made that wish. As for her aunt, she was saying to her
husband, who had just come in, "Well, well! that child has the queerest
notions. Her mother lets her read entirely too much, and anything she
happens to get her hands on. And she sets such store by her clothes,
too. I believe if she had her own way she'd be rigged out in her Sunday
best the whole week long. I'm glad that Lucy isn't like her."

No one, judging by the appearance of the resolute little figure trudging
across the lane, would have imagined that Ann's besetting sin was a love
of dress. She was such a plain old-fashioned little body, with her short
brown hair combed smoothly back behind her ears. But the checked
sunbonnet, the long-sleeved gingham apron, and the stout calfskin shoes
were no index of Ann's taste. They were of her mother's choosing, and
Ann's mother was not a woman whose decisions could be lightly set
aside.

In a bureau drawer in the guest-chamber of the little cottage was a
dress that Ann had been longing to put on for six months. It was of
dainty white organdy, made to wear over a slip of the palest green silk,
with ribbons to match. And carefully wrapped in a box, with many
coverings of tissue paper, was a pair of beautiful pale green kid shoes.
Ann had worn them only once, and that was in the early spring, when she
had gone to a cousin's wedding in the city. Many a Sunday morning since,
she had wept bitter tears into that drawer, at not being allowed to wear
the costume to church.

"Just see how beautiful they are, mother," she would say tearfully,
touching the beribboned dress with admiring fingers and caressing the
shoes. "By the time I have another chance to wear them in the city they
will be too small for me, and I shall have to give them to Betty. I
don't see why I can't wear them out here."

"Because they are not suitable, Ann," her mother would answer. "You
would look ridiculous going through the fields and along the dusty roads
in such finery, and among all these plainly attired country people you
would appear overdressed. I hope that my little daughter is too much of
a lady in her tastes to ever want to call attention to herself in that
way, especially at church."

"But, mother," the little girl would sob protestingly, and then Mrs.
Fowler's decided voice would silence her.

"Hush, Ann! Close the drawer at once. You cannot wear them." That would
settle the matter for awhile, but the scene had been repeated several
times