was proved who my real father was."

"And I wish you much joy and happiness, which you will surely have. And
you will be fitted to grace any position. You will have one of the
loveliest of women for a mother, and two brothers who, so far, have been
most exemplary. And that darling, Zay--the whole town loves her."

Lilian wiped her eyes, and pressed Mrs. Dane's hand fervently. Would Zay
proffer her a sister's love?

She went back to Mrs. Boyd, who suddenly opened her eyes and smiled,
then the thin lids fell. How she had wasted away! She tried to recount
to herself all the kindnesses, the sacrifices Mrs. Boyd had made. And
though the boarding house had been of the commonest sort there had never
seemed any real pinches. She had even saved up money. It was the long
illness and the changes incident to it that had not only reduced their
little store, but broken her health and made her fearful of the future.
She had taken up the sewing then. Four years there had been of that.
Lilian remembered how proud she had been to enter the High School among
the best scholars.

And some day she would teach. It was such a delightful vision. She
studied other things beside the ordinary lessons. She loved to play and
at times when she had turned her brain almost upside down she ran out
and had a game of tag with the girls.

There were other evenings when she overcast long seams and pulled
bastings, and the last year she had learned to sew on the machine. With
scanty living and steady work, her mother had dropped down and down. But
she was glad she had offered to go in the shop. When matters were a
little easier she might try night school she had thought.

And this beautiful school was like an entrance into a land of romance.
The luxurious living, at least it seemed so to her, would soon restore
her mother's health. The duties were light. She had time for reading and
oh, the lovely things! She did at times wish there had been some other
position for her mother, like that of Miss Arran's. But she understood
that Mrs. Boyd could not fill that. She lacked something, she had no
real dignity, no self-assertion. She allowed the girls to order her, and
Lilian wondered how these rich girls, who in some respects had polished
manners, could be so ill bred. For somehow she understood the
difference.

There were several with whom she might have been good friends, but she
was too proud to step outside of what she considered her real station.

An