“‘I’ll tell you what I’ve thought of Estelle,’ Nellie answered, gravely. ‘It seems a dreadful thing to do—heartless, dishonorable, and everything else that is bad—and yet I see no alternative. We _must_ manage some way to keep your money—at least, so long as mamma lives: _we must not let her suffer_, though I’d work my fingers to the bone rather than do such a thing for my own sake. William Mapleson does not need your fortune; he has enough already. Robert Dale, that miserable old miser, would only ‘hide it in a napkin,’ if _he_ were to get it. So we may as well have the benefit of it, at least until Charlie is able to do something for you. Now for my plan. You have had a long illness; you are drooping, failing; you need, _must_ have, a change. Mamma is quite comfortable just now, and, with the nurse to attend her, does not really need any one else. But that she may not feel lonely without us, we will send for her old friend, Miss Willford, to come for a long visit, and then _we_ will go off on a trip for your benefit.’ “‘Oh, Nell, will _you_ go with me?’ I sobbed, in a burst of relief and gratitude. “‘Indeed I shall. You did not suppose I would send you off alone, I hope,’ she answered, and then she further unfolded her plan. “We would pretend that we _both_ needed a change, after the confinement of the last few months. No one would then suspect any secret reason for our going. We would travel a while, keeping as secluded as possible, and finally go to some large city—Boston we finally decided upon, as we had never been there, and knew not a soul living there—where we would remain until after the birth of my child. Then we would give it into the care of some one, paying well for it, until my husband was in a position to claim me; and then, as soon as I had regained my strength, we would return home, and no one would be the wiser for what had occurred. “This plan gave me new courage. All my former energy returned, and I immediately began my arrangements for my proposed trip. Mamma and her nurse both favored it, and Miss Willford was sent for. I wrote my husband of our plans—or as much regarding them as we told anybody—telling him how to address his letters; and then Nellie and I went away, without exciting the suspicion of any one regarding our real object. We went first to Philadelphia, where we remained in secluded lodgings for a few weeks, giving our names as ‘Mrs. Marston and maid, Nellie Durham’—Nellie preferring to act in that capacity. Then we proceeded to New York, where we stopped a while, finally going on to Boston, where my little girl was born.”