
that what Daddy had said that day must have been caused by his illness,
for Rufus Carder had befriended him times without number."

The girl lifted her appealing eyes to Miss Upton's face as she
continued: "Of course I knew that my dear father had been weak and I
couldn't contradict her; so after trying and failing, trying and failing
many times, as I've told you, I came to feel that the farm might be the
right place for me after all. Work is the only thing I'm not afraid of
now. It must be a forlorn place if they need help and can't get it. I
think they said he and his mother live alone, but I shan't care how
forlorn it is if only Mrs. Carder is like--like--you, for instance!" The
girl laid her hand impulsively on her companion's knee.

At that moment a man appeared in the wide doorway to the reception-room
and looked about uncertainly. Instantly Miss Upton recognized the long,
weather-beaten face, the straggling hair, the half-open mouth, and the
reveali