air as one could wish to see, and many were the admiring glances
cast upon it, and many the praises it received. Possibly it was a trifle
elaborate for a girl of fifteen, for it was made of delicate white chiffon
over pale yellow satin, and exquisitely embroidered with fine silver
threads. But Ethel looked very lovely in it as she preened herself before
the mirror, and was fully aware of the fact.

"What are you going to wear, Toinette?" she asked.

"I've never worn anything but white yet," answered Toinette. "At Miss
Carter's all my dresses were ordered by Miss Emeline, and she said I ought
not to wear anything else till I was eighteen. I hope Miss Preston won't
say the same."

"I should think you would have hated to have the teachers say just what
you must wear, as well as what you must study. Didn't your father ever
send you any clothes?"

"Papa was too far away to know what I wore or did," answered Toinette,
rather sadly.

"Aren't you glad he is home again?" asked quiet little Helen Burgess, who
somehow always managed to say soothing things when one felt sort of
ruffled up without knowing just why.

"You had better believe I am!" was the emphatic reply. "What will you
wear, Helen?"

"The same thing I always wear, I guess. I haven't much choice in the
matter, you know."

Toinette colored slightly at her thoughtless remark, for she had not
paused to think before speaking. All the girls knew that Helen's purse was
a very slender one, and that it was only by self-sacrifice and close
economy that her parents were able to keep her at such an expensive
school. She made no secret of her lack of money, but worked away bravely
and cheerfully, always sunny, always happy, with the enviable faculty of
invariably saying the right thing at the right time. She had pronounced
artistic tendencies, and Miss Preston was anxious to encourage them in
every possible way. Her great desire was to go to Europe and there see the
originals of the famous paintings of which she read. Each year Miss
Preston went abroad and took with her several of the girls whose parents
could afford such indulgences for them, and Helen longed to be one of
them, although she never for a moment hoped to be.

She did really remarkable work for a girl of her age, and was improving
all the time, but the trip over the sea seemed as far off as a trip to the
moon. Toinette was somewhat of a dilettante, and pottered away with her
water-colors with more or less