always be considered Mrs.
Boyd's daughter. She had not expected to be received with the young
ladies of the school, and had taken no notice of the little rudenesses
that might have had a better excuse if she had been trying to crowd in.
So all the refinements of birth and education did not always conduce to
the higher generosity of heart.

Miss Arran came gently in the room with an anxious glance toward the
bed.

"Mrs. Barrington wishes to see you in the library, Miss Boyd. I will
stay here with your mother."

Lilian laid down her work as she rose and said: "Mother is asleep now."

Then she went slowly down the wide stairway, her eyes lingering on some
of the panels that had been painted in by a true artist.

"My dear child," the lady said in a voice that seemed full of emotion,
"you must have felt from the beginning that I had taken an unusual
interest in you. You suggested some person that I could not quite place,
but came to know afterward that it was one of my early scholars, a most
charming girl. She married happily and had two sons, but they both
longed for a daughter. Providence listened to their prayers and sent
them a double portion, two lovely girls. My friend's husband was a
soldier stationed on the frontier and in an Indian raid was quite
severely wounded. It was not deemed best to risk moving him and she
resolved to go out to him. One of the babies, the first born was larger
and stronger than the other, and she determined to take this one with a
most excellent nurse she had. You heard the story Mrs. Boyd told. My
friend was in the same frightful accident--the nurse was killed
outright, but the baby by some miracle had not so much as a scratch. The
only other baby was crushed beyond recognition."

Lilian sprang up, then the room seemed to swim round. She caught at the
chair back to steady herself and gave a great gasp.

"Oh, and my mother, Mrs. Boyd, took the child, but they all thought the
nurse the real mother. And, oh--she could not bear to give up the baby.
Oh, you must forgive her."

"In the confusion I can see that it was very easily done. Dr. Kendricks
went out at once. He found the mother gravely injured and the word was
that the baby was dead. It was beyond recognition. Mrs. Boyd, who had
only been stunned, had gone on her way. You have heard her side of the
story, knowing the other side when Miss Arran detailed it, we sent for
Dr. Kendricks and pieced it all together. You have been so occu