key
who objected to giving up his tray to the old man.

"You mean the young lady who's havin' her comin' out?"

"No, I don't mean her, but my Miss Ann, who air a settin' over yonder
all kivered with di'ments."

Miss Ann was weary and tremulous. She had been strangely moved by
Judge Middleton's speech. Why, she did not know exactly, but all
evening she had been putting herself in Judith's place, wondering what
life would have held for her if at the turning point she had shown the
character and spunk of this young girl. She had gone with the rest to
shake hands with the girl after Judge Middleton's speech. She longed
to declare their relationship, but was afraid to until the family
accepted Judith. So Miss Ann merely took Judith's hand in hers and
pressed it gently. All she said was, "I am so happy to have met you."

"Oh, thank you, Miss Peyton. I am indeed glad to know you." Judith had
almost called her cousin. She devoutly hoped nobody had noticed it,
but there was no time for repinings because one was stand-offish. Too
many persons must be introduced to the debutante. Even had Mildred
Bucknor been inclined to chat with her former schoolmate she would not
have been allowed to do it. There were others who pressed forward to
greet the fairy godchild of the old men of Ryeville.

The general attitude of the assembly was good natured and
congratulatory. The aristocratic contingent was inclined to be a
little formal, but polite and not unkindly. The aristocrats were more
or less related to one another, and most of them were connected,
closely or distantly, with the Bucknors. Their formality in greeting
Judith might easily have been accounted for by the fact that Big Josh
Bucknor had kept the ball rolling in regard to old Dick Buck's kinship
with the family. From the moment Miss Ann Peyton had made the
statement that the Bucks and Bucknors were originally the same people,
Big Josh had been spreading the news. All of them had heard it before,
but nobody had ever given serious thought to it. To be related to
slovenly, lazy, dissipated old Dick Buck was out of the question. The
possibility of such a connection was laughably preposterous. It was
quite a different matter, however, to contemplate receiving into the
charmed circle a beautiful young girl who was everything her unworthy
old grandparent had not been.

"But we must go slowly," Little Josh Bucknor had said, when approached
by his cousin, Big Josh. "It's a great dea