is the matter with my daughter? Has anything serious occurred at
the institute?"

"O mamma," said Nellie, half reproachfully, "you can't have forgotten
that it is just a week to-day since I received that invitation to
Minnie Shelburne's party. You said at the time, that you didn't know
whether I might accept, and I think I've been very patient not to
tease you about it. Almost all the girls are going. Mrs. Doane has
bought the loveliest silk for Carrie and Jessie; and Mrs. Hilton has
three women sewing on Emma's dress. Here I am not knowing whether I
can go. Cousin Sue said she thought my 'mother a woman of great
deliberation.'"

"In years to come you will rejoice over the truth of that remark, my
darling."

"But, mamma, please decide now, won't you?"

"I have decided, my dear. Last night your father and I had a long talk
about the matter, and we agreed--"

"To let me go?" cried eager Nellie.

"No, dear. Anxious for your truest good, we were sorry we should have
to disappoint you. But we cannot grant you a harmful pleasure." Nellie
bit her lip, while her eyes filled with tears.

"May I ask your reasons, mamma?"

"Yes, dear; and I feel that my sensible little daughter cannot but be
satisfied with them. All the advantages you are now having tend to
make you, at some future time, a useful woman in society. To obtain
their full benefit, your mind must remain undiverted from your
studies, and you must be kept free from everything that will detract
from your health and strength. Parties will excite you, deprive you of
sleep, fill your mind with foolish fancies, retard you in your school
work, and make you thin, pale, and irritable. We should sadly miss our
bright, blooming Nellie. Do you wonder we refuse to let you attend the
party?"

"But just once cannot hurt me," pleaded Nellie.

"The one party, my child, will be followed by a score of them. If you
go to Miss Shelburne's, the other girls will wonder why you cannot
attend theirs, and ill feeling will arise. We will talk no more about
it now. Sometime you will thank me for my course. Are you satisfied?"

"I'll try to be, mamma," said Nellie; but there were a few suspicious
drops on her eyelashes.

The night of the party arrived. Nellie had had a very trying week at
school, for the girls thought of nothing else besides their fine
preparations. She bore it bravely, and after tea sat resolutely down
to her lessons, which were unusually difficult. Half-past eigh