As he bent over to fasten the suitcase again, Etta plucked at his coat sleeve to attract his attention. “Father,” she murmured, “I just saw two beautiful angels. They came here to see me.” Inside the closet, Kitty and Doris gripped each others’ hands nervously. They feared that Etta was about to expose them. What Henry would do if he found them hiding there, they dared not think. However, the man paid scant attention to what the crippled girl was saying. Impatiently he jerked away from her. “Stop that silly prattling,” he commanded. “I’m sick of it!” The girls were shocked at this cruel speech, but what followed left them even more stunned. “You might as well know it now as later,” Henry told Etta viciously. “We’re tired of looking after you night and day. All you’re good for is to eat and make up fancy fairy tales about angels and the like. This is a hard world and it’s time you learned its ways. Cora and I are going to git out of here pretty soon and, when we do, you can shift for yourself!” Etta stared at her father as though unable to comprehend what he had said. Then as it slowly dawned upon her that she was to be left to a cruel fate, a shudder convulsed her body. With a frightened cry, she caught Henry by the arm. “Oh, don’t leave me alone,” she begged piteously. “Don’t leave me to die!” “Let go!” Henry snarled, pushing her back upon the bed as she endeavored to sit up. “I tell you we’re through with you and it won’t do any good to be squawking about it!” Shoving the suitcase under the bed with his foot, he turned toward the door. Etta stretched out her thin little arms and entreated him to come back. Henry laughed harshly and slammed the door shut. Etta became almost hysterical in her grief. She wailed and sobbed and beat upon the pillow with her puny fists, but, if Henry heard, he was not in the least affected. Doris and Kitty could hear him hurrying down the stairs to the second floor. Satisfied that the coast was clear, they quickly came out of their hiding place. Filled with compassion for Etta, they rushed to her bedside. As the girl saw them, she tried to stifle her sobs. “There, dear,” Doris tried to comfort her, “don’t cry. We’ll see that no harm comes to you.” “You won’t let my father go away and leave me?” “Not unless you want him to,” Doris assured her gently. Under her breath she said to Kitty: “It would almost be better for her if he did leave.” “She couldn’t have any worse care,” Kitty agreed. As soon as they had quieted Etta and had made her more comfortable against the pillows, the girls cast an appraising glance about the room. The scene which they had just witnessed made them wonder anew what mischief Henry and Cora Sully were plotting. “They _are_ planning to get away from here,” Doris said to her chum in a low voice. “That suitcase under the bed was packed.” “And everything has been taken from the closet,” Kitty added. “There’s Cora’s suitcase back of that couch.”