modern than the one from
Collingwood, in which Mrs. Atherton and the young lady took their seats,
laughing and chatting so gayly that they did not see the woman in the
big plaid who stood watching them with a rising feeling of jealousy and
resentment as she thought of Mrs. Atherton, 'She does not even notice
me.'
But when the Tracy carriage drew up, Grace Atherton saw and recognized
her, and whispered, in an aside to her companion:
'For goodness' sake, Edith, look! There are the Tracys, our new
neighbors.' Then she bowed to Mrs. Tracy, and said: 'Ah, I did not know
you were on the train.'
'I sat right behind you,' was Mrs. Tracy's rather ungracious reply: and
then, not knowing whether she ought to do it or not, she introduced her
husband.
'Yes, Mr. Tracy--how do you do?' was Mrs. Atherton's response; but she
did not in return introduce the young girl, whose dark eyes were
scanning the strangers so curiously, and this Dolly took as a slight and
inwardly resented it.
But Mrs. Atherton had spoken to her and that was something, and helped
to keep her spirits up as she was driven along the turnpike to the
entrance of the park.
On the occasion of Mrs. Frank's first and only visit to her
brother-in-law it was winter, and everything was covered with snow. But
it was summer now, the month of roses, and fragrance, and beauty, and as
the carriage passed up the broad, smooth avenue which led to the house,
Dolly's eyes wandered over the well-kept lawn, sweet with the scent of
newly-mown grass, the parteries of flowers and shrubs, the winding walks
and clumps of evergreens here and there formed into fancy rooms, with
rustic seats and tables under the over-hanging boughs; and when she
reflected that all this was hers to enjoy for many years, and perhaps
for her life-time, she felt the first stirring of that pride, and
satisfaction, and self-assertion which was to grow upon her so rapidly
and transform her from the plain, unpretentious woman who had washed,
and ironed, and baked, and mended in the small house in Langley into the
arrogant, haughty lady of fashion, who courted only the rich and looked
down upon her less fortunate neighbors. Now, however, she was very meek
and humble, and trembled as she alighted from the carriage before the
great stone house which was to be her home.
'Isn't this grand, Dolly?' her husband said, rubbing his hands together
and looking about him complacently.
'Yes, very grand,' Dolly ans
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