nditions of her limited
environment had induced her to countenance a most dastardly and
despicable act. It speaks well for the innate goodness of this girl that
she at last actually rebelled and resolved to undo, insofar as she was
able, the wrong that had been accomplished.

For four days she suffered tortures of remorse. On the morning of the
fifth day she firmly decided to act. Regardless of who might be
watching, or of any unpleasant consequences to herself, she quietly left
the house, unattended, and started directly for the East Orange mansion.

CHAPTER XX

A TELEPHONE CALL

Still another laggard awoke to action on this eventful Tuesday morning.

Madame Cerise had been growing more and more morose and dissatisfied day
by day. Her grievance was very tangible. A young girl had been brought
forcibly to the house and placed in her care to be treated as a
prisoner. From that time the perpetrators of the deed had left the woman
to her own resources, never communicating with her in any way.

During a long life of servitude Madame Cerise had acquiesced in many
things that her own conscience did not approve of, for she considered
herself a mere instrument to be used at will by the people who employed
and paid her. But her enforced solitude as caretaker of the lonely house
at East Orange had given her ample time to think, and her views had
lately undergone a decided change.

To become the jailer of a young, pretty and innocent girl was the most
severe trial her faithfulness to her employers had ever compelled her to
undergo, and the woman deeply resented the doubtful position in which
she had been placed.

However, the chances were that Madame Cerise might have obeyed her
orders to the letter had not so long a period of waiting ensued. During
these days she was constantly thrown in the society of Louise, which had
a tendency to make her still more rebellious. The girl clung to Cerise
in her helplessness and despair, and constantly implored her to set her
free. This, indeed, the Frenchwoman might have done long ago had she not
suspected such an act might cause great embarrassment to Diana Von Taer,
whom she had held on her knee as an infant and sought to protect with
loyal affection.

It was hard, though, to hear the pitiful appeals of the imprisoned girl,
and to realize how great was the wrong that was being done her. The old
woman was forced to set her jaws firmly and turn deaf ears to the
pleadings in o