"Oh!" she interrupted, "I'm so glad you were there! What would Daisy have done if you had not been. She is so unused to traveling alone!" Mary Dunlap went on to tell of the apparent argument between the two in front of her, the discomfort on the face of the girl, and her own continued wonder that such a girl should apparently be married to a man so much older, and of such a type. The mother gave a little gasp of dismay as she realized that this fine Christian woman had actually thought her daughter was married to that man! But it was only the dismay she had felt before at the horrible thought of him, and the old resentment at the idea of his presuming to be intimate with her girl. Not until the story progressed to the point where Mrs. Dunlap stood before the hotel desk writing her own name in the registry and noted the names on the line just above her own, "R. H. Keller and wife," did the mother grasp the full meaning of it all. Then she leaned forward with a quick little motion and caught at both the firm capable hands of her visitor, crying: "Oh, Mrs. Dunlap! You don't mean it! You can't mean that he dared do a thing like that! The wretch! The—the—beast!" Her eyes were full of tears again. She could not seem to be able to get words strong enough to express her horror and disgust. "But of course my Daisy didn't know that!" she said lifting up her head with a gleam of hope, though there was a sob in the end of her voice. "Not until I told her, some time afterwards," said Mary Dunlap. "You told her! She knows! And yet she could tell me to-day that she loves him! Oh! What shall I do?" "Wait, dear Mrs. Sheldon," said Mrs. Dunlap putting a detaining hand on the drooping shoulder. "Love is a strange thing. It throws illusions over the object that turn it into something entirely different. You must remember that. Don't blame Daisy too much. She explained to me at once after her first startled look, that of course he had done that to protect her reputation, since they had been delayed and all their plans upset. She said that they had expected to reach San Fergus at midnight, and that a minister friend of Mr. Keller's was to have met the train and performed the marriage ceremony. She said that Mr. Keller had telegraphed ahead for the bridal suite to be reserved for them in the San Fergus hotel." "My Daisy told you that!"