blotter!" Dorothy exclaimed petulantly. "What did it
amount to? You talk as though it were something worth having." She was
so seldom in a pet that her mother now strove to make allowance for her.

"I'm not saying that it's of any value, Dorothy, except to me; but it
was kind of her to seem to understand why I wanted it."

"It wasn't kind of her. She just did it to get rid of us, because we
bored her. Oh, mother, you're daffy about the Rexhills, why not admit it
and be done with it? You think they're perfect, but I tell you they're
not--they're not! They've been behind all our troubles here.
They've...." Her voice broke under the stress of her emotion and she
rose to her feet.

"Dorothy, if you have no self-respect, at least have some...."

"I won't have that blotter in the house." The strain was proving more
than the girl's nerves could stand. "I won't hear about it any longer.
I'm going to--to tear it up!"

"Dorothy!"

For all the good that Mrs. Purnell's tone of authority did, it might as
well have fallen upon the wind. She hastily followed her daughter, who
had rushed from the room, and overtook her just in time to prevent her
from destroying the little picture. Her own strength could not have
sufficed to deter the girl in her purpose, if the latter had not
realized in her heart the shameful way in which she was treating her
mother.

"Aren't you ashamed of yourself, child? Look in that glass at your face!
No wonder you don't think you look like the sweet child in the picture.
You don't look like her now, nor act like her. That was why I wanted the
blotter, to remind me of the way you used to look."

"I'm sorry, mother."

Blushing deeply as she recovered her self-control, Dorothy stole a
glance at her reflection in the looking-glass of the bureau, before
which she stood, and shyly contrasted her angry expression of
countenance with the sweet one of the child on the blotter. Suddenly
she started, and leaned toward the mirror, staring at something she saw
there. The blood seemed driven from the surface of her skin; her lips
were parted; her eyes dilated. She drew a swift breath of amazed
exultation, and turned to her mother, who had viewed the sudden
transformation with surprise.

"I'll be back soon, mother. I can't tell you what it is." Dorothy's
voice rang with the suggestion of victory. "But I've discovered
something, wonderful!"

Before Mrs. Purnell could adjust herself to this new mood, the girl was