her
lawn fete the climax of frivolity. The dear little soul! who would have
suspected that she had such a worthy motive for her ball? But, do you
know, sometimes in fashionable life we catch a glimpse of the
simple-minded, homely kindliness which we are taught to believe exists
only among horny-handed farmers, rough miners, and hardy mountaineers.

"Sallie, dear child," I said, "I beg your pardon for not knowing how noble
you are."

"Noble? I? Sallie Cox? Now, nobody except Payson ever hinted at such a
thing, and I hushed him up instantly. No, Ruth, it was nothing. I dare say
Rachel or you would have thought of some grand project which would have
been effectual, but _I_ couldn't think of anything to do but to tickle his
vanity by making him the guest of honor at the best affair of the season."

"Indeed, I think neither Rachel nor I could have thought of anything so
sure to captivate a shallow mortal like Frank Mayo."

"Set a thief to catch a thief," said Sallie merrily. "I'm shallow myself,
_I_ knew how it would feel to have such a fine thing given for me. My
dear, if the ball were only fine enough it would cure a broken heart."

"Not if the heart were really broken, Sallie."

"Well, you must admit that it would help _some_," she said whimsically.

And so she went away and left the burden upon me. Then I, too, fell to
devouring the papers, as I knew Sallie was doing with me. I went more than
ever to the little brown house which lay in such peril, and I never saw
Nellie with a paper in her hand that I did not shudder.

At last the thing we so dreaded came to pass. In the evening paper there
was quite a sensational account of it. Thank Heaven, no name was given;
but alas, the description of him, of his wife and five little children,
was unmistakable. I felt as though I had sat still and watched a cat kill
a bird. It was raining, not hard, but drearily, and the dead leaves
fluttered against the windows as the chill wind blew them from where they
clung. I was lonesome, and the autumn evening intensified my feelings. I
glanced over to where a red glow came from Nellie's windows. I fancied her
sitting there with the paper in her hand, as she always did in the one
spare moment of her busy day, with her heart crushed by the news. She
would be alone, too, for Frank was out of town. Poor child! Poor child! I
started up and decided to go and see her. If she didn't want me I could
come back, but what if she did want me and I