Gently Doris stroked the little hand and pushed the tangled hair from her face. “We aren’t angels,” she said kindly. “We’re just girls and very human ones at that.” “Girls?” Etta echoed blankly. The word had no significance to her. All her life she had been shut away having been associated entirely with her parents and the Misses Gates. Her bed was not even by the window. Consequently, she had never been able to look down upon the street where children played. “Don’t you get lonesome here all by yourself?” Doris asked the girl. Etta nodded. “Sometimes it seems as though I can’t stand it.” “Perhaps we can arrange to take you downstairs some afternoon,” suggested Kitty hopefully. “But I cannot walk!” Tears came into the sad eyes of Etta. “Oh, don’t cry, dearie,” soothed Doris. “We easily could manage to take you down.” “It would be fun, Etta.” “And we have the cutest little dog we found. We call him Wags because he is so good-natured and wags his tail so much.” Etta’s tears were gone, almost instantly, as this new world of cheer was opened to her by the girls. “We’ll be your guardian angels. Would you be willing to have us come and help while away the lonesome hours?” There was no time for further questions, for suddenly Doris and Kitty heard footsteps on the stairway. Some one was coming! “We’ll be caught!” Kitty whispered, starting quickly toward the door. Doris caught her by the hand. “We can’t make it! We must hide!” Frantically, the girls looked about the room. They felt that they were trapped. “The closet,” Doris hissed. As they moved on tiptoe toward it, Etta held out her hands toward them. “Don’t go away,” she begged, almost tearfully. “Sh!” Doris warned. “Just be patient and your ‘angels’ will come back to see you again.” With that she closed the door of the closet and the two girls crouched against the wall. “She’ll be almost certain to give us away,” Kitty whispered fearfully. “What a mess we’re in now! Fancy trying to explain our way out of it!” CHAPTER XXII A NARROW ESCAPE Scarcely daring to breathe naturally lest they be discovered, Doris and Kitty crouched in the dark closet. In their haste to hide they had left the door a trifle ajar and though this added to the risk of being detected, it was too late to close it tightly. Already they could hear some one in the outer sitting room and a moment later the bedroom door was thrown open. Henry Sully came in. He seemed strangely excited and was out of breath from hurrying up the stairs so rapidly. Peeping out through the crack of the door, the girls saw that he was carrying two long, fat envelopes in his hand. Rushing across the room, with scarcely a glance directed at Etta, Henry pulled a heavy suitcase from under the bed. Opening it, he placed the two envelopes carefully in the bottom and folded clothing over them. “Thought we never would find ’em,” the girls heard him mutter.