“Who is Mrs. Ryan?” she asked.  “What does he mean?” but before Helen could command her voice to explain, Wilford was with them again, bringing the dresses, over which Katy nearly went wild.

She had never seen anything as elegant as the rich heavy poplin or the soft lustrous silk, while even Helen acknowledged that there was about them a finish which threw Miss Hazelton’s quite in the shade.

“Beautiful!” Katy exclaimed; “and trimmed so exquisitely!  I do so hope they will fit!”

“I dare say they will,” Wilford replied, enjoying her appreciation of his mother’s gift.  “At all events they will answer for to-morrow, and any needful alterations can be made in Boston.  Which will you wear?”

“Oh, I don’t know.  I wish I could wear both.  Helen, which shall I?” and Katy appealed to her sister, who could endure no more, but hid her head among the pillows of the bed and cried.

Katy understood the whole, and dropping upon the floor the silk to which she inclined the most, she flew to Helen’s side, and whispered to her:  “Don’t, Nellie, right before Wilford.  I won’t wear either of them.  I’ll wear the one you made.  It was mean and vain in me to think of doing otherwise.”

During this scene Wilford had stolen from the room, and with him gone Helen was herself, capable of judging candidly and sensibly.  She knew the city silk, which cost three dollars per yard, and was fastened with buttons of gold, having Katy’s initial upon their face, was handsomer and better suited for Wilford Cameron’s bride than the country plaid, costing one dollar per yard, and trimmed with buttons at eighteen pence per dozen, and so she said to Katy:  “I would rather you should wear the one they sent.  It will become you better.  Suppose you try it on,” and in seeking to gratify her sister Helen forgot in part her own cruel disappointment, and that her work of days had been for naught.  The dress fitted well, though Katy pronounced it too tight and too long.  A few moments, however, accustomed her to the length, and then her mother, Aunt Hannah, and Aunt Betsy came to see and admire, while Katy proposed going out to Wilford, but Helen kept her back.  Aunt Betsy remarking, under her breath, that “she didn’t see for the life on her how Catherine could be so free and easy with that man when just the sight of him was enough to take away a body’s breath.”

“More free and easy than she will be by and by,” was Helen’s mental comment as she proceeded quietly to pack the trunk which Morris had brought for the voyage across the sea, dropping into it many a tear as she folded away one article after another, and wondered under what circumstances she should see them again if she saw them ever.