She gave the poor creature a warm bath, clothed her skeleton limbs in soft and comfortable apparel, and shingled her long, inextricably tangled hair close to her head.
This done she proceeded to put her to bed and feed her with warm and nourishing food.
The poor, starved woman could scarcely realize her good fortune.
She lay looking about her at the pleasant little room with its neat carpet and curtains, its comfortable bed and cheery fire, and feared it was all a dream from which she would awaken to the horrors of her lonely, fireless dungeon.
But the gentle voice of her hostess soothed away her fears and lulled her into profound and restful sleep.
For several days the most of her time was spent in eating and sleeping.
The warm room and nourishing food seemed to induce slumber, and she began to improve very slowly, but still so perceptibly that when the detective came to see her after the lapse of a week he was delighted at the change.
"Mrs. Mason, you must be a capital nurse," said he, smiling. "Your patient looks very well, and begins to improve at a rate I hardly dared hope for; I should scarcely have known her."
"And, but for your timely help I should have been dead ere this," said the invalid, giving him a grateful look from her large, hollow, dark eyes. "I owe you my life. I do not know how to thank you."
"Do not try," answered the detective, feeling shy under the gratitude that was about to be showered upon him. "The revelation you made me when I found you fully repays the debt."