d a woman as God ever sent away
from Him. And your mother and I cried it out, and talked it out, and I
fought it out, and won. Oh, I won, Jeanette--I won!"

The two women were silent for a time, and then the elder went on:
"That's what your mother wished you to know--that for every princess
there is just one real prince, and for every prince there is just one
real princess, my dear, and when you have found him, and know he is
true, nothing--not money, not friends, not father nor mother--when
he is honest, not even pride--should stand between you. That is what
your mother sent you, dearie. Do you understand?"

"I think I do, Aunt Molly--I think so," repeated the girl. She looked
out of the window for a moment, and then cried, "Oh, Aunt Molly--but
I can't, I can't. How could he, Aunt Molly--how could he?" The girl
buried her face in the woman's lap, and sobbed.

After a time the elder woman spoke. "You know he loves you, don't you,
dear?"

The girl shook her head and cried, "But how could he?" and repeated it
again and again.

"And you still love him--I know that, my dear, or you could not--you
would not care, either," she added.

And so after a time the tears dried, as tears will, and the two women
fell back into the pale world of surfaces, and as Molly Brownwell left
she took the girl's hand and said: "You won't forget about the little
pudgy princess--the dear, foolish, little weak princess, will you,
Jeanette? And, dearie," she added as she stood on the lower steps of
the porch, "don't--don't always be so proud--not about that, my
dear--about everything else in the world, but not about that." And so
she went back into the world, and ceased to be a fairy godmother, and
took up her day's work.

John Barclay went to the City that night for the first time in two
months, and Jeanette and her Grandmother Barclay kept the big house
alone. In ten days he came back; his face was still hard, and the red
rims around his eyes were dry, and his voice was sullen, as it had
been for many weeks. His soul was still wrestling with a spirit that
would not give up the fight. That night his daughter tried to sit with
him, as she had tried many nights before. They sat looking at the
stars in silence as was their wont. Generally the father had risen and
walked away, but that night he turned upon her and said:--

"Jeanette, don't you like to be rich? I guess you are the richest girl
in this country. Doesn't that sound good to you?"