Momsey will be glad to have a
little girl around the house again. And Inez can go to school, and
grow to be good and polite. For, goodness knows! she _is_ a little
savage now."

Eventually these dreams of Nan for little Inez came true. Just at
present, however, much more material things happened to her when they
arrived at the Mason house.

Grace and Bess hung over the little girl, and fussed about her, as Walter
laughingly said, "like a couple of hens over one chicken."

Nan was glad to see her schoolmates so much interested in the waif. She
knew it would do both Grace and Bess good to have their charitable
emotions awakened.

As for Mrs. Mason, Nan soon saw that that kindly lady would be both
helpful and wise in the affair. Left to their own desires, Grace and
Bess would have dressed Inez up like a French doll. But Nan told Mrs.
Mason privately just what she hoped to do with the child, and the lady
heartily approved.

"A very good thing--very good, indeed, Nan Sherwood," said Mrs. Mason,
"if your father and mother approve."

As it chanced, there was a letter from Mrs. Sherwood awaiting Nan when
she and her schoolmates arrived with Inez; from it Nan learned that her
father would be in Chicago the next day, having been called to a final
conference with the heads of the automobile corporation.

"Mr. Bulson is so insistent, and is so ugly," the letter said, "that I
fear your dear father will have to go to court. It will be a great
expense as well as a notorious affair.

"Fighting an accusation that you cannot disprove is like Don Quixote's
old fight with the windmill. There is nothing to be gained in the end. It
is a dreadful, dreadful thing."

Nan determined to meet her father and tell him all about Inez. She
was sure he would be interested in the waif, and in her plans for
Inez's future.

That night, however, at the Mason house, there was much excitement among
the young people. Of course the girls got Katie, the maid, to help with
Inez. Katie would have done anything for Nan, if not for Grace herself;
and although she did not at first quite approve of the street waif, she
ended in loving Inez.

In the first place they bathed the child and wrapped her in a soft,
fleecy gown of Grace's. Her clothing, every stitch of it, was carried
gingerly down to the basement by Katie, and burned.

From the garments Mrs. Harley had sent a complete outfit for the child
was selected. They were probably the best garments I