“I shan’t do any such thing,” said Carrie, glad of an excuse to keep ’Lena out of the way.  “What matter is it if she don’t come down when the company are here?  I’d rather she wouldn’t, for she’s so green and awkward, and Durward is so fastidious in such matters, that I’d rather he wouldn’t know she’s a relative of ours!  I know he’d tell his mother, and they say she is very particular about his associates.”

’Lena’s first impulse was to defy her cousin to her face—­to tell her she had seen Durward Bellmont, and that he didn’t laugh at her either.  But her next thought was calmer and more rational.  Possibly under Carrie’s influence he might make fun of her, and resolving on no condition whatever to make herself visible while he was in the house, she returned to her room, and throwing herself upon the bed, wept until she fell asleep.

“When is Miss Simpson going to fix ’Lena’s dress?” asked Anna, as day after day passed, and nothing was said of the brown delaine.

For an instant Miss Simpson’s nimble fingers were still, as she awaited the answer to a question which had occurred to her several times.  She was a kind-hearted, intelligent girl, find at a glance had seen how matters stood.  She, too, was an orphan, and her sympathies were all enlisted in behalf of the neglected ’Lena.  She had heard from Anna of the brown delaine, and in her own mind she had determined that it should be fitted with the utmost taste of which she was capable.

Her speculations, however, were brought to a close by Mrs. Livingstone’s saying in reply to Anna, that “’Lena seemed so wholly uninterested, and cared so little about seeing the company, she had decided not to have the dress fixed until after Christmas week.”

The fiery expression of two large, glittering eyes, which at that moment peered in at the door, convinced Miss Simpson that her employer had hardly told the truth, and she secretly determined that ’Lena should have the dress whether she would or not.  Accordingly, the next time she and Anna were alone, she asked for the delaine, entrusting her secret to Anna, who, thinking no harm, promised to keep it from her mother.  But to get ’Lena fitted was a more difficult matter.  Her spirit was roused, and for a time she resisted their combined efforts.  At last, however, she yielded, and by working late at night in her own room, Miss Simpson managed to finished the dress, in which ’Lena really looked better than did either of her cousins in their garments of far richer materials.  Still she was resolved not to go down, and Anna, fearing what her mother might say, dared not urge her very strongly hoping, though, that “something would turn up.”

* * * * * *

Durward Bellmont, Nellie Douglass, and Mabel Ross had arrived at Captain Atherton’s.  Mrs. Livingstone and her daughters had called upon them, inviting them to spend a few days at Maple Grove, where they were to meet some other young people “selected from the wealthiest families in the neighborhood,” Mrs. Livingstone said, at the same time patting the sallow cheek of Mabel, whose reputed hundred thousand she intended should one day increase the importance of her own family.