iel is quite Constance's equal in mind, and,
though perhaps I am not the one to say it, Doris surely excels her in
looks. Don't you think so, darling?" she added.

"Unquestionably," agreed the friend, with much the quality of firm
promptness with which one would bolt a nauseous pill, or extrude an ailing
oyster.

"Yet merely because Constance has been out so much longer, and therefore
is much more experienced, she self--she monopolises the attentions of the
men; you know she does, Josie."

"Absolutely," once more concurred Mrs. Ferguson; and this time, though she
spoke less quickly, her tone carried greater conviction. "They
are--well--she--she undoubtedly--that is, she contrives--somehow--to
eclipse, or at least overshadow them."

"Exactly. I don't like to think that she manages--but whether she does or
not, the results are as bad as if she did; and thoughtlessness--if it is
only that, which I can't believe--is quite as blamable as--as more
intentional scheming."

"Then of course," said Mrs. Ferguson, "every one knows about her mother's
fortune--and men are so mercenary in these days."

"Oh, Josie, I don't like to speak of that myself, but it is such a relief
to have you say it. That is the whole trouble. What sort of a chance have
my poor dears, who will inherit so little compared to her wealth, and that
not till--till we are through with it--against Constance? I call it really
shameful of her to keep on standing in their light!"

"Have you--Couldn't you let her see--drop a hint--of the unconscious
injury she is--"

"That is the cruelty of my position," moaned Mrs. Durant. "I should not
hesitate a moment, but the world is so ill-natured about stepmothers that
one has to be over-careful, and with daughters of my own, I'm afraid
people--perhaps my own husband--would think I was trying to sacrifice her
to them."

"But have you no friend you could ask to--?"

"Josie! Would you?" eagerly interrupted Mrs. Durant. "She will be
influenced, I know, by anything you--"

"Gracious, my dear, I never dreamed of--of you asking me! Why, I don't
know her in the least. I couldn't, really."

"But for my sake? And you know her as well as--as any one else; for
Constance has no intimates or--"

"Don't you see that's it? I'd as soon think of--of--From me she would only
take it as an impertinence."

"I don't see why everybody stands so in awe of a girl of twenty-three,
unless it's because she's rich," querulously sighed Mrs