e falling from
neck and sleeves, and had a pleasant voice and smile--Rosalie's mother
shook hands with Trudy Carr and Collin Spencer, and sat down near them.
And Rosalie brought a stool and perched herself between them.

"Now," she said, imploringly--"now _do!_"

Collin was getting every moment stiffer and redder. He felt like an
intruder, and, despite these softening influences, made up his mind not
to say a word. It was nobody's business but his. It was his own
miserable affair. He neither asked help nor wanted it.

How, then, did the story get itself told? Collin supposed that Trudy
must have started it, for he did not.

He sat bewildered by all this strange and unwelcome situation, while
slowly, drawn out by questions and gentle comments, his trouble was
told.

His first weak mistake, the disaster at Buxton, Trudy's attempt at
righting matters and her failure, and all the dreary facts of the
present condition of things. By degrees, the lady who sat with
thoughtfully-lowered eyes and knit brows heard it all.

"Don't think it was _my_ idea to tell you, ma'am," Collin ended, the
blood mounting in his sturdy face.

"Doesn't mamma know that?" Rosalie cried, impatiently.

She had got her way, and she was highly satisfied.

"And don't think I'm asking you to do anything for me," Collin proudly
persisted. "I don't know what you _could_ do; I don't expect anything--I
didn't want to come in."

"And she knows all that, too," said Rosalie, knocking down his protests
like tenpins.

Her mother sat thinking.

"I wish I knew what to say," she said, sincerely, "or what to do. I
should be glad to do something, believe me. I am deeply sorry for you,
my boy. It seems to me that your case is a peculiarly hard one. I am
glad I have heard your story, for I can give you my sympathy, if nothing
more. You made a mistake; you were thoughtless and weak; yes, you did
wrong. But--I can't help saying it--it seems to me that your punishment
is too great. You have escaped nothing; the worst has come. The worst
fault was not yours, and yet you are suffering most. At least, don't be
ashamed of having told me," said Mrs. Scott, that ready sympathy of
which her face spoke strongly roused.

"I wish I could help you," she declared. "Not only does your case
deserve it, but Trudy Carr here"--she smiled brightly. "I feel as though
I knew Trudy Carr. I have heard nothing but items concerning her since
Rosalie first saw her. And that little a