She was in no haste to move. Her thoughtful hostess had urged her not to hasten down in the morning. "We do not breakfast until nine, and not always then if the head of the house is absent; as he is now I am sorry to say. I have always wanted him to meet you. Dear Mrs. Dunlap, I may as well confess that I am awfully proud of my husband!" The sentence had closed with an apologetic laugh. What a transparent little lady her hostess was! She ought to be very happy, with a husband of whom she was "awfully" proud, a beautiful home crowded with all the luxuries that wealth could produce, and probably not a care in the world! Mary Dunlap could not resist a little sigh of pity for herself; she was a lonely woman. Her husband and home and child all gone from her. She, too, had been "proud" of her husband with abundant reason; and her beautiful girl. But her girl was safe. The terrors of this awful world could not touch her. She thought of "Daisy," and shuddered for the narrowness of her escape. Had she escaped? Would that wretch try to find her again? Perhaps she had not done her whole duty. She ought to have warned the mother. What were mothers about, to be so careless? But for that disabled engine, the child would have gone straight on her dangerous way! Very slowly at last she went about the business of dressing, enjoying luxuries of the toilet not found ordinarily in hotels or boarding houses, and reveling in costly trifles lavishly furnished. Even in the halls she came upon treasures of art to study over, and as she lingered before them, she told herself with a half wistful smile that she must have a care lest she become envious of Mrs. Oliver. Then she fell to moralizing. Was it probable that her hostess had her heart's desire in all things? It looked so. There were two daughters, she had heard, who were their mother's joy and pride also. Certainly the outward appearance of the home left nothing to wish for. In such an atmosphere it was hardly possible to avoid thinking of sharply contrasted lives. Not her own, though the contrast there was marked enough. Still, she lived a busy and, she believed, a useful life, and was happy in her work. But she knew women—many of them—to whom the word "happy" could not be applied; women with warped, stunted, yes—wrecked lives!