With a quick, searching glance that took in bedraggled organdie, rose hat,

and pink parasol, and set them aside for what they were worth, George

Benedict observed and classified Lizzie.

"Will you excuse yourself, and let me take you home a little later?" he

asked in a low tone. "The crowd will be very great, and I have my

automobile here."

She looked at him gratefully, and assented. She had much to tell him. She

leaned across the seats, and spoke in a clear tone to her cousin.

"I will come a little later," she said, smiling with her Rittenhouse

Square look that always made Lizzie a little afraid of her. "Tell

grandmother I have found an old friend I have not seen for a long time. I

will be there almost as soon as you are."

They waited while Lizzie explained, and the grandmother and aunt nodded a

reluctant assent. Aunt Nan frowned. Elizabeth might have brought her

friend along, and introduced him to Lizzie. Did Elizabeth think Lizzie

wasn't good enough to be introduced?

He wrapped her in a great soft rug that was in the automobile, and tucked

her in beside him; and she felt as if the long, hard days that had passed

since they had met were all forgotten and obliterated in this night of

delight. Not all the attentions of all the fine men she had met in

society had ever been like his, so gentle, so perfect. She had forgotten

the lady as completely as if she had never heard of her. She wanted now to

tell her friend about her heavenly Friend.

He let her talk, and watched her glowing, earnest face by the dim light of

the sky; for the moon had come out to crown the night with beauty, and the

unnatural brilliance of electric blaze, with all the glitter and noise of

Willow Grove, died into the dim, sweet night as those two sped onward

toward the city. The heart of the man kept singing, singing, singing: "I

have found her at last! She is safe!"

"I have prayed for you always," he said in one of the pauses. It was just

as they were coming into Flora Street. The urchins were all out on the

sidewalk yet, for the night was hot; and they gathered about, and ran

hooting after the car as it slowed up at the door. "I am sure He did hide

you safely, and I shall thank Him for answering my prayer. And now I am

coming to see you. May I come to-morrow?"

There was a great gladness in her eyes. "Yes," she said.

The Bradys had arrived from the corner trolley, and were hovering about

the door self-assertively. It was most apparent to an onlooker that this

was a good opportunity for an introduction, but the two young people were

entirely oblivious. The man touched his hat gravely, a look of great

admiration in his eyes, and said, "Good night" like a benediction. Then

the girl turned and went into the plain little home and to her belligerent

relatives with a light in her eyes and a joy in her steps that had not

been there earlier in the day. The dreams that visited her hard pillow

that night were heavenly and sweet.




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