go
to the Brooks ball as a Blind Beggar."

"Oh, how can you make fun of it?"

"It is better to laugh than to cry. But your tears were--a benediction."

Silence fell between them, and after a while he asked, "What shall you
wear?"

"To the ball? Pink silk. A heavenly pink. I have just bought it, and I
paid more than I should for it."

"Such extravagance!"

"I'm to be Cynthia Warfield--like the portrait in the Crossroads library
of my grandmother. It came to me when I saw the silk in the shop window.
I shall have to do without the pearls, but I have the lace flounces. They
were left to my mother."

"And so Cinderella will go to the ball, and dance with the Prince. Is
Brooks the Prince?"

She flushed, and evaded. "I can't dance. Not the new dances."

"I can teach you if you'll let me."

"Really?"

"Yes. But you must pay. You must give the Blind Beggar the first dance
and as many more as he demands."

"But I can't dance all of them with you."

"You can dance some of them. And that's my price."

To promise him dances seemed to her quite delicious and delightful since
she could not dance at all. But he made a little contract and had her
sign it, and put it in his pocket.

Going home Anne had little to say. It was Geoffrey who talked, while
Beulah slept in a seat by herself.

* * * * *

Anne made her own lovely gown, running over now and then to take
surreptitious peeps at Cynthia's portrait. She had let Mrs. Brooks into
her secret, and the little lady was enthusiastic.

"You shall wear my pearls, my dear. They will be very effective in your
dark hair."

She brought the jewels down in an old blue velvet box--milk-white against
a yellowed satin lining.

"My father gave them to me on my wedding day. Some day I shall give them
to Richard's wife."

She could not know how her words stirred the heart of the girl who stood
looking so quietly down at the pearls.

"I am almost afraid to wear them," Anne said breathlessly. She gave Nancy
a shy little kiss. "You were _dear_ to think of it."

And now busy days were upon her. There was the school with Richard
running in after closing time, and staying, too, and keeping her from the
work that was waiting at home. Then at twilight a dancing lesson with
Geoffrey in the long front room, with Beulah playing audience and
sometimes Eric, and with Peggy capering madly to the music.

Then the evening, with its enchanting task of stitch