as Katy's letter, and it brought a gush of tears from the four
women remembered so lovingly in it, the mother and the aunts stealing
away to weep in secret, without ever stopping to look at the new dresses
sent to them by Wilford Cameron. They were very soft, very handsome,
especially Helen's rich golden brown, and as she looked at it she felt a
thrill of satisfaction in knowing it was hers, but this quickly passed
as she took out one by one the garments she had folded with so much
care, wondering when Katy would wear each one and where she would be.

"She will never wear them, never--they are not fine enough for her now!"
she exclaimed, and as she just then came upon the little plaid, she laid
her head upon the trunk lid, while her tears dropped like rain in among
the discarded articles condemned by Wilford Cameron.

It seemed to her like Katy's grave, and she was still sobbing bitterly,
when a step sounded outside the window, and a voice called her name. It
was Morris, and lifting up her head Helen said, passionately:

"Oh, Morris, look! he has sent back all Katy's clothes, which you bought
and I worked so hard to make. They were not good enough for his wife to
wear, and so he insulted us. Oh, Katy, I never fully realized till now
how wholly she is lost to us!"

"Helen, Helen," Morris kept saying, trying to stop her, for close behind
him was Mark Ray, who heard her distinctly, and glancing in, saw her
kneeling before the trunk, her pale face stained with tears, and her
dark eyes shining with excitement.

Mark Ray understood it at a glance, feeling indignant at Wilford for
thus unnecessarily wounding the sensitive girl, whose expression, as she
sat there upon the floor, with her face upturned to Morris, haunted him
for months. Mark was sorry for her--so sorry that his first impulse was
to go quietly away, and so spare her the mortification of knowing that
he had witnessed that little scene; but it was now too late. As she
finished speaking her eye fell on him, and coloring scarlet she
struggled to her feet, and covering her face with her hands wept still
more violently. Mark was in a dilemma, and whispered softly to Morris:
"I think I had better leave. You can tell her all I had to say;" but
Helen heard him, and mastering her agitation she said to him:

"Please, Mr. Ray, don't go--not yet at least, not till I have asked you
of Katy. Did you see her off? Has she gone?"

Thus importuned, Mark Ray came in, and sitti