“I’m glad he’s gone, for in my present state of mind he’s not up to my mark at all.  I’ll try his plan, though, and flirt with Clara West; she’s engaged, so it won’t damage her affections; her lover isn’t here, so it won’t disturb his; and, by Jove!  I must do something, for I can’t stand this suspense.”

Debby was infinitely relieved by this new move, and infinitely amused as she guessed the motive that prompted it but the more contented she seemed, the more violently Mr. Joe flirted with her rival, till at last weak-minded Miss Clara began to think her absent George the most undesirable of lovers, and to mourn that she ever said “Yes” to a merchant’s clerk, when she might have said it to a merchant’s son.  Aunt Pen watched and approved this stratagem, hoped for the best results, and believed the day won when Debby grew pale and silent, and followed with her eyes the young couple who were playing battledoor and shuttlecock with each other’s hearts, as if she took some interest in the game.  But Aunt Pen clashed her cymbals too soon; for Debby’s trouble had a better source than jealousy, and in the silence of the sleepless nights that stole her bloom she was taking counsel of her own full heart, and resolving to serve another woman as she would herself be served in a like peril, though etiquette was outraged and the customs of polite society turned upside down.

* * * * *

“Look, Aunt Pen! what lovely shells and moss I’ve got!  Such a splendid scramble over the rocks as I’ve had with Mrs. Duncan’s boys!  It seemed so like home to run and sing with a troop of topsy-turvy children that it did me good; and I wish you had all been there to see,” cried Debby, running into the drawing-room, one day, where Mrs. Carroll and a circle of ladies sat enjoying a dish of highly flavored scandal, as they exercised their eyesight over fancy-work.

“My dear Dora, spare my nerves; and if you have any regard for the proprieties of life, don’t go romping in the sun with a parcel of noisy boys.  If you could see what an object you are, I think you would try to imitate Miss Clara, who is always a model of elegant repose.”

Miss West primmed up her lips, and settled a fold in her ninth flounce, as Mrs. Carroll spoke, while the whole group fixed their eyes with dignified disapproval on the invader of their refined society.  Debby had come like a fresh wind into a sultry room; but no one welcomed the healthful visitant, no one saw a pleasant picture in the bright-faced girl with wind-tossed hair and rustic hat heaped with moss and many-tinted shells; they only saw that her gown was wet, her gloves forgotten, and her scarf trailing at her waist in a manner no well-bred lady could approve.  The sunshine faded out of Debby’s face, and there was a touch of bitterness in her tone, as she glanced at the circle of fashion-plates, saying, with an earnestness which caused Miss West to open her pale eyes to their widest extent,—­