seen, and I
think, Amy, you had better wear that embroidered mauve crape," she
said.

"But, Anna," said Mrs. Carroll, "doesn't it seem as if Ina's mother
ought not to wear an old gown at the dear child's wedding? I would as
lief, as far as I am concerned, but is it doing the right thing?"

"Why not?" asked Anna, rather tartly. Lately her temper was growing a
little uncertain. Sometimes she felt as if she had been beset all her
life by swarms of gnats. "No one here has ever seen the dress," said
she. "And what in the world could you have prettier, if you were to
get a new one?"

"Oh, this Banbridge dressmaker is really making charming things,"
said Mrs. Carroll, rather eagerly. She had a childish fondness for
new clothes. "She would make me a beautiful dress, so far as that
goes, Anna, dear."

"She has all she can do with Ina's things."

"I reckon she could squeeze in one for me, Anna. Don't you think so?"

"Then there is the extra expense," said Anna.

"But she does not hesitate in the least to trust us," said Mrs.
Carroll. "But maybe you are right, Anna. That embroidered mauve is
lovely, and perfectly fresh, and it is very warm to fuss over
another, and then my amethysts look charming with that."

Therefore, Mrs. Carroll wore the mauve and the amethysts, and was by
many considered handsomer than either of her daughters. There had
been some discussion about giving the amethysts to Ina for a
wedding-gift, but finally a set of wonderful carved corals, which she
had always loved and never been allowed to wear, were decided upon.
Anna had given a pearl brooch, which had come down from her paternal
grandmother, and Carroll had presented her with a large and evidently
valuable pearl ring which had excited some wonder in the family.

"Why, Arthur, where did you get it?" his wife had cried,
involuntarily; and he had laughed and refused to tell her.

Ina herself, while she received the ring with the greatest delight,
was secretly a little troubled. "I am afraid poor papa ought not to
have given me such a present as this," she said to Charlotte, when
the two girls were in their room that night. As she spoke she was
holding the pearl to the lamp-light and watching the beautiful pink
lights. It was a tinted pearl.

"It is a little different, because you are going away, and papa will
never buy you things again," said Charlotte. "I should not worry,
dear." For the few days before her marriage, Charlotte had gotten a
h