s mornin'," replied
Edwin with a gasp, as if the information were wrung from him by
torture. "And she was with a awful fat woman. Leastways--"

"A fat woman!" cried Wollaston Lee. "Who was the fat woman?"

"I hadn't never saw her afore. She was awful fat, and was a steppin'
on her dress."

Wollaston was keen-witted, and he immediately grasped at the truth of
the matter.

"You idiot!" he said. "What makes you think she was with the stout
woman--just because she was climbing into the train after her?"

"Little girls don't never go to New York alone with dolls,"
vouchsafed Edwin, more idiotically than ever. "Leastways--"

"If you don't stop saying leastways, I'll punch your head," said
Wollaston. "Are you sure the child was Maria's little sister?"

"Looked like her," said Edwin, shrinking back a little. "Leastways--"

"What was she dressed in?" asked Maria, eagerly.

"I didn't see as she had nothin' on."

"You great gump!" said Gladys, shaking him energetically. "Of course
she had something on."

"She had a big doll."

"What did she have on? You answer me this minute!" said Gladys.

"She might have had on a blue dress," admitted Edwin, with a frantic
grasp at his memory, "but she didn't have nothin' on her, nohow.
Leastways--"

"Oh!" sobbed Maria, "she did wear her little blue dress this morning.
She did! Was her hair light?"

"Yes, it were," said Edwin, quite positively. "Leastways--"

"It was Evelyn," sobbed Maria. "Oh, poor little Evelyn, all alone in
New York! She never went but once with Her and me, and she wouldn't
know where to go. Oh, oh!"

"Where did she go when she went with your step-ma and you?" demanded
Gladys, who seemed to have suddenly developed unusual acumen. Her
face was streaming with tears but her voice was keen.

"She went to Her cousin's, who lives in an apartment in West
Forty-ninth Street," said Maria.

"She'd try to go there again," said Gladys. "Did she know the woman's
name?"

"Yes, she did."

"You bet she did. She was an awful bright kid," said Gladys. "Now, I
tell you what, Maria, I shouldn't a mite wonder if your step-ma had
had a telegram from her cousin by this time, that she was to her
house. You'd better jest run home an' see."

"She was only her third cousin," said Maria, "and She hardly ever
heard from her. It was only the other day I heard Her say that she
didn't know but she had left New York. I don't think Her cousin liked
her very well."

"What was th