at I wish her to be. Pardon me, madam, but Anna
does not possess the same amount of intellect with her cousin or
sister, but by proper culture she will make a fine, intelligent
woman."

Mrs. Livingstone hardly relished being told that one child was
inferior to the other, but she could not well help herself--Mr.
Everett would say what he pleased--and thus the conference ended.
From that time Mr. Everett was exceedingly kind to Anna, wiping away
the tears which invariably came when told that she must stay with him
in the school-room after the rest were gone; then, instead of seating
himself in rigid silence at a distance until her task was learned, he
would sit by her side, occasionally smoothing her long curls and
speaking encouragingly to her as she pored over some hard rule of
grammar, or puzzled her brains with some difficult problem in
Colburn. Erelong the result of all this became manifest. Anna grew
fonder of her books, more ready to learn, and--more willing to be
kept after school!

Ah, little did Mrs. Livingstone think what she was doing when she
bade young Malcolm Everett make her warm-hearted, impulsive daughter
_think_ he liked her!

CHAPTER VIII.

SCHEMING.

"Mother, where's 'Lena's dress? Hasn't she got any?" asked Anna, one
morning, about two weeks before Christmas, as she bent over a
promiscuous pile of merinoes, delaines, and plaid silks, her own and
Carrie's dresses for the coming holidays. "Say, mother, didn't you
buy 'Lena any?"

Thus interrogated, Mrs. Livingstone replied, "I wonder if you think
I'm made of money! 'Lena is indebted to me now for more than she can
ever pay. As long as I give her a home and am at so much expense in
educating her, she of course can't expect me to dress her as I do
you. There's Carrie's brown delaine and your blue one, which I
intend to have made over for her, and she ought to be satisfied with
that, for they are much better than anything she had when she came
here."

And the lady glanced toward the spot where 'Lena sat, admiring the
new things, in which she had no share, and longing to ask the
question which Anna had asked for her, and which had now been
answered. John Jr., who was present, and who knew that Mr. Everett
had been engaged to teach in the family long before it was known that
'Lena was coming, now said to his cousin, who arose to leave, "Yes,
'Lena, mother's a model of generosity, and you'll never be able to
repay her for her kindness in