ucking, such insertions of fine thread
tatting that, in order to be finished, Rebecca's dress was given out in
sections,--the sash to Hannah, waist and sleeves to Mrs. Cobb, and
skirt to aunt Jane. The stitches that went into the despised material,
worth only three or four pennies a yard, made the dresses altogether
lovely, and as for the folds and lines into which they fell, they could
have given points to satins and brocades.

The two girls were waiting in their room alone, Emma Jane in rather a
tearful state of mind. She kept thinking that it was the last day that
they would be together in this altogether sweet and close intimacy. The
beginning of the end seemed to have dawned, for two positions had been
offered Rebecca by Mr. Morrison the day before: one in which she would
play for singing and calisthenics, and superintend the piano practice
of the younger girls in a boarding-school; the other an assistant's
place in the Edgewood High School. Both were very modest as to salary,
but the former included educational advantages that Miss Maxwell
thought might be valuable.

Rebecca's mood had passed from that of excitement into a sort of
exaltation, and when the first bell rang through the corridors
announcing that in five minutes the class would proceed in a body to
the church for the exercises, she stood motionless and speechless at
the window with her hand on her heart.

"It is coming, Emmie," she said presently; "do you remember in The Mill
on the Floss, when Maggie Tulliver closed the golden gates of childhood
behind her? I can almost see them swing; almost hear them clang; and I
can't tell whether I am glad or sorry."

"I shouldn't care how they swung or clanged," said Emma Jane, "if only
you and I were on the same side of the gate; but we shan't be, I know
we shan't!"

"Emmie, don't dare to cry, for I'm just on the brink myself! If only
you were graduating with me; that's my only sorrow! There! I hear the
rumble of the wheels! People will be seeing our grand surprise now! Hug
me once for luck, dear Emmie; a careful hug, remembering our
butter-muslin frailty!"

Ten minutes later, Adam Ladd, who had just arrived from Portland and
was wending his way to the church, came suddenly into the main street
and stopped short under a tree by the wayside, riveted to the spot by a
scene of picturesque loveliness such as his eyes had seldom witnessed
before. The class of which Rebecca was president was not likely to
foll