liked them. There is absolutely nothing known to point to the fact
that she was any different from thousands of girls in that
respect. She was vivacious, full of fun and life, a girl any
fellow would have been more than proud to take to a dance. She was
ambitious, I suppose, but nothing more."

"Betty was not a bad girl," asserted Mrs. Blackwell vehemently.
"She was a good girl. I don't believe there was much, in fact
anything important, on which she did not make me her confidante.
Yes, she was ambitious. So am I. I have always hoped that Betty
would bring our family--her younger sister--back to the station
where we were before the panic wiped out our fortune and killed my
husband. That is all."

"Yes," added Carton, "nothing at all is known that would make one
think that she was what young men call a 'good fellow' with them."

Kennedy looked up, but said nothing. I thought I could read the
unspoken word on his lips, as he glanced from Carton to Mrs.
Blackwell, "known."

She had risen and was facing us.

"Is there no one in all this great city," appealed the distracted
little woman with outstretched arms, "who can find my daughter? Is
it possible that a girl can disappear in broad daylight in the
streets and never be heard of again? Oh, won't you find her? Tell
me she is safe--that she is still the little girl I---"

Her voice failed and she was crying softly in her lace