h to have
you of our set."

Helen obeyed, a little puzzled, but afraid to act against the judgment
of her august hostess. So she found herself soon bidden to afternoon
teas and receptions and all the affairs where the older set attended.
She met no one of her own age, however, except Miss Annabel who called
them all old frumps, and declared married folk were deadly dull, and
she would never go near their parties again so long as she lived. And
she fell into a state of nervous apprehension, when the approach of the
next afternoon tea was rumoured abroad, lest she should not be invited.
Poor Miss Annabel was being slowly but surely pushed on into the older
set by the younger generation. She hated her position, but it was the
only one left, and it was better than the dread desolation of no
position at all.

Helen kept away from the whirl, finding her duties at school sufficient
excuse. She often longed for some young life, however, and wondered
why she did not meet the daughters of the ladies who were so kind to
her when she went out under Miss Armstrong's wing.

She did not know as yet that the reason was two-fold. First, the
younger set were a little more exclusive than the one in which the
Misses Armstrong moved. Young Algonquin had but recently awakened to
the fact that society was not society unless you built a fence about it
and kept somebody--it didn't matter much who--out. The other and more
potent reason was Helen's unfortunate sex. There were already far too
many young ladies in Algonquin. A young man with exactly her claims to
recognition would have been received with acclaim. But, except in
holiday time, there was always a sad dearth of young men in Algonquin,
if not an actual famine. So no wonder the young ladies rather resented
the appearance of another girl to join their already too swollen ranks,
and especially a girl so undeniably attractive as the new school
teacher.

Quite unconscious of all this, Helen spent many a lonely evening at her
window looking down at the gay crowds passing along the street towards
the lake, and listening drearily to their happy voices floating under
the leafy tunnel of the trees.

She dared not join the groups that would have welcomed her, the young
folk who earned their living and who made the church a centre of social
intercourse for the lonely. Miss Armstrong had politely given her to
understand that she would not be welcome in Rosemount, if she
associated