under
these circumstances was as different as possible from their parting in
the country. Henrietta felt that by receiving Rob Riley in his Sunday
clothes she had forever compromised herself with Hibernia downstairs;
and poor Rob, half chilled by Henrietta's reception, and wholly
dampened by the rosewood furniture and the lace curtains, and the
necessity for sitting down on damask upholstery, was very ill at ease.
Henrietta longed to speak freely, as she had done in the old days when
they strolled through the hill pasture together, but then she trembled
lest the door-bell should ring and some of Mrs. Cousin John's fine
visitors enter the reception room. So the meeting was a failure. Rob
even forgot that he had meant to ask Henrietta to go with him to the
free lecture the next evening. And he was glad when he got out, and
Henrietta was relieved, though she cried with vexation and
disappointment when he was gone. As for Rob, he went home in great
doubt whether it was worth while trying to be something. Of what use
was it to seek to get to be a boss, a builder, or the owner of a
quarry? Things were all wrong anyhow.

After this he only met Henrietta now and then as she came in or went
out, though this was not easy, for he had to work with the hammer all
day, and his evenings were spent in mechanical drawing. On second
thought, he _would_ be something, if only just to show folks that
looked down on him. Though, if he had only known it, Henrietta did not
look down on him at all; all her contempt was expended on herself.

But this feeling wore away as she became naturalized in Mrs. Cousin
John's world. There were little dance parties, and though Henrietta was
obliged to dress plainly, she grew more to be a beautiful woman. The
simplicity of her dress set off this fine loveliness, and Henrietta
Newton was artist enough to understand this, so that her clothes did
not make her abashed in company. She had no party dresses, but with
Mrs. Willard's assistance she always looked the beautiful country
cousin. Other girls remarked upon the monotony of her dress, but then
the gentlemen did not care that one woolen gown did duty on many
occasions. Some women can stand the ordeal of a uniform for church and
theater, party and _tete-a-tete_.

Mrs. Willard meant well by Henrietta. If Henrietta's art got on slowly,
and her chance for a prize decreased steadily under the dissipating
influences about her, it was not that Mrs. Willard intend