er voice which she could not eliminate.
In reality she was saying to herself that Evelyn Edgham, in spite of
her being so pretty, had had to meet a rebuff, and she exulted in it.

Evelyn still said nothing. She left Addie abruptly and joined Maria
in her class-room. It was the noon-hour. Maria glanced anxiously at
her sister as she entered.

"Why, darling, what is the matter?" she cried.

"Nothing," replied Evelyn. An impulse of loyalty seized her. She
would not repeat, not even to Maria, the unkind words which Mr. Lee
had used towards her.

"But you look so pale, dear," said Maria.

"It was warm in there," said Evelyn, with a quiet, dejected air
unusual to her.

Maria could not get any admission that anything was wrong from her.
Evelyn tried to eat her luncheon, making more of an effort than
usual, but she could not. At last she laid her head down on her
sister's table and wept with the utter abandon of a child, but she
still would not tell what caused her tears.

After that Evelyn lost flesh so rapidly that it became alarming.
Maria and her aunt wondered if they ought to allow her to go through
the strain of the graduation exercises, but neither dared say
anything about it to her. Evelyn's whole mind seemed fastened upon
her graduation and the acquitting of herself with credit. She studied
assiduously. She often used to go into the spare chamber and gaze at
her graduating dress, which was spread out on the bed there covered
with a sheet.

"She's so set on that graduation and wearing that dress," Aunt Maria
said to Eunice Stillman, her sister-in-law, one day when she was
alone with her in her parlor and heard Evelyn's light step overhead.
"She goes in there almost every day and looks at it."

Eunice sighed. "Well, I wish she looked better," said she.

"So do I. It seems to me that she loses every day."

"Did you ever think--" began Eunice. Then she stopped and hesitated.

"Think what?"

"If--anything happened to her, that that dress--"

"Oh, for the land sake, stop, Eunice!" cried Aunt Maria, impatiently.
"Ain't I had it on my mind the whole time. And that dress looks just
as if it was laid out there."

"Do you think Maria notices?"

"Yes, she's just as worried as I am. But what can we do? Maybe if
Evelyn gets through the graduation she will be better. I shall be
thankful when it's over, for my part."

"How that child's mother could have gone off and left her all this
time I don't see," Eunice sa