s. Bertram's favors.

"She came to see me on account of Beatrice," remarked the hostess. "At
least I think that was why she came. I beg your pardon, did you say
anything, ladies?"

"Oh! fie, fie! Mrs. Meadowsweet," said Miss Peters, "you are too modest.
In my sister's name and my own, I say you are too modest."

"And in my name too," interrupted Mrs. Morris. "You are too humble, my
dear friend. She called to see you for _your own dear sake_ and for
no other."

"And now let us all be friendly," continued Miss Peters, "and learn the
news. I think we are all of one mind in wishing to learn the news."

Mrs. Meadowsweet smoothed down the front of her black satin dress. She
knew, and her friends knew, that she would have much preferred the honor
of Mrs. Bertram's call to be due to Beatrice's charms than her own. She
smiled, however, with her usual gentleness, and plunged into the
conversation which the three other ladies were so eager to commence.

Before they departed they had literally taken Mrs. Bertram to pieces.
They had fallen upon her tooth and nail, and dissected her morally, and
socially, and with the closest scrutiny of all, from a religious point
of view.

Mrs. Meadowsweet, who never spoke against any one, was amazed at the
ingenuity with which the character of her friend (she felt she must call
Mrs. Bertram her friend) was blackened. Before the ladies left Mrs.
Meadowsweet's house they had proved, in the ablest and most thorough
manner, that Mrs. Bertram was worldly and vain, that she lived beyond
her means, that she trained her daughters to think of themselves far
more highly than they ought to think, that in all probability she was
not what she pretended to be, and, finally, that poor Mrs. Meadowsweet,
dear Mrs. Meadowsweet, was in great danger on account of her friendship.

"I don't agree with you, ladies," said the good woman, as they were
leaving the house, but they neither heeded nor heard her remark.

The explanation of their conduct was simple enough. They were devoured
with jealousy. Had Mrs. Bertram called on any one of them, she would
have been in that person's estimation the most fascinating woman in
Northbury.

CHAPTER II.

MRS. BERTRAM'S WILL.

And Mrs. Bertram did not care in the least what anybody thought of her.
She was in no sense of the word a sham. She was well-born,
well-educated, respectably married, and fairly well-off. The people in
Northbury considered her rich. She