Then Jotham was presented to Nina who in turn led him to a group of her friends where, surrounded by a bevy of bright faced girls, he seemed as much at ease as if his life had consisted of naught but social pleasures.

Randy turned, and meeting Helen’s gaze she said,

“It seems to me that Jotham looks like a prince to-night.”

“He has a charming manner,” said Miss Dayton, “and I have always thought that he possessed a noble mind, that priceless gift which only One can give.  Coronets can be purchased, but who can barter for true worth?”

In the shadow cast by a statue and leaning against its pedestal, stood Polly Lawrence, her flushed cheeks vieing with the scarlet gauze which she wore, a most unpleasant expression upon her small face, while her nervous fingers plucked to pieces a red rose which she had taken from her bodice and she angrily tapped the floor with her satin slipper.  And what had occurred to mar the evening’s pleasure for Polly Lawrence?

Merely the fact that she was not the only girl in the room to receive attention, and also that she had chosen a gaudy costume for the occasion, and was conscious that her choice had been unwise.

Shallow by nature, and without keen perception, she yet possessed sufficient good sense to see that she had not impressed her friends with the magnificence of her apparel, and her vanity received a thrust when a friend said to her,

“How sweet Randy Weston looks in her white gown and ribbons!  One would know that she would never wear a gaudy dress.”

Polly had made no reply, but in exasperation she thought,

“Every one admires Randy.  I do believe that they would think she looked sweet in white calico.”

There was, after all, a bit of excuse for Polly.  Reared by her aunt, a woman with a character as shallow as that of her niece, Polly’s vanity had never been curbed, rather it had been encouraged.  She was allowed to choose her own costumes, her aunt rarely venturing a suggestion; and the milliners and dressmakers, reading the girl’s vain character, encouraged Polly to purchase that which was most expensive, regardless as to whether it might be suitable or becoming.

Furs, designed apparently for a dowager, at once became her own, if only she could be assured that no girl of her acquaintance owned a set as costly, and upon all occasions it appeared to be her intention to wear more jewelry than any other person present.

Later, when all had repaired to the dining-room, Polly’s displeasure was somewhat appeased when she found herself placed beside Peggy’s brother, who was a thoroughly good fellow, and ever a gentleman, therefore he immediately proceeded to make himself very agreeable to Polly, although had he been given his choice of a companion he would most surely have chosen quite a different girl.

Beside Randy sat Jotham who declared himself to be “as happy as a king,” and his tutor, the young professor, seemed equally charmed beside Helen Dayton, with whom he was exchanging reminiscences of college days.