pointed out to her, when
Ida entered.

"See the horsey running away," said Maria. Then she added in a
whisper, "Go and kiss mamma, baby."

The child hesitated, then she rose, and ran to her mother, who
stooped her radiant face over her and kissed her coolly.

"Have you been a good little girl?" asked she. Ida was looking
particularly self-satisfied to day, and more disposed consequently to
question others as to their behavior.

"Yeth," replied Evelyn, without the slightest hesitation. A happy
belief in her own merits was an inheritance from her mother. As yet
it was more charming than otherwise, for the baby had unquestionable
merits in which to believe. Harry and Maria laughed.

"Mamma is very glad," said Ida. She did not laugh; she saw no humor
in it. She turned to Harry. "I think I will go in on the early train
with you to-morrow, dear," she said. "I want to see about Maria's
new dress." Then she turned to Maria. "I have been in to see Miss
Keeler," said she, "and she says she can make it for you next week,
so you can have it when you begin school. I thought of brown with a
touch of blue and burnt-orange. How would you like that?"

"I think that would be perfectly lovely," said Maria with enthusiasm.
She cast a grateful look at her step-mother, almost a look of
affection. She was always very grateful to Ida for her new clothes,
and just now clothes had a more vital interest for her than ever. She
took another stitch in her collar, with Evelyn leaning against her
and kicking out first one chubby leg, then the other, and she
immediately erected new air-castles, in which she figured in her
brown suit with the touches of burnt-orange and blue.

A week later, when she started on the train for Wardway in her new
attire, she felt entirely satisfied with herself and life in general.
She was conscious of looking charming in her new suit of brown, with
the touches of blue and burnt-orange, and her new hat, also brown
with blue and burnt-orange glimpses in the trimmings. Wollaston Lee
got on the same car and sat behind her. Maud Page, the other Edgham
girl who was going to the academy, had a cousin in Wardway, and had
gone there the night before. There were only Maria, Wollaston, and
Edwin Shaw, who sat by himself in a corner, facing the other
passengers with a slightly shamed, sulky expression. He was very
tall, and had blacked his shoes well, and the black light from them
seemed to him obtrusive, the more so because