caught the light and gleamed and flashed.

"Now, the idea is to let it stand naturally, just as the curl will make
it. Don't you do any of that nasty, untidy snarling, Elnora," cautioned
Margaret. "Wash it this way every two weeks while you are in school,
shake it out, and dry it. Then part it in the middle and turn a front
quarter on each side from your face. You tie the back at your neck with
a string--so, and the ribbon goes in a big, loose bow. I'll show you."
One after another Margaret Sinton tied the ribbons, creasing each of
them so they could not be returned, as she explained that she was trying
to find the colour most becoming. Then she produced the raincoat which
carried Elnora into transports.

Mrs. Comstock objected. "That won't be warm enough for cold weather, and
you can't afford it and a coat, too."

"I'll tell you what I thought," said Elnora. "I was planning on the way
home. These coats are fine because they keep you dry. I thought I would
get one, and a warm sweater to wear under it cold days. Then I always
would be dry, and warm. The sweater only costs three dollars, so I could
get it and the raincoat both for half the price of a heavy cloth coat."

"You are right about that," said Mrs. Comstock. "You can change more
with the weather, too. Keep the raincoat, Elnora."

"Wear it until you try the hat," said Margaret. "It will have to do
until the dress is finished."

Elnora picked up the hat dubiously. "Mother, may I wear my hair as it is
now?" she asked.

"Let me take a good look," said Katharine Comstock.

Heaven only knows what she saw. To Wesley and to Margaret the bright
young face of Elnora, with its pink tints, its heavy dark brows, its
bright blue-gray eyes, and its frame of curling reddish-brown hair was
the sweetest sight on earth, and at that instant Elnora was radiant.

"So long as it's your own hair, and combed back as plain as it will go,
I don't suppose it cuts much ice whether it's tied a little tighter or
looser," conceded Mrs. Comstock. "If you stop right there, you may let
it go at that."

Elnora set the hat on her head. It was only a wide tan straw with three
exquisite peacock quills at one side. Margaret Sinton cried out, Wesley
slapped his knee and sighed deeply while Mrs. Comstock stood speechless
for a second.

"I wish you had asked the price before you put that on," she said
impatiently. "We never can afford it."

"It's not so much as you think," said Margaret. "Do