"You surely do not think," the girl said, earnestly, "that I would jest on a subject so sacred?" "No, no," Al assured her, "but what ground have you for thinking that we may be related?" "No logical ground, perhaps," the actress replied; "but from the moment I first saw you--and I have seen you when you were not aware of my presence--I was strangely attracted to you. You may laugh at this, you may think it only the foolish fancy of a foolish girl, but it is true." "And I, too," said Al, thoughtfully, "have had the same feeling toward you. I remember I could think of nothing but your face all the way home on the night of your first performance in Boomville. Can it really be that you are my sister, restored to me in this strange way? If she is alive she must be about your age." "Tell me all you know about her," entreated the girl; "the circumstances under which she was lost--all. But no"--with sudden change of manner--"I will tell you my story first, if you will listen to it." "Go on, please, Miss March." "My first recollections are of a miserable home on the upper floor of a tenement house in New York. I lived with a hard-featured woman who called herself my aunt. Her name was Ann Thompson. Did you ever hear of her?" And Miss March gazed anxiously into the boy's face. Al shook his head. "Never!" "Aunt Ann, as I used to call her," went on the actress, "was always more or less under the influence of liquor. Gin was her favorite drink. She would work until she had money enough for a debauch, and then--but I cannot bear to recall my unhappy childhood." Miss March paused and turned away her face; her trembling voice showed the emotion she felt. "I can imagine it all," said Al, sympathetically. "Go on, please, and spare yourself unnecessary pain." "How kind you are!" the young girl said, gratefully. "I will, then, omit many details which I am sure would be as painful for you to hear as for me to relate. When under the influence of alcohol Aunt Ann was sometimes very cruel to me. She would beat and otherwise ill-treat me; and to-day I bear scars inflicted by her. But I bore all as patiently as I could, and for what reason, do you suppose?" "I should think you would have left her," said Al, as the actress paused. "I should have done so but for one thing." "And that was?"