able, and said in
a pleasantly inquiring tone, "Well?" then listened, but there was a tint
of perplexity in her face.

"I had a note from Mrs. Van Dorn by the last steamer also. She seems
very well satisfied with your progress, only she is rather exigent
about the French, and I wish you would do all you can at it during
vacation. But she is very explicit about the summer. I think she prefers
that you should spend it in Hope."

She had been rather more than explicit, and said she did not approve of
such young girls visiting about. Mr. Castles would send a trusty person
for Helen and see her safely on the train for Hope.

"Do you not think I might write to her about it for a visit later on?"

"Yes, you could. But Mrs. Van Dorn is certain of her own wishes in any
matter, and generally has good reasons. I do not imagine a visit like
this would do you any harm, but you are young, and I _do_ suppose you
owe your own people some respect. I think I should accept the fiat."

Helen felt bitterly disappointed. She did not dream her girlish
enthusiasm about Daisy Bell had been one of the factors in this command,
as it really was, that Mrs. Van Dorn did not want any girl to gain a
strong influence over Helen, but she need not have felt suspicious, as
the influence was all the other way.

It had come like a sudden vision, and now it was quenched in bitter
regret, with the unappeased want back of it.

"I do object to indiscriminate visiting for such young girls. If Mrs.
Van Dorn were here and could see just the kind of girl Miss Daisy is, it
would be different, but I suppose, if she thought at all, it was about
the generality of girls, who sometimes are quite lawless in their own
homes. Since you have accepted her direction for the next two years, it
is best to do it cheerfully," advised Mrs. Aldred.

"Yes, I _do_ owe her that much," returned Helen in a convinced tone, if
the disappointment had not all gone out of it.

Then Daisy and she had an unpleasant disagreement about it, and Helen
felt sorrier than ever.

Juliet Craven's happening was a comforting one for her. Mrs. Davis had
gone abroad with a clear conscience. Her friend, Mrs. Howard, was to
look after the ward who was neither woman or child.

Then came the rush of examinations, the excitement to know who had
passed, and what the marks were, and the graduation exercises which
began at three in the afternoon and were to end with a lawn party in the
moonlight.

So