CHAPTER FIFTEEN ITS RESCUE Rob followed Mr. Baldwin and her suit-case from the Sixth Avenue elevated station at Seventy-second Street northward a block, and then westward two blocks on Seventy-third Street, followed hanging back a little, and dreading the encounter with his wife and daughter which lay before her. But Mr. Baldwin drew her up the steps close to his side, with a reassuring gesture of protection, and before he could get his key fully into the lock, the door flew open, and a beautiful little woman, exquisitely gowned, stood before them, while over her shoulder peered a girl of Rob's age, but taller than she was. "I am glad you came straight to us, my dear," said Mrs. Baldwin, with such quiet sincerity and informality that Rob drew a long breath of relief. "I am sure you are too tired to be as glad to see us as we are to see you, though. Hester, this is Roberta; take her to her room, and don't let Virginie bother her--you must be her maid to-night. Hester is delighted to have you here, my dear." Rob returned the sweet woman's welcoming kiss with all the gratitude of her lonely, timid heart, and laid her hand in Hester Baldwin's. The two girls gave each other a penetrating look, and then moved at the same instant to kiss each other, as if the scrutiny had been mutually satisfactory. Hester was not pretty, but she had a keenly intelligent face, and one could see that she was going to make a noble-looking woman. "We shall dine in half an hour," she said, in a rich alto voice. "Come with me, and I'll help you get ready. The maid will bring your case," she added, as Rob, accustomed to wait on herself, lifted and hastily set down, at Hester's suggestion, her former burden. "We were pleased when father telephoned that he was bringing you here," Hester continued. "It is very nice to have a girl about; I never had an intimate friend, because I never went to school, and that separates a girl a good deal from others--makes her not fit in when she is with them. Father said you had lots to tell me that was wonderful, all about your beautiful life, and your little grey house, and that you weren't like the general run of girls of our age either. Please try to like me--father wants you to; I can see that." "See it over the telephone?" laughed Rob, rather embarrassed by this appeal. "I'd do harder things for your father than that, after to-day! He has been heavenly kind, and made me believe I have been right, and brave, and wise when I was half frightened to death lest my obstinacy had ruined my family." "That sounds mysterious, and positively thrilling," Hester declared. "But as to father, he is fine--you can't imagine how I love him!" "Yes, I can," said Rob, with a quiver in her voice that brought a flush to Hester's cheeks.