that pale-pearl silk, with that gauzy scarf upon her
shoulders, she would take pride. Not to be shamed among other girls
by the poorness of her apparel was a pride to her. Perhaps to excel
some others by the prettiness of her apparel might be a pride to
her. But of feminine beauty, as a great gift bestowed upon her, she
thought not at all. She would look in the mirror for the effect of
the scarf, but not for the effect of the neck and shoulders beneath
it. Could she have looked in any mirror for the effect of the dreams
she had thus dreamed,--ah! that would have been the mirror in which
she would have loved yet feared to look!

Why was Lady Albury so kind to her? Perhaps Lady Albury did not know
that Colonel Stubbs had changed his mind. She would know it very
soon, and then, maybe, everything would be changed. As she thought of
this she longed to put the pearl silk dress aside, and not to wear
it as yet,--to put it aside so that it might never be worn by her if
circumstances should so require. It was to be hoped that the man had
changed his mind,--and to be hoped that Lady Albury would know that
he had done so. Then she would soon see whether there was a change.
Could she not give a reason why she should not wear the dress this
night? As she sat gazing at the fire a tear ran down her cheek. Was
it for the dress she would not wear, or for the lover whom she would
not love?

The question as to the dress was settled for her very soon. Lady
Albury's maid came into the room,--not a chit of a girl without a
thought of her own except as to her own grandness in being two steps
higher than the kitchen-maid,--but a well-grown, buxom, powerful
woman, who had no idea of letting such a young lady as Ayala do
anything in the matter of dress but what she told her. When Ayala
suggested something as to the next evening in reference to the
pale-pearl silk the buxom powerful woman pooh-poohed her down in
a moment. What;--after Sir Harry had taken so much trouble about
having it made; having actually inquired about it with his own mouth.
"To-night, Miss; you must wear it to-night! My lady would be quite
angry!" "My lady not know what you wear! My lady knows what all the
ladies wear,--morning, noon, and night." That little plan of letting
the dress lie by till she should know how she should be received
after Colonel Stubbs's change of mind had been declared, fell to the
ground altogether under the hands of the buxom powerful woman.

Wh