Claire, knowin' how much store I set by her, an' how I'd prize her
picture, she give me the locket, as you see it."

"You say Grand Rapids?--the young lady, Miss Claire, as you call her,
lives in Grand Rapids?"

"Yes, sir."

"I suppose you think I am very inquisitive, asking so many questions,
but the fact is, I am extremely interested. You will see why, when I
explain that several weeks ago, one day downtown, I saw a little girl--a
young lady--who might have been the original of this very picture, the
resemblance is so marked. But, of course, if your young lady lives in
Grand Rapids, she can't be my little girl--I should say, the young woman
I saw here in New York City. But if they were one and the same, they
couldn't look more alike. The only difference I can see, is that the
original of your picture is evidently a prosperous 'little sister of the
rich,' and the original of mine--the one I've carried in my mind--is a
breadwinner. She was employed in an office where I had occasion to go
one day on business. The next time I happened to drop in there--a few
days later--she was gone. I was sorry. That office was no place for her,
but I would have been glad to find her there, that I might have placed
her somewhere else, in a safer, better position. I hope she has come to
no harm."

Martha hung fire a moment. Then, suddenly, her chin went up, as with the
impulse of a new resolve.

"I'll be open an' aboveboard with you, sir," she said candidly. "The
world is certaintly small, an' the way things happen is a caution. Now,