ss? The
loss of her religion? It was none of these things. So far, it had not
been fulfilled; and it had struck its warning note again. She shivered,
then discovered that the yellow light was no longer about her, and that
her head ached. She rose stiffly and put the torn scraps of paper in her
pocket. As she left, she cast a curious glance about her retreat, not
knowing what prompted it. The scent of newly upturned earth came to her
nostrils; a bird flew down on the rat's nest, starting along the sides a
shower of loose earth; the frogs were chanting hoarsely.

XIII

The next morning the natural buoyancy of youth asserted itself; she
reasoned that a long hard apprenticeship had been the lot of many
authors, and determined that she would write a page a day for years, if
need be, until her tardy faculty had been coaxed from its hard soil and
trained to use.

She could not go to the woods that day: her mother expected callers.

"Your birthday is a week from Wednesday," Mrs. Yorba said as they sat on
the verandah. "Your father and I have decided to give a dinner. You will
not come out formally, of course, until winter; but a little society
during the summer will take off the stiffness."

Magdalena turned cold. "But, mamma! I cannot talk to young men."

"You expect to begin sometime, do you not? I shall also take you to any
little entertainment that is given in Menlo this summer; and as the
Brannans and Montgomerys are back from Europe,--they arrived last
Thursday,--there may be several. The older girls gave little parties
before they married; but there have not been any grown girls in Menlo
for some years now. Rose Geary and Caro Folsom, who spent last summer in
the East, will spend this in Menlo, so that there will be five of you,
besides Nelly Washington."

Magdalena knew that the matter was settled. She had given a good deal of
imagination to the time when she should be a young lady, but the
immediate prospect filled her with dismay. Then, out of the knowledge
that her lines had been chosen for her, she adapted herself, as mortals
do, and experienced some of the pleasures of anticipation.

"I believe I did not tell you," her mother resumed, "that I wrote to
Helena some time ago asking her to bring back four dresses for you,--a
ball dress for your debut, an English walking suit, a calling dress, and
a dinner dress."

Magdalena had never given a thought to dress; but this sudden
announcement that she was