ag.

"This young lady is going home with us, Adelaide," said Miss Blair.

"Yes, ma'am," replied the maid, without the slightest surprise.

She took Maria's coat from the hook where it swung, and brushed it
also, and assisted her to put it on before the porter entered the car.

Maria felt again in a daze, but a great sense of security was over
her. She had not the slightest doubt of this strange little creature
who was befriending her. She felt like one who finds a ledge of
safety on a precipice where he had feared a sheer descent. She was
content to rest awhile on the safe footing, even if it were only
transient.

When they alighted from the train at the station a man in livery met
them and assisted Miss Blair down the steps with obsequiousness.

"How do you do, James?" said Miss Blair, then went on to ask the man
what horses were in the carriage.

"The bays, Miss Blair," replied the man, respectfully.

"I am glad of that," said his mistress, as she went along the
platform. "I was afraid Alexander might make a mistake and put in
those new grays. I don't like to drive with them at night very well."
Then she said to Maria: "I am very nervous about horses, Miss Ackley.
You may wonder at it. You may think I have reached the worst and
ought to fear nothing, but there are worsts beyond worsts."

"Yes," Maria replied, vaguely. She kept close to Miss Blair. She
realized what an agony of fear she should have felt in that murky
station with the lights burning dimly through the smoke and the
strange sights and outcries all around her.

Miss Blair's carriage was waiting, and Maria saw,
half-comprehendingly, that it was very luxurious indeed. She entered
with Miss Blair and her maid, then after a little wait for baggage
they drove away.

When the carriage stopped, the footman assisted Maria out after Miss
Blair, and she followed her conductress's tiny figure toiling rather
painfully on the arm of her maid up the steps. She entered the house,
and stood for a second fairly bewildered.

Maria had seen many interiors of moderate luxury, but never anything
like this. For a second her attention was distracted from everything
except the wonderful bizarre splendor in which she found herself. It
was not Western magnificence, but Oriental; hangings of the richest
Eastern stuffs, rugs, and dark gleams of bronzes and dull lights of
brass, and the sheen of silken embroideries.

When Maria at last recovered herself and turned to M