le
incoherently, for she was tired and breathless, and the girl's
exclamations were so bewildering.

Mrs. Lambert, a pale, care-worn woman, with a sweet pathetic sort of
face, was listening with much perplexity, which was not lessened by the
sight of her husband ushering into the room a handsome-looking girl,
dressed in the most expensive fashion.

"Dora, my dear, this is Bessie's fellow-sufferer in the snowdrift; we
must make much of her, for she is the daughter of my old friend, Eleanor
Sartoris--Mrs. Sefton now. Bessie has offered her her own room to-night,
as it is too late for her to travel to London."

A quick look passed between the husband and wife, and a faint color came
to Mrs. Lambert's face, but she was too well-bred to express her
astonishment.

"You are very welcome, my dear," she said quietly. "We will make you as
comfortable as we can. These are all my girls," and she mentioned their
names.

"What a lot of girls," thought Edna. She was not a bit shy by nature,
and somehow the situation amused her. "What a comfortable, homelike
room, and what a lovely fire! And--well, of course, they were not rich;
any one could see that; but they were nice, kind people."

"This is better than the snowdrift," she said, with a beaming smile, as
Dr. Lambert placed her in his own easy chair, and Tom brought her a
footstool and handed her a screen, and her old acquaintance Bessie
helped her to remove her wraps. The whole family gathered round her,
intent on hospitality to the bewitching stranger--only the "Crutch," as
Tom called her, tripped away to order Jane to light a fire in her room,
and to give out the clean linen for the unexpected guest, and to put a
few finishing touches to the supper-table.

The others did not miss her at first. Christine, a tall, graceful girl
who had inherited her father's good looks, was questioning Edna about
the journey, and the rest were listening to the answers.

Hatty, a pale, sickly-looking girl, whose really fine features were
marred by unhealthy sullenness and an anxious, fretful expression, was
hanging on every word; while the tall schoolgirl Ella, and the smaller,
bright-eyed Katie, were standing behind their mother, trying to hide
their awkwardness and bashfulness, till Tom came to the rescue by
finding them seats, with a whispered hint to Katie that it was not good
manners to stare so at a stranger. Edna saw everything with quiet,
amused eyes; she satisfied Christine's curio