dn't s'pose they did. Them young
men, I b'lieve, was at the bottom of it, and I or'to have told Miss
Smith to send her thanks to them, but I wasn't quite sure about the sea
chair. So I let it slide, thinkin' it was a good joke on 'em to thank
Amy. They pretended the things was from her."

Taking the cloak from the girl, she carried it into the room where
Eloise had fallen asleep, with her foot resting upon a hassock, and a
shawl thrown over it. Removing the shawl and putting the red cloak in
its place, Mrs. Biggs stole noiselessly out, saying to herself, "I guess
she'll wonder where that came from when she wakes up."

CHAPTER III

ELOISE AT THE CROMPTON HOUSE

For an hour or more Eloise slept on, and then awoke suddenly and saw the
scarlet cloak across her foot. At first it was the color which attracted
her. Then taking it in her hands she began to examine it, while drops of
sweat came out upon her forehead and under her hair. She knew that
cloak! She had worn it many and many a time when she was a child. She
had seen her mother fold and pack it far more carefully, when they were
starting on a starring tour, than she did the fine dresses she wore on
the stage.

"It is my mother's, but how came it here?" she thought, as she took it
into the kitchen where she heard Mrs. Biggs at her work. "Where did you
get my mother's cloak?" she asked.

Mrs. Biggs, who always washed on Saturdays, had just put Tim's shirt
through the wringer. Holding it at arm's length with one hand and
steadying herself on the side of the tub with the other, she stared
blankly at Eloise for a moment, and then said, "Your mother's cloak!
Child alive, that's Mrs. Amy's. I've seen her wear it a hundred times
when she was a little girl. She has got on a spell of givin' this
mornin', and sent it to you by Sarah. She's kep' it well all these
years. What ails you?" she continued, as Eloise's face grew as white as
the clothes in Mrs. Biggs's basket.

Ray after ray of light was penetrating her mind, making her wonder she
had not seen it before, and bringing a possibility which made her brain
reel for a moment.

"Sit down," Mrs. Biggs continued, "and tell me why you think this is
your mother's cloak."

"I know it is," Eloise answered. "I have worn it so many times, and once
I tore a long rent in the lining and mother darned it. It is
here,--see!"

She showed the place in the silk lining where a tear had been and was
mended.

"For the Lord'