laring it had taken her twenty years to get settled in those
small, low-ceiled rooms, and that she didn't feel quite in yet.

There had been a great sacrifice of fine old furniture when the big house
on Main Street had to be exchanged for the little one in Church Lane, and
it was no wonder Miss Betty sighed at the thought. None the less she had
accepted courageously the reverses which at twenty brought her gay
girlhood to an end, and for fifteen years was a cheerful, devoted nurse
to her invalid father. Since his death she lived alone with only Sophy,
her old mammy, to cook and care for her.

When it became known that Miss Betty had invited certain of her young
friends to tea to meet Rosalind Whittredge, a wave of excitement swept
over Friendship.

All the children of the town had heard stories of Miss Betty's beauty and
belleship, but those Washington winters belonged to twenty years ago and
had no connection with her present popularity. Sophy's skill as a cook no
doubt had something to do with the fame of her mistress's tea parties, but
besides this Miss Betty knew how to make her guests, whether young or old,
have a good time.

When asked if she was fend of children, she was sure to reply, "Some
children. I don't like disagreeable children any better than I do
disagreeable grown persons." And for this reason, perhaps, it had come to
be esteemed something of an honor to be asked to her house.

Miss Betty had at first felt a prejudice against Patterson Whittredge's
daughter, deciding in her own mind that she was probably a spoiled little
thing; but the sight of Rosalind taking tea with Morgan, and more than
this, the frank gaze of those disarming gray eyes, had touched her kindly
heart. She knew as well as anybody that it must be lonely in the
Whittredge house; and so she had thought of the tea party.

The interest felt in Patterson Whittredge's daughter was very general.
Patterson belonged to those old times when peace had reigned in
Friendship. He had been a favorite in the village, and to many it seemed
only the other day that he had gone away. It was incredible that this tall
girl seen walking by Mrs. Whittredge's side could be his daughter. There
were those like Mrs. Graham's pupils, who were inclined to invest her with
a halo of romance; others criticised her as not at all the Whittredge
style, not what one had a right to expect in Mrs. Whittredge's
granddaughter. Some pitied Mrs. Whittredge for the responsi