"I shall write to him at once never to cross this threshold again!" cried the young girl, indignantly.
"You will do nothing of the kind," replied her mother. "Sit down and listen to me. All young men are wild, and you must not take a man to task for what he has done before he knew you. Shut your eyes to it, and never bring it up to him. That's always safest. If he thinks you do know about his past life, he will be reckless, and think he doesn't need to care."
"About this girl, mamma—who is she?" she asked.
"A very pretty young creature," was the reply.
[CHAPTER XVIII.]
Faint and heart-sick, Ida May crept down the broad stone steps of the elegant mansion, and wended her way back to her humble lodgings. Just as she was about to touch the bell, a man ran hastily up the steps.
"Well, well, I declare!" he exclaimed, "I am at the wrong house. But in this confounded tenement row, one house is so like the other that one can not help making a mistake now and then."
With a gasp, Ida May reeled backward. At the very first word he had uttered, Ida May had recognized Royal Ainsley.