lie;
and at the noon recreation, which the first communicants spent
together, she hastened to tell her companions about it.

"Just imagine!" she cried; "Annie Brogan made her First Communion this
morning, and she wore an old dress of mine,--an old dress, all mended
up, that mamma gave her!"

"The idea!"--"What was she thinking of?" etc., etc.; such were the
exclamations with which this announcement was greeted. Most of the
girls did not know in the least of whom Lillie was speaking, but it was
the fact which created such a sensation.

"Why didn't she get a new one?" inquired Eugenia Dillon, a girl of a
haughty disposition, who attached a great deal of importance to costly
clothes.

"Hadn't any money," responded Lillie, nibbling at a delicious pickled
lime which she had produced from a corner of her lunch basket.

"Then I'd wait till I had--"

"Oh, not put off your First Communion!" protested one of the group.

"Why, yes," returned Eugenia, conscious that she had scandalized them a
little and trying to excuse herself. "It is not respectful or proper
not to be fitly dressed for such a great occasion."

"But Annie was as neat as could be," said Constance; "and looked as
pretty as a picture, too. I'm sure Our Lord was as pleased with her as
if she were dressed like a princess, because she is such a good little
thing."

"Come, Connie, don't preach!" objected Eugenia, impatiently. "Besides,
how could she have looked pretty in a mended dress? I wish you could
see the one I'm going to have! It's to be of white silk,--the best
that can be got at Brown's."

"It won't be any more beautiful than mine. I'm to have tulle," said
Lillie.

"And I--" continued Constance.

"Mine is to be trimmed with point-lace," broke in another.

"And I'm to wear mamma's diamonds," boasted somebody else.

"You can't," demurred a quiet girl, who had not spoken before. "Sister
Agnes said that we are not to be allowed to wear jewelry or silk
either; and that, though the material for the dresses may be of as fine
a quality as we choose, they ought not be showy or elaborate."

"That is all very well to say," answered Eugenia. "The nuns can
enforce these rules in their boarding-schools, but hardly in a
day-school like this. We'll wear what we please, or what our mothers
select. Mamma has decided to get the white silk for me, because so
many of our friends will be present, and she wants my dress to be the
handsomest of any."

T