y-bred girl Lizzie's room seemed a luxurious one in
the glow of the pink-shaded lamp on the center-table. The imitation
damask curtains at the windows had a costly look, and the wide bed with
its silk-lined lace covering and great puffy pillows seemed a thing of
royal comfort. On the air a mixture of several perfumes floated. While
Tilly stood in the doorway, holding her lamp, Lizzie went to a wardrobe,
pulled down a long cardboard box, and began to take out some folded
garments. Suddenly she turned her back to Tilly, and with a gown of fine
linen in her hands she hastily proceeded to remove the pink ribbons and
bows from the neck and sleeves.

"It is too gaudy for you, with all these gewgaws on it," she awkwardly
explained, when she noticed that Tilly was watching her. "It is not what
you'd prefer, I'm sure; but maybe you can make it do for once. It has
never been worn. It is just from the store. Here, you can see the
price-tag on it."

Tilly took it, was deeply touched, and bent and kissed Lizzie on the
brow. "Good night, mother," she said, simply. "Try to sleep. I can see
that you need rest. We are both in a sad plight, aren't we?"

"'Mother'! she called me 'mother'!" Lizzie said to herself, as Tilly
turned away. She heard the door of John's room being closed, and,
peering out into the corridor, she saw that it was dark save for a
thread of light beneath the shutter. Then Lizzie, with a strange sense
of something new and hitherto unexperienced in her drab life, started to
prepare for bed. She had removed the pins from her hair and was about to
let it fall, when all at once she paused, reflected for a moment, and
then wound her hair up again.

"No, no, I mustn't go to bed," she said. "That would never do. The sweet
child is in my care, and nothing shall happen to shock her or prevent
her from sleeping. Somebody might come--who knows? Some one too drunk to
be decent or orderly."

Therewith, Lizzie got a light shawl, threw it over her shoulders, blew
out her lamp, and crept down the stairs. Seating herself at an open
window of the parlor, whence she could see the gate and a part of the
street leading townward, she determined to remain on guard through the
night.

Ten o'clock came and passed, eleven, twelve, one, and still she had no
desire for sleep. She had decided how she would act if she saw any one
approaching the isolated house. She would hurry out, meet the person
before he reached the gate, and, if possibl