for with his notions he wouldn't hesitate to marry her if he
liked her, poor as she is. Now if she only had the chink, I'd walk up
to her quick. I don't see why the deuce the old man need to have got
so involved just now, as to make it necessary for me either to work or
have a rich wife. Such eyes too, as Mary's got! Black and fiery one
minute, blue and soft the next. Well, any way I'll have a good time
flirting with her, just for the sake of seeing Ella wince and whimper,
if nothing more. Bah! What a simpleton she is, compared with Mary. I
wonder how much Mrs. Campbell _is_ worth, and if Ella will have it
all."

And the young man retired to dream of debts liquidated by the gold
which a marriage with Ella Campbell would bring him.

CHAPTER XXV.

THE PARTY.

"Bring me my new dress, Jenny; I want to see if the Honiton lace on
the caps is as wide as Ida Selden's."

"What do you mean?" asked Jenny, turning quickly towards her sister,
whose white, wasted face looked fitter for a shroud than a gay party
dress.

"I mean what I say," returned Rose; "I'm not going to be cooped up
here any longer. I'm going to the party to-morrow night, if I never go
again!"

"Why, Rose Lincoln, are you crazy?" asked Jenny. "You haven't been in
the street yet, and how do you expect to go to-morrow night? Mother
wouldn't let you, if she were here."

"Well, thank fortune, she and father both are in Southbridge; and
besides that, I'm a great deal better; so hand me my dress."

Jenny complied, and reclining on pillows scarcely whiter than herself,
Rose Lincoln examined and found fault with a thin gossamer fabric,
none suited for any one to wear in a cold wintry night, and much less
for her.

"There, I knew it wasn't as wide as Ida's into an eighth of an inch,"
said she, measuring with her finger the expensive lace. "I'll have
some new. Come, Jenny, suppose you go down street and get it, for I'm
bent upon going;" and the thoughtless girl sprang lightly upon the
floor, and _chassed_ half way across the room to show how well and
strong she was.

Jenny knew that further expostulation from her was useless, but she
refused to go for the lace, and Sarah, the servant girl, was sent with
a note from Rose saying she wanted a nice article, 8 or 10 dollars per
yard.

"I don't believe father would like to have you make such a bill," said
Jenny when Sarah was gone. "Mother didn't dare tell him about your new
dress, for he told her she mu