some part of the world that
nobody had ever heard of; and had not hesitated to say that fortunes
founded on such wild-goose stories as these should not even be
considered by people of good sense who worked for their living, or had
incomes which they could depend on. But the dress goods, the ribbons,
the gloves, the little clocks, the shoes, the parasols, the breast-pins,
the portfolios of pictures, the jewelry, the rugs and table covers, and
hundreds of other beautiful and foreign things, were a substantial
evidence that Mrs. Cliff's money was not all moonshine.

It was very pleasant for Mrs. Cliff to bring out her treasures to
display them to her enthusiastic friends, and to arrange them in her
house, and to behold the rapturous delight of Willy Croup from early
morn until bed-time.

But the seven empty trunks had been carried up into the garret, and now
Mrs. Cliff set her mind to the solution of the question--how was she to
begin her new life in her old home? It must be a new life, for to live
as she had lived even in the days of her highest prosperity during her
husband's life would be absurd and even wicked. With such an income she
must endeavor as far as was possible to her to live in a manner worthy
of it; but one thing she was determined upon--she would not alienate her
friends by climbing to the top of her money and looking down upon them.
None of them knew how high she would be if she were to perch herself on
the very top of that money, but even if she climbed up a little way,
they might still feel that they were very small in her sight.

No, the money should always be kept in the background. It might be as
high as the sky and as glorious as a sunset, but she would be on the
ground with the people of Plainton, and as far as was possible, they
should all enjoy the fine weather together.

She could not repress a feeling of pride, for she would be looked upon
as one of the principal persons--if not the principal person--in
Plainton; but she could not believe that any real friend could possibly
object to that.

If her husband had lived and prospered, it was probable he would have
been the principal man in Plainton, the minister always excepted; but
now there was no reason whatever why any one should object to her being
a principal personage, and, in this case, she could not see why the
minister's wife should be excepted.

But Plainton was to be her home; the Plainton people were to be her
friends. How shoul