“Flo!  I am astonished to hear you say such a thing.”

“I know you are, but it is true, for all that.  What have I to live for, anyway?  Mother keeps me tied to the house most of the time, and doesn’t want me to associate with other girls, or go to parties for fear I might go astray.  She says that home is the place for girls.”

“Your mother means well, dear.  She is a good woman, and believes she is doing the best she can for you.”

“I suppose she does,” and the girl sighed.  “But sometimes she makes me hate goodness and all good people, so I feel like being bad just for a change.  Mother’s method of goodness rubs me the wrong way.  I am afraid you wouldn’t call her very good if you knew how mad she is to-day about daddy and Eben sailing by without stopping.  I pity them, for they will have a hard time when they come home.  But there’s mother calling me now.  She can’t bear to have me out of her sight even for a few minutes.”

As Mrs. Hampton watched the girl as she hurried down to the road, she thought how nice it would be to have such a daughter as Flo.  What a companion she would be, and how proud she would be of her.  And she might have had one, more beautiful, perhaps, than Flo but for her own mad deed years ago.  Yet her daughter was somewhere in the world, unknown to her even by name.  The only recollection she had of her was when the nurse had brought her to the bedside in the hospital for her to see.  But she was so weak and tired then, that she had merely glanced at the little one.  Her husband’s critical financial affairs were a great worry to her at that time, so the thought of paying the doctor, the hospital bill, and providing for the child was most distressing.  The simple matter of exchanging the babies had been done so quietly that she hardly realised that it had taken place.  Babies, after all, were very much alike, and when next time the nurse brought a little bundled form to her side she could not tell it from her own.  It was only afterwards, when her strength returned, that her heart cried out for her own flesh and blood, the one for whom she had suffered so much.  Even her husband never knew what she endured.  The money had meant a great deal to him, and he was pleased to know that the baby was a boy who would grow up as his own son.

It was late that night when Mrs. Hampton went to bed.  She had stayed up longer than usual, waiting for John.  But when the clock struck eleven and he had not arrived, she wearily made her way upstairs to her room.  She left the front door unlocked, and a lunch on the dining-room table, for John always liked something to eat before retiring.

Mrs. Hampton found it hard to get to sleep, and she lay awake for some time.  When slumber did at last seal her eyes she was beset by a fantastic dream.  She was surrounded by all kinds of people, greatly excited.  They were constantly moving, some coming and others going.  Faces and forms appeared and vanished in a bewildering manner.  At last one stood out clear from all the rest.  It was the face of a beautiful girl, who looked upon her with longing eyes and called her “mother.”  With a cry, Mrs. Hampton reached out her arms to enfold her, but the girl disappeared, and in her stead stood John, with a smile upon his face.