iness. Look at
old Mr. Deckly. For thirty years he and his fair bride have led a
regular cat and dog life. And there are the Twicketts and the Graysons
and the Blackstones right in this one little valley, to say nothing of
all the troubles one reads of in the papers."

"No!" contradicted Eugenia, emphatically. "You have no right to hold
them up as examples. It is plainly to be seen that Mrs. Deckly and Mrs.
Twickett and Mrs. Grayson and Mrs. Blackstone were not Hildegardes. They
failed to earn their third leaf by doing their weaving wisely. They
didn't use their yardsticks. They looked only at the 'village churls,'
and wove their webs to fit their unworthy shoulders, so that the men
they married were not princes, and they couldn't bring the diamond
leaf."

"The name of the prince need not always be _Man_, need it?" ventured
Joyce. "Couldn't it be Success? It seems to me that if I had struggled
along for years, trying to make the most of my little ability, had
worked just as faithfully and wisely at my art as I could, it would be
perfect happiness to have the world award me the place of a great
artist. It would be as much to me as the diamond leaf that marriage
could bring. I should think you'd feel that way, too, Betty, about your
writing. There are marriages that are failures just as there are
artistic and literary careers that are failures, and there are diamond
leaves to reward the work and waiting of old maids, just as there are
diamond leaves to reward the Hildegardes who use their yardsticks.
Sometimes there are girls who don't marry because they sacrifice their
lives to taking care of their families, or living for those who are
dependent on them. Surely there must be a blessedness and a happiness
for them greater than any diamond leaf a prince could bring."

"There is probably," answered Eugenia, "but it seems as if most people
of that kind have to wait till they get to Paradise to find it."

"I don't think so," said Betty. "I believe all the dear old-maid aunts
and daughters, _who earn the first three leaves_, find the fourth
waiting somewhere in this world. It is only the selfish ones, who slight
their share of the duties life imposes on every one, who are cross and
unlovely and unloved. They probably would not have been happy wives if
they had married."

"Well, but what about _me_!" persisted Lloyd. "I nevah expect to have a
career, so Success in big lettahs will nevah bring me a medal or a
chromo. I am