n the
bed. Her mother had carried them with her through that awful fire. They
were one of her two treasures and now she had almost said she would not
wear them. Oh, what a selfish girl she had been! She had thought only of
herself.

Once she had asked her mother why the scar was upon her face and she had
answered, "Just an accident, child, when I was a young woman." Then she
had talked of something else. The lame foot, the misshapen hands, the red
face, the queer little knot of hair--all were the price paid for her own
life. Every minute since she was born, she had been a burden to her
mother.

Now she understood why the little bank account which she had accidentally
found was being so carefully saved. She had not known that she was to go
to college.

Now she remembered that it had been years since mother had had a new
dress, but she had thought it was because she was queer. There had been
many days when mother had seemed cross--was it because she was suffering?
Oh, how sorry she was! What could she do to make her happy now that she
knew?

Slowly she undressed for bed. She must be in the dark to think. When she
knelt in prayer, she asked God to forgive her--but she remembered that she
could not ask mother to do so. She remembered the words of her mother to
Mr. Morse,

"It would kill me to have her sorry for me. She must love me for myself
and not for what I did."

So she tossed and tumbled as the time slipped by. Suddenly she heard a
foot dragging across the hall, and a big lump came into her throat. How
often she had rebelled at that foot! Then her mother came quietly into the
room.

"Mother," said Mary, "why are you here? Aren't you asleep yet?"

"No, dear," said the mother, and the girl thought she had never heard a
more beautiful voice. "I heard you tossing in the bed and I thought
perhaps you were ill. So I came to see. What is the trouble, dear?"

"Oh, to-morrow is my graduation day and I think I am sorry to leave
school," said the girl. "I love these dear little beads which I have under
the pillow, mother. Have you had them long? I never saw them before."

"Many, many years, girlie. Your father gave them to me and how hard he
worked to earn them! I love every little bead on the string. But I shall
love to see you wear them for his sake. I saved them for you once in the
long ago because I wanted you to have something that he had earned for us.
And now you must go to sleep, for you must look bright and