"It could not be true; of course not, but it is shocking that Sophie should even have imagined such awful things! It all came of Roma being cross and impatient with her, and making a bad impression on her mind. Now, if this young sewing girl should consent to serve Roma, I shall make it a point to see that she is not ill-used," she thought, as her handsome carriage stopped at Liane's humble home, and the footman opened the door and helped her out. She swept up the narrow walk to the door, an imposing figure, thinking compassionately: "What a wretched abode! It will be a pleasing change to Liane Lester if the girl will consent to come to Cliffdene." She tapped on the open door, but no one replied, though she saw the old woman's figure moving about in the room beyond. "She is deaf and cannot hear me. I will just step in," she thought, suiting the action to the word. Granny was sweeping up the floor, but she turned with a start, dropping her broom as a soft hand touched her shoulder, and, confronting the beautiful intruder, asked: "Who are you? What do you want?" Mrs. Clarke smiled, as she replied: "I am Mrs. Clarke, of Cliffdene. I wish to see Liane Lester." "Liane's down to her work at Miss Bray's, ma'am, but you can tell me your business with her. I'm her grandmother," snarled granny crossly. "My daughter Roma has lost her maid; she wishes to offer Liane the vacant place, with your approval. She will have a pleasant home, and much better wages than are paid to her by Miss Bray for sewing." Mrs. Clarke had never seen Liane Lester, but she felt a deep sympathy for her from what she had heard, and was strangely eager to have her come to Cliffdene. So she waited impatiently for granny's reply, and as she studied the homely figure before her, a sudden light beamed in her eyes, and she exclaimed: "How strange! I recognize you all at once as the woman who nursed me when my daughter Roma was born. You have changed, but yet your features are quite familiar. Oh, how you bring back that awful time to me! Do you remember how my child was stolen, and that I would have died of a broken heart, only that she was restored to me almost at the last moment, when my life was so quickly ebbing away?" The quick tears of memory started to the lady's eyes, but granny's fairly glared at her as she muttered: "You are mistaken!" "Oh, no, I cannot be! I recall you perfectly," declared Mrs. Clarke, who had an astonishing memory for faces. "I never saw you before in my whole life! I never was a sick nurse!" declared the old woman, so positively and angrily that Mrs. Clarke thought that, after all, she might be mistaken. "Really, it does not matter. I was misled by a resemblance, and I thought you would be glad to hear of your nurse child again," she said. A strange eagerness appeared on the old woman's face as she muttered: