then quietly opening the door of the room where Madam Beck was sleeping,
placed her lips close to her ear, and whispered her name. Madam Beck
woke up in some alarm when she saw Elizabeth standing before her fully
dressed, and apparently prepared for a journey.

"Madam Beck," Elizabeth said, quietly, "I am going to confide something
to you, and ask for your advice and assistance. Your step-son has asked
me to be his wife. It was last Sunday--and I said yes; but now I have
changed my mind, and am going back to my aunt, or farther away still, if
you can tell me how; for I am afraid he will follow me."

Madam Beck stared at her in mute amazement, and at first put on an
incredulous and rather scornful expression; but as she came to feel that
it might all be true, she raised herself involuntarily higher up in the
bed.

"But--why do you come with this now, particularly in the middle of the
night?" she said, with a suspicious and searching look.

"Because he has written to his father about it to-day, and means to tell
you and the rest to-morrow."

"So--he has already written? That was his object, then, in bringing you
into the house here," Madam Beck added, after a pause, with some
bitterness.

It seemed to strike her then that there was something noble in
Elizabeth's conduct; and looking at her more kindly, she said--

"Yes, you are right. It is best for you to go away--to some place where