To Mrs. Cameron, Helen was also a study, she seemed to care so little for what others might think of her, evincing no hesitation, no timidity, when told one day, the second day after her arrival, that Mrs. Banker was in the parlor and had asked to see Miss Lennox.  Mrs. Cameron did not suspect how under that calm, unmoved exterior, Helen was hiding a heart which beat most painfully as she went down to meet the mother of Mark Ray, going first to her own room to make some little change in her toilet, and wishing that her dress was more like the dress of those around her—­like Mrs. Cameron’s, or even Esther’s and the fashionable nurse’s.  One glance she gave to the brown silk, Wilford’s gift, but her good sense told her that the plain merino she wore was far more suitable to the sickroom, where she spent her time, and so with a fresh collar and cuffs, and another brush of her rich hair, she went to Mrs. Banker, forgetting herself in her pleasure at finding in the stranger a lady so wholly congenial and familiar, whose mild, dark eyes, so like Mark Ray’s, rested so kindly on her, and whose pleasant voice had something motherly in its tone, putting her wholly at her ease, and making her appear at her very best.

Mrs. Banker was pleased with Helen, while she felt a kind of pity for the young girl thrown so suddenly among strangers, without even her sister to aid and assist her.

“Have you been out at all?” she asked, and upon Helen’s replying that she had not, she answered:  “That is not right.  Accustomed to the fresh country air, you will suffer from too close confinement.  Suppose you ride with me.  My carriage is at the door, and I have a few hours’ leisure.  Tell your sister I insist,” she continued, as Helen hesitated between inclination and what she fancied was her duty.

To see New York with Mrs. Banker was a treat indeed, and Helen’s heart bounded high as she ran up to Katy’s room with the request.

“Yes, by all means,” Katy said.  “It is so kind in Mrs. Banker, and so like her, too.  I meant that Wilford should have driven with you to-day, and spoke to him about it, but Mrs. Banker will do better.  Tell her I thank her so much for her thoughtfulness,” and with a kiss Katy sent Helen away, while Mrs. Cameron, after twisting her rings nervously for a moment, said to Katy: 

“Perhaps your sister would do well to wear your furs.  Hers are small and common fitch.”

“Yes, certainly.  Take them to her,” Katy answered, knowing intuitively the feeling which had prompted this suggestion from her mother-in-law, who hastened to Helen’s room with the rich sable she was to wear in place of the old fitch.