Olive Higgins Prouty

“ Of what importance was money to a woman who was willing to pay for her child's happiness with the child's love if it menaced that happiness? And communication, even secret communication, would menace it. It was far safer that she, Helen herself, should remain in doubt as to Stella's hiding-place. It was necessary to be so very honest with Laurel. Helen, too, must not know but that Stella was beyond call in some far country. She mustn't allow herself even to look for the shadow again. She mustn't tell any one about it. Oh, Stella should not be defeated, if Helen could help it. ”

“ At five o'clock that afternoon, when Stella, with a hundred or so other women, emerged from the big black building through the little opening at the bottom (like the opening cut at the bottom of a big black hogshead; every little while a thin dark stream of humanity would pour out of the building; it housed over a hundred small factories) , the air was clear and crisp and cold. Stella stepped out of the little stream, once on the sidewalk, stood still, and gazed straight up. ”

“ Twice, lately, upon arriving home in the late afternoon, he had noticed that the shades in the house were not all drawn. He had been able to look into Helen's room on the second floor, and see Laurel seated under the light, at the piano, playing. He spoke to the parlor-maid.
"I know, sir. It hardly seems safe, sir. But it's Mrs. Dallas's orders, sir."
Later to Stephen Helen explained, "But it looks so pretty from the street. Why shut in all our loveliness? I'll run the risk of burglars."
Even on the afternoon of Laurel's tea, Helen ordered the shades raised. She went even further. ”