ousehold was
impossible.

When away from home Beth's disposition softened. Some of her
school-friends had seen her smile--a wonderful and charming phenomenon,
during which her expression grew sweet and bewitchingly animated and her
brown eyes radiant with mirthful light. It was not the same Beth at all.

Sometimes, when the nieces were all at Aunt Jane's, Beth had snuggled in
the arms of her cousin Louise, who had a way of rendering herself
agreeable to all with whom she came in contact, and tried hard to win
the affection of the frankly antagonistic girl. At such times the
gentleness of Elizabeth, her almost passionate desire to be loved and
fondled, completely transformed her for the moment. Louise, shrewd at
reading others, told herself that Beth possessed a reserve force of
tenderness, amiability and fond devotion that would render her adorable
if she ever allowed those qualities full expression. But she did not
tell Beth that. The girl was so accustomed to despise herself and so
suspicious of any creditable impulses that at times unexpectedly
obtruded themselves, that she would have dismissed such a suggestion as
arrant flattery, and Louise was clever enough not to wish to arouse her
cousin to a full consciousness of her own possibilities.

The trained if not native indifference of this strange girl of fifteen
was demonstrated by her reception of Uncle John's telegram. She quietly
handed it to her mother and said, as calmly as if it were an invitation
to a church picnic:

"I think I shall go."

"Nothing like that ever happened to me," remarked Mrs. De Graf,
enviously. "If John Merrick had an atom of common sense he'd have taken
me to Europe instead of a troop of stupid school girls. But John always
was a fool, and always will be. When will you start, Beth?"

"To-morrow morning. There's nothing to keep me. I'll go to Patsy and
stay with her until we sail."

"Are you glad?" asked her mother, looking into the expressionless face
half curiously.

"Yes," returned Beth, as if considering her reply; "a change is always
interesting, and I have never travelled except to visit Aunt Jane at
Elmhurst. So I think I am pleased to go to Europe."

Mrs. De Graf sighed. There was little in common between mother and
daughter; but that, to a grave extent, was the woman's fault. She had
never tried to understand her child's complex nature, and somewhat
resented Beth's youth and good looks, which she considered contrasted
un