ago, to start to Ellsworth to-night instead of in the
morning. It will be so much cooler traveling at night,
you know. As our trunks were sent down to the station
this afternoon, we will have no trouble going, and will
not wake you to say good-bye for fear of giving you a
midnight scare. It would be no use anyway, for we knew
Dainty could not go with us, as her fresh ironed
clothes would not be dry enough to pack till morning.
So, good-bye, and tell her she can follow us to-morrow,
if she is not afraid to travel alone. Hastily,

"OLIVE AND ELA."

Dainty flew downstairs, the pearly tears streaming down her rose-leaf
cheeks.

"They have done it on purpose, mamma! I knew all along they did not want
me to go!" she sobbed, sinking into a chair by the window, quite
unconscious that a tall young man stood outside, having just pulled the
old-fashioned knocker at the cottage door.

In their excitement they did not hear him, and Dainty continued, in a
high-pitched, indignant young voice:

"I didn't intend to tell you, mamma, but I overheard Olive and Ela
saying to each other that they were sorry I was invited to Ellsworth,
and planning not to pay their board so as to keep you from buying me
anything new to wear."

Mrs. Chase's gentle, care-worn face expressed the keenest surprise and
pain as she exclaimed:

"Oh, how cruel they were! And what good reason could they have for
wishing to deprive you of the pleasure of such a trip?"

"Jealousy, mamma!" Dainty answered, with flashing eyes and burning
cheeks. "They did not tell you all that was in their letter from Aunt
Judith, but I overheard Olive saying that aunt's step-son, Lovelace
Ellsworth, had returned at last from Europe, and that they must set
their caps for him. They were afraid I might rival them. Ela said I
would look pretty even in a rag, and she wished they could leave me at
home. So you see"--bitterly--"they have succeeded in doing it."

"Certainly not, my darling, for you shall follow them this morning, and
let them know you were not afraid to travel alone, as they no doubt
hoped you would be!" exclaimed Mrs. Chase, indignantly.

"Oh, mamma, I dare not venture alone! I shall stay at home with you, and
let them have Mr. Ellsworth!" protested Dainty; but just then the loud
clangor of the door-knocker made both start in alarm.

Mrs. Chase stepped quickly out into the narrow little hall, and opened
the do