shone out in startling contrast
amongst the red and brown cheeks of her school companions. This small
white face was set upon a slender neck, and a delicately-formed but
upright little figure, which looked all the straighter and more like the
stalk of a flower, because it was never adorned with any flounces or
furbelows. Lilac was considered in the village to be very old-fashioned
in her dress; she wore cotton frocks, plain in the skirt with gathers
all round the waist, long pinafores or aprons, and sunbonnets. This
attire was always spotless and freshly clean, but garments of such a
shape and cut were lamentably wanting in fashion to the general eye, and
were the subject of constant ridicule. Not in the hearing of the widow,
for most people were a good deal in awe of her, but Lilac herself heard
quite enough about her clothes to be conscious of them and to feel
ashamed of looking "different." And this was specially the case at
school, for there she met Agnetta Greenways every day, and Agnetta was
the object of her highest admiration; to be like her in some way was the
deep and secret longing in her mind. It was, she knew well, a useless
ambition, but she could not help desiring it, Agnetta was such a
beautiful object to look upon, with her red cheeks and the heavy fringe
of black hair which rested in a lump on her forehead. On Sundays, when
she wore her blue dress richly trimmed with plush, a long feather in her
hat, and a silver bangle on her arm, Lilac could hardly keep her intense
admiration silent; it was a pain not to speak of it, and yet she knew
that nothing would have displeased her mother so much, who was never
willing to hear the Greenways praised. So she only gazed wistfully at
her cousin's square gaily-dressed figure, and felt herself a poor
washed-out insignificant child in comparison.

This was very much Agnetta's own view of the case; but nevertheless
there were occasions when she was glad of this insignificant creature's
assistance, for she was slow and stupid at her lessons, books were grief
and pain to her, and Lilac, who was intelligent and fond of learning,
was always ready to help and explain. This service, given most
willingly, was received by Agnetta as one to whom it was due, and indeed
the position she held among her schoolfellows made most of them eager to
call her friend. She lived at Orchards Farm, which was the biggest in
the parish; her two elder sisters had been to a finishing s