The fugitive, whose name, Lear White, it was decided should be changed to Mary Ellen Dunstable, had been so unnerved by her sufferings that for several days she sorely needed Rhoda’s care and Dr. Ware’s medical attention. Rhoda would not permit her to go into the cellar hiding place, but made a bed for her in her own room and watched over her with every solicitude. A dust of powder over her light-colored face was enough to give her the appearance of a white girl of brunette complexion. Only a close observer would be likely to note that the whites of her eyes and the form of her nose gave a hint of negro origin. “Father,” said Rhoda, when the girl had been two days in the house, “I can’t bear to think of sending Mary Ellen on in the usual way. She took such awful chances to escape from a horrible fate, and she came so near to death in that box, that it seems to me almost as if God had put her into my charge, and meant for me to make up to her for all that she has suffered. I feel as if I ought not to let her out of my hands until she is safe in Canada.” “Well, what have you thought of doing? Have you a plan?” “Yes. Mary Ellen looks so much like a white woman that I’m sure she and I could travel together, as two girl friends, and go to Cleveland by the canal. There I can put her on one of our friendly boats and the captain will take charge of her till she is safe on the ferry at Detroit.” They talked the matter over at length, Rhoda dwelling upon the girl’s nervous condition, which had so lessened her self-reliance and her courage as to make doubtful the wisdom of sending her on alone by the ordinary methods. But another reason of equal strength in her own mind, although she did not mention it to her father, was her conviction that here was an opportunity to make atonement for what she felt to be her lover’s sin. Moreover, the girl clung to her with such implicit confidence in her power to shield and save that Rhoda’s heart rose high with a passion of resoluteness, like a mother’s for her threatened offspring. It was finally decided that her plan should be carried out. The Female Anti-Slavery Society offered its little store of cash--pitifully small since the money panic of two months previous--to help defray Mary Ellen’s expenses. Several of the members donated material they had bought for their own winter wardrobes and helped Rhoda make it up into gowns for the fugitive.