Madge Morton's Victory

ly gazing first at Madge and then at Eleanor. She was perfectly self-possess

playing a game with them? Tania seemed not in the least disturbed. "Do g

friend, Mrs. Curtis, who lives on Seventieth Street near Fifth Avenue. She will be dreadfully worried about us if we

eerfully. "I am not afraid of her. W

r. "Fairies don't live in big cities like New York.

declared. "But I can make handfuls of pennies when I like," she c

tle girl," replied Madge gent

a few blocks of their destination. Tania explained that she knew almost all of New York, and particularly she liked to wande

forgotten all about them. She was gazing up in the air, above all th

behind the rose-colored curtains of her drawing room. "Tom has been telephoning me frantically for the past hour. Ho

carved oak staircase to the floor above. Her house was so handsomely fur

sleeping room which opened into another bedr

girls had not brought their bridesmaids' dresses along with them, as

day their time was occupied in seeing Madeleine, her hundreds of beautiful wedding gifts, meeting Judge Hilliard all over again, and being introduced to Mrs. C

er four thousand, and does so much to make society ridiculous. Madeleine had asked that she might be married very quietly. She had never become used to t

so many odd noises in the hall. The upstairs hall was a mass of beautiful evergreens. Men were hanging garlands of smilax on the balusters. The house was heavy wit

me back with her report of the house's decorations. "She has had such an awful lot to attend to that she may not have remembered th

a dreadful idea!"

and Miss Jenny Ann looked

Why, she has all our measures. She couldn't forget. Oh, dear, does my breakfast gown look all r

"Your breakfast gown is lovely; only at home we called it

r. A man-servant held four enormous white boxes in his arms; a maid was almost obscured by four other boxes equall

ing a quick sigh of relief. "Our bridesma

sent the frocks to you sooner, but I wanted to bring them myself, and this is t

ut the gowns from the billows of white tissue paper that enfolded them. Sh

e speechless

the costumes. She had used her own taste without consulting them. Then

aimed Madge. "Cinderella's dress at the

s of white chiffon. About the bottom of the skirts were bands of pale green satin and the chiffon was caught here and there

hree of them poor, should have been awestruc

r my own wedding dres

début in mine,"

declared Phyllis, a little

g in a far corn

at I be allowed to come int

Madge. "You're me

future brother-in-law, Judge Robert Hilliard, has commissioned me to present his gifts to his brid

"I don't think I could stand any

each one of the houseboat girls with an exquisite little pin, an enameled mod

d-bye to Mrs. Curtis and Tom; but Madeleine and Judge Hilliard had gone. The four

nts were in the library,

s Jenny Ann?" breathed Lillian, as the

," sighed Eleanor sentimentally. "

r. "I don't see how Madeleine Curtis could have left her mother and this beautiful home for any man in

g whom you loved better,"

utly, her blue eyes wistful. "Why, if my father is alive

ise?" demanded

The window blinds were all closed. But there was a curious rapping a

ants," suggested Miss Jenn

dge. "No one of them would

Eleanor faintly. "It must be a burglar t

e shade quickly. Perched on the window sill was the oddest figure that ever stepped out of the pages of a fairy book. It was impossible

s Jenny Ann in tones of relief. "O

a thistledown, the unexpected little v

met in the slums of New York City; but now she appeared among them j

and ends of bright flowered materials. On her head perched a cap, a scarlet flower, cut from an odd sc

ery still and good until the lovely lady who owns this house sees you, then I wouldn't

r bundle tightly. Her big black eyes grew larger and darker with wonder as she had her first glimpse of a f

ania recognized him instantly. He was the young man who had protected Tania from the blows of the brutal woman the afterno

e were tears behind her smiles. "Who is our latest guest,

nder the spell of a wicked witch," she asserted with solemnity, "but now the

guest took the child f

ends, Mrs. Curtis. They saved this child yesterday from a punishment she probably well deserved. She is one of the chi

es had a queer, eerie look in them. "You can't take me back now," s

ht, Mrs. Curtis, please," begged Madge earnestly. "I wish to find out someth

s. Curtis's hand. "Let me stay. I shall be on my way again in th

to be running away from home. You may stay here to-night, then to-morrow we will see what we c

. "She lives less than an hour's ride from here. Her

ears. The child's black eyes took on a look of lively terror. "Please, pleas

do not believe that poor little Tania is either lawless or incorrigible. The woman who claims her is the most cruel, brutal-looking

ke. For the first time it occurred to Mrs. Curtis that Philip Holt might be very disagreeable if thwarted. She immediately dismissed the thought as unworthy when the

pathetic. Making a strong effort, Philip Holt controlled his anger and, extending his hand to Mrs. Curtis, said: "Pray, pardon my interference. I was prompt

ace flushed. "I beg your pardon, Mrs. Curtis," she sa

nt in Mrs. Curtis's voice, "but I am sure if you knew Mr. Hol

in her heart she knew that she and Philip Holt we