seemed to
be the only one who did not grieve over her lack of success. She was
indeed the only really Gay Gordon, so studious and hard-working had
they all become.

Elizabeth somehow seemed the only one also who managed to play all the
time. She had the faculty of turning everything into play. John hired
with Tom Teeter for the summer, and Charles Stuart toiled all day in
his own fields. Jean came home laden with books, and studied both
night and day. Even Malcolm in his two weeks' vacation busied himself
in the garden with his father. But Elizabeth seemed to have no
definite place assigned her in the domestic economy. Mary had such
light duties as her health permitted, but she refused all her sister's
offers of assistance. Lizzie was sure to get the darning all tangled
and spoiled, and if one left her any sewing to do, one might see her
next moment chasing Jamie down the lane, with the unsewed article left
hanging over a raspberry bush. Yes, Lizzie was no good, as Sarah Emily
declared when she ventured into the kitchen, and the only time she
appeared at an advantage was during Annie's weekly visits when she
excelled everyone in her care of the baby. Even her aunt had to admit
her superiority here. She was as careful, as wise and responsible as
Miss Gordon could wish, and she often wondered how the reckless,
nonsensical girl could be so suddenly transformed. But then Miss
Gordon was still far from understanding her niece.

Elizabeth's days were very full in spite of her idleness. There were
her weekly visits to Mother MacAllister, frequent calls on poor Susie
lying in pain on her hard bed, and even an occasional call upon Rosie
away down in Forest Glen. Rosie hailed Elizabeth's visits with
delight, though she was too busy to return them. The Carricks were
toiling night and day, sewing, and preserving fruit, and "hooking" mats
and quilting quilts. For in the fall, just at the season when a
wedding trip to the Toronto Autumn Exhibition was looked upon as the
most fashionable social departure in the countryside, Rosie and Hector
McQueen, who had never outlived the days of chivalry, were to be
married! It made Elizabeth feel old and queer and dreadfully sorry for
Rosie all at one moment just to think about it.

Elizabeth was sometimes possessed with the feeling that she was outside
everybody else's life. Of course there was John. He was her chum and
her soul's companion, but the rest of the family see