because it would give me something for my
mother, whom I hoped to bring home before long. And now, I don't know
where she is, but I must find her. Oh, what shall I do?"

It was not often that Eloise talked of herself and her affairs. At
school in Mayville she had been very reticent with regard to her past,
and had seldom mentioned either her father or her mother. With Mrs.
Biggs she had been equally silent, and, try as she would, the good woman
had never been able to learn anything beyond what Eloise had first told
her,--that her father was dead and her mother in California;--in a
sanitarium, Mrs. Biggs had finally decided, and let the matter drop,
thinking she should some time know "if there was anything to know." Ruby
Ann had from the first seemed to Eloise like one to be trusted, and she
felt a relief in talking to her, and said more than she had at first
intended to say.

For a moment Ruby was silent, while Eloise's head lay on her arm and
Eloise's hand was holding hers. She was thinking of the piano she
wanted to buy, the money for which was in the Crompton bank. There was a
struggle in her mind, and then she said, "I can loan you the money. I
know you will pay it back if you live, and if you don't, no matter. I
will not call it a loss if it does you any good."

At first Eloise demurred, longing to accept the generous offer, and
fearing that she ought not. But Ruby overcame her scruples.

"Naturally I shall keep your place in school, so I owe you something for
the business, don't you see?" she said.

Eloise did not quite see, but she yielded at last, for her need was
great.

"I don't think I'd tell Mrs. Biggs all the sad story, unless you want
the whole town to know it. Tell her you have had bad news from your
mother, and are going to her," Ruby suggested, when at last she said
good-night and went out, just as Mrs. Biggs came in.

"Goin' away! Goin' to Californy! Your mother sick! What's the matter,
and how under the sun are you goin' alone, limpin' as you do? I knew
Ruby Ann would manage to keep the school if she once got it!" were some
of Mrs. Biggs's exclamations when told Eloise was to leave her.

Eloise parried her questions very skilfully, saying nothing except that
her mother needed her and she was going to her, and Mrs. Biggs left her
more mystified than she had ever been in her life, but resolved "to get
at the bottom if she lived."

That night Eloise, who was now sleeping in the chamber to whic