comed, "especially such as are ours," and she called his
attention to Barbara, who at that moment was approaching on the arm of a
distinguished-looking man, who was evidently absorbed with his fair
companion.

Perfectly unconscious of herself, she moved with so much of womanly
grace that Robert Sumner was startled. She seemed like a stranger; this
tall, queenly creature could not be the everyday Barbara who had been
little more than a child to him. In passing she looked with a loving
smile at Mrs. Douglas, and then for a moment her eyes with the light
still in them met his, and slowly turned away. The soft flush on her
cheek deepened, and Robert Sumner felt the swift blood surge back upon
his heart until his head swam. When last had he seen such a look in
woman's eyes? Ah! how he had loved those sweet dark eyes long years ago!
Oh! the desolate longing!

Mrs. Douglas's look had followed Barbara--then had sought Bettina, who,
with Margery by her side, was surrounded by a little group of admirers;
so she was conscious of nothing unusual. But Miss Sherman, who stood
near, had seen Barbara's flush and noted Mr. Sumner's momentary pallor,
and afterward his evident effort to be just himself again. What could it
mean? she thought.

All through the evening she had suffered from a little unreasonable
jealousy as she had realized for the first time that these "Burnett
girls,"--mere companions of Margery, as she had always thought of
them,--were really young ladies, and most unusually beautiful ones, as
she was forced to confess to herself. She envied them the occasion, the
honor they gained through their intimate connection with Mr. Sumner and
Mrs. Douglas, and the impression they were so evidently making on
everybody. She was not broad or generous minded enough to be glad for
the young girls from her own country as a nobler-minded woman would have
been. But that there could be any especial feeling, or even momentary
thought, between Mr. Sumner and Barbara was too absurd to be considered
for a moment. That could not be.

Drawing near, she joined Mrs. Douglas and Mr. Sumner, and again sweetly
congratulated them on the success of their party, the beauty of the
rooms, etc.

"The young girls, too," she said, "I am sure do you great credit--quite
grown-up they seem, I declare. What a difference clothes make, do they
not? I have been a bit amused by some of their pretty airs, as an older
woman could not fail to be," and an indulge