"Yes, yes, dear. No, no, of course not," Wardwell repeated soothingly as he carried her up to her mother's room. When Ann had brought her something to drink he sat down beside the lounge on which Augusta lay and began to question quietly. "Tell Ann and me," he prompted, "just where you went first." "To Bellevue. It came to my mind so strong. I just had to go there. And I begged and begged with the man who had the book, and then another man came, and at last they let me see the book myself. And there it was, Rosie Dale. You see she'd just forgotten. And I asked the man, and he laughed. He said she was sixty if she was a day! And she thought she was eighteen! They brought her there from a hat factory. She used to make hats when she first came to New York, a young girl. I know it all now." "And then?" questioned Wardwell quietly. "Oh, Jimmie, that was more than a week ago. They took her there for 'observation.' Nobody knew anything about her. And they sent her to Ward's Island. "I went there over the cold, black water. Oh! it was so cold and so black. But I didn't care, I was going to get my darling mother. "But they wouldn't let me go to her. They said it wasn't the day. And one man was so cruel. He said people ought to take better care of their folks. And, oh, it wasn't my fault! Was it, Jimmie?" "No, no, child, of course not." "And then they did let me into the place. And I waited and waited. And then I saw a door open, and I looked in. "Oh Jimmie, a great big room! And all the most terrible people, looking so queer, and talking to themselves! And, Jimmie, I said: That's _Hell_ in there! "And then, Oh! Over in a far corner, my poor darling mamma, crouching, her back turned to the rest! "Oh Jimmie, Jimmie! She didn't know me at all! But she isn't crazy! You _know_ she isn't! She's just forgotten. "They took me away. They said I couldn't have her. They said I was only a little girl. Where was my father? Didn't I have any brothers? "And so they said--It was the head doctor now--He said I couldn't have her, I wasn't of age, I couldn't make a home for her. "Then they--He said if I was married and had a husband and a home I could have her. That was the only way. "Can that be so, Jimmie? Can that be so? Is that the only way I can take her out of that place and have her? Have I got to be married to have her with me? Have I got to be married?" "Why, no," said Jimmie, rising sharply and striding across the room. "Why no, certainly, of--of--course not--_of course not!_" Then he turned to meet the brilliant, half hysterical, pleading eyes of the girl fixed full upon him. "Of course not. Of course--" he murmured, sitting down again. II