She had not realized that she
loved them so dearly, until she saw them again. It was just as it had
been with the people at the Farm. She spread all the gay beauty of the
contents of that box out in the sitting room, and tried them all on,
pirouetting and turning and making vivid for the three old ladies who
listened to her the parties to which she had worn them.

Miss Letitia was loud in her outspoken admiration of every single
frock; her simple heart could not decide which one she liked best, and
her seamstress instinct marveled at the wonder of their making. Miss
Asenath was more quiet in her approval, but her eyes sparkled at the
brightness of their various colors all around her. Miss Eliza was
noncommittal, though it was very evident that she found much to
displease. When Arethusa tried on the Green Frock which she so dearly
loved, she openly expressed her displeasure.

"Did your stepmother," and if ever her rigid little body had signified
disapproval of anything it did then, in every line, "did your
stepmother permit you to go around dressed like that?"

"All the girls wear dresses like this," replied Arethusa, defensively.

"Then--," began Miss Eliza, with decision, but she snapped her lips
together just like a trap and did not finish.

Arethusa, with cheeks that flamed, put away the Green Dress, hung in
the darkest corner of the high old walnut wardrobe in her room. The
exhibition of the box of clothes ceased abruptly for the time being,
and Arethusa fled far away from any chance of Miss Eliza's questions.
The Green Dress had been her attire that Fatal Night of the January
Cotillion.

Timothy took his time about coming over to see Arethusa, although, had
she but known it, it required every bit of self-control he possessed to
stay away. He had wanted to rush right over that first afternoon, but
his heart was mighty sore still, and he was taking the only way he knew
to make Arethusa understand that he did not care in the least how much
she gazed adoringly at that very objectionable Mr. Bennet.

She did not see it just exactly that way, however, and as the days went
by and she watched for him and he did not come, she put her own
construction upon his behavior, and it was right along the line of her
conclusions in regard to him that night when she had gazed up at the
stars, thinking of him.

But he strolled over, late one afternoon quite formally, just as if he,
who had half lived at the Farm all of his lif