spoil her splendidly developed form. Her
school companions called her the Princess, she was so tall and straight,
and graceful in every movement, with that sweet graciousness of manner
which won all hearts to her and made her a general favorite. Whether she
spelled her name with an _ie_ or a _y_ and stood five feet six or four
feet five, she was the same Jerry who had defended Harold against Tom
Tracy, and been ready to go to prison, if need be, for Mr. Arthur.
Frank, unselfish, truthful, and original, she had been as a child, with
perhaps a little too much pride in her hair, which she hid once cut off
to see how it would seem, and she was original, and truthful, and
unselfish now, with a pardonable pride in her luxuriant tresses, which
lay in waves upon her finely-shaped head and glistened in the sunlight
like satin of a golden hue. But nothing could spoil Jerrie, not even the
adulation of her friends or the looking-glass which told her she was
beautiful, just as Nina St. Claire told her every day.

'Yes; I am not blind, and I know that I am rather good-looking,' she
once said to Nina, 'and I am glad, for, as a rule, people like pretty
things better than ugly ones, but I am not an idiot to think that looks
are everything, and I don't believe I am very vain. I used to be though,
when a child, but Harold gave me so many lectures upon vanity that I
should not do credit to his teachings were I now to be proud of what I
did not do myself.'

'But Harold thinks you are beautiful,' Nina replied.

'He does? I did not know that. When did he say so?' Jerrie asked; with
kindling eyes and a quick, sideways turn of her head, of which she had a
habit when startled by some sudden emotion.

'He said so last vacation, when we were home, and I had that little
musicale, and you played and sang so divinely, and wore that dress of
baby-blue which Mr. Arthur gave you, with the blush-rose, in your belt.'
Nina said; 'I was so proud of you and so was mamma and Mrs. Atherton.
You remember there were some New Yorkers there who were visiting Mrs.
Grace, and I was glad for them to know that we had some talent, and some
beauty, too, in the country; and Harold was proud, too. I don't think
he ever took his eyes off you from the time you sat down to the piano
until you left it, and when I said to him, "Doesn't she sing like an
angel, and isn't the lovely?" he replied: "I think my sister Jerry has
the loveliest face I ever saw, and that blue dress