er hand, she would go to no end of trouble to see that the
rules of the school were rigidly enforced and that the girls under her
care would do nothing unbecoming a lady or which might bring criticism
upon their heads.

Soon the three were on their way. For three days, Hester Alden had
enjoyed the ride in anticipation. But now something had gone from it.
The buoyancy of spirit which was generally hers and the power of
enjoying the most trifling affairs had deserted her. She sat silent
until Helen rallied her. Then she made an effort to be her usual bright
talkative self; but it was plainly an effort. She was forcing an
interest in what was going on about her. Her mind dwelt only on the
statement she had made to Robert Vail.

"It was a lie, a lie," she kept repeating to herself. She was almost
afraid to meet Aunt Debby. How Aunt Debby despised anything of that
kind! Hester felt that her clear gray eyes would look straight down into
her heart and read the lie which had made a mark there.

Robert Vail observed that Hester was more than quiet. She was depressed
and anxious.

Debby Alden was prepared to receive the guests. She, with Miss Richards,
had a lunch ready to serve. She had smiled when she arranged her table
service. She had given it the right touch of daintiness and refinement.
There had come to her, the remembrance of certain conditions of her life
and her manner of doing things before Hester had come into her life.
She had spoken her thoughts to Miss Richards.

"I have been a different woman ever since I found Hester," she said.
"Life holds so much more for me than it did before--a great deal more
than I ever hoped to have it hold. I wonder what I would have been had
Hester gone her way that day and not have come into my life."

"You would have been Debby Alden," said Miss Richards, "a woman of
conscience and principle. You would have been the same Debby--only with
the narrower view of life. You would have been an old woman instead of a
bright, interesting, beautiful, young girl of forty."

Debby Alden had blushed at the speech.

"You and Hester have conspired to spoil me. I think you are leagued
together to make me vain and worldly. What one does not think of, the
other does. It was only last week that Hester wrote me some very silly
nonsense about not one of the women at the reception, looking half so
fine as I. Of course, I know the child does it merely to please me."

Miss Richards nodded her head i