“Oh, I know the town well.  Not too nice in spots.  But start right in.  Drink your tea and eat up your bread and jelly.  I’ll finish what I was at, and be back by the time you have cleaned your plate.”

Dagmar realized this action was taken out of sheer delicacy.  And she was very thankful to be left alone with her food.  After all it was not so bad to be arrested, if all jail sentences were served in such nice clean kitchens, thought the girl.

But the reflection of a girl scout meeting at Flosston, and the stinging memory of the honor badge, picked up that night and carried off by the reckless Tessie, would torture her in spite of the more important issues in the girl’s experience.

Where would Tessie go?  Where would she stay and what would become of her?  No doubt, as the officer had remarked, such a girl would easily become the prey of the unscrupulous, and at this thought Dagmar shuddered.  What dreadful things always happen to runaway girls in the movies?  Again the standard asserted its power.

Next moment the opening door announced Mrs. Cosgrove was back, and Dagmar had “cleaned her plate.”

“There now, you will feel better,” and the woman quickly gathered up the tea dishes.  “Come in the other room, and tell me your story before Jim comes back; sometimes a woman can help a girl more than a man can, and, as Jim says, I am sort of a wedge between the law and the victim,” and she laughed lightly at the idea of interfering with her husband’s business.

Dagmar told her story.  She did not spare herself or attempt to cover her mistakes.  She had left home because she was tired of Milltown and because she thought she would be better able to help her folks by getting out of the factory.  Yes, she had listened to Tessie, and Tessie was different.  Her mother allowed her out late nights, and had no objections to her going to dances in the factory hall, without brother or father.  When Dagmar went her brother Frank always accompanied her.

“Well, that’s encouraging,” spoke Mrs. Cosgrove when Dagmar paused.  “When folks have that much sense you can always talk to them.  Now, when Molly comes we will talk it over with her.  I wouldn’t mind leaving off my work to-morrow, although I did plan to clean the cellar, and I could go out and see your mother—­that is, if Molly thought there would be a chance for work for you here, and perhaps we could fix it so you could stay for a while anyway.  I don’t believe it would do you good to go right back in that crowd again.  What you need is new chums.”

“Oh, I couldn’t give you all that trouble,” objected Dagmar.  “I am willing to go right back in the morning.”

“It’s right you should say so,” continued the wise woman, “but you see, my girl, when you go back, you get right in the same rut again, and all those mill girls would just make life miserable for you.  I am not encouraging you to stay away from home, but as Molly says, she is a leader in the scout girls you know—­she always says when a thing goes wrong in one place it is best to try it in another.  That is if the thing must be done, and, of course, you must work.  However, wait until Molly comes in.  She has learned so much since she has tried to teach others that I do believe she knows more than I do.”