came there, though not
the nearest church, because they could not please themselves in seats
in any other church in the town, and regularly came in their
coach-and-four, and a grand footman went before them to open the door.
Their pew was square and lined with crimson, and they always came
rustling in, and making a knocking sound with their high heels on the
pavement; they walked according to their ages, with this difference
only, that the eldest Mistress Vaughan present always brought Evelyn in
her hand.

"We sat in the gallery just opposite to this pew, and I was in the
first row; and as there was no teacher nor governess near us, I could
whisper to the little girls near me about these ladies. 'Don't you
know,' my next neighbour in the pew answered, 'that those are the
Mistresses Vaughan, who live in the house beyond the lodges on the
Bath road; and that little one is Miss Vaughan, and she will have the
largest fortune of any lady in England--and see how beautifully she is
dressed?' We could not see her face, as she stood, but we could see her
fine clothes."

"Do tell us how she was dressed, grandmamma," said Emily.

"She wore a pink silk slip, with small violet flowers, or spots, and a
laced apron, with a bonnet and tippet of violet silk. Oh, we did admire
it! If she had not a hoop, her skirts were well stiffened with
whalebone."

"How curious!" said Lucy. "She must have looked like a little old
woman."

"The delicate fairness of her neck, and her lovely auburn curls,
prevented that mistake, Lucy," replied grandmamma; "and then her way of
moving, and her easy, child-like manner, showed her youth, if nothing
else would have done so.

"I had heard of Miss Evelyn before, but I had never seen her so near;
and all the rest of that day I could think and talk of nothing but Miss
Vaughan; and how I did long for a pink slip with violet spots.

"The Sunday on which I saw Miss Vaughan for the first time at church
was the first day of that week in which little Francis Barr was killed.

"We did not see her again for many weeks. We were told of the sad
accident, and of the severe illness of Evelyn which followed; and we
all entered into the feelings of the little lady with much warmth.

"It was late in the autumn when she appeared again at church; but,
though we did not see her face, we could observe that she sat very
still, and seemed once, whilst the psalm was being sung, to be crying,
for she stooped her head, and h