Aunt Jane's Nieces at Work

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I know what is good and what

is bad. I must have been taught these things once. But I am as likely to

do evil as good, and this recklessness has begun, in the last few days,

to worry me.

"Then I met a young man here--he says his name is Tom Gates--who called

me his dear Lucy, and said I used to love him. I laughed at him at

first, for it seemed very absurd and I do not want him to love me. But

then he proved to me there was some truth in his statement. He said his

Lucy had a scar on her left arm, and that made me afraid, because I had

discovered a scar on my own arm. I don't know how it got there. I don't

know anything about this old Lucy. And I'm afraid to find out. I'm

afraid of Lucy."

"Why, dear?"

"I cannot tell. I only know I have a horror of her, a sudden shrinking

whenever her name is mentioned. Who was she, do you suppose?"

"Shall I tell you?" asked Louise.

"No--no! Don't, I beg of you!" cried Eliza, starting up. "I--I can't

bear it! I don't want to know her."

The protest was passionate and sincere, and Louise marvelled at the

workings of this evidently unbalanced intellect.

"What would you like to do, dear?" she inquired.

"I'd like to remain Eliza Parsons--always. I'd like to get away from

_her_--far away from anyone who ever heard of that dreadful Lucy who

frightens me so. Will you help me to get away, to escape to some place

where no one will ever be able to trace me?"

"Do you think you would be happy then?"

"I am sure of it. The only thing that makes me unhappy now is the horror

that this past life will be thrust upon me. I must have had a past, of

course, or I shouldn't be a grown woman now. But I'm afraid of it; I

don't want to know anything about it! Will you help me to escape?"

She looked eagerly at Louise as she asked this pitiful question, and the

other girl replied, softly: "I will be your friend, Eliza. I'll think

all this over, and we will see what can be done. Be patient a little

while and as soon as I find a way to free you from all this trouble I'll

send for you, and we'll talk it over together.

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