The child had put both arms around his neck and was hiding her eyes
on his shoulder when he reached the little group. He looked very
grave, and the girlish faces grew sober in sympathy even before he
spoke.
"Oh, father, is the baby hurt?" asked Dorothy anxiously.
"Not injured, dear, but left very much alone. She is a little German
girl, and she and her mother had only been here a few days. The
mother wanted to get work in the factory, and had taken a room
for herself and the baby with the German family which lived in the
brown house. Every one got out safely, but the excitement was too
much for the poor young mother. She must have had a weak heart,
I'm afraid, for she had to go away and leave her baby."
Ruth's eyes filled with tears as she realized what he meant, and
she stretched out her arms impulsively toward the baby.
"Poor little soul," she said with a choke in her voice; "is she
old enough to know what happened?"
As she spoke the baby raised her head and stared in startled wonder
at the pitying faces about her. The shawl fell back a little from
her head, and, in the brilliant light from the fire, the girls could
see golden rings of hair clustering around a face delicately pink
and white.
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