grief. Then she took it to
the one place where such sorrow can be borne--namely, to the foot of
the throne of God; and afterwards it occurred to her to devote her
life to the education of others. She was quite well-off, and did not
need to work for her living. But work, to a nature such as hers, was
essential. She also needed the sympathy of others, and the love of
others; and so, aided by her friends, her small but most select school
in South Kensington was started.

From the very first it was a success. It was unlike many other
schools, for the head-mistress had broader and nobler views of life.
She loved all her girls, and they all loved her; but it was impossible
for her not to like some girls more than others, and of all the girls
at present at her school Aneta Lysle was the one she really loved
best. There was also, it is sad to relate, a girl there whom she did
not love, and that girl was Maggie Howland. There was nothing whatever
with regard to Maggie that her mistress could lay hold of. She was
quite aware of the girl's fascination, and of her powerful influence
over her schoolfellows. Nevertheless, she never thought of her without
a sense of discomfort.

Maggie was one of the girls who were educated at Aylmer House for a
very low fee; for Mrs. Ward was quite rich enough and generous enough
to take girls who could not afford her full terms for very much less.
Maggie's fees, therefore, were almost nominal, and no one knew this
fact better than Maggie herself and her mother, Mrs. Howland. None of
her schoolfellows knew, for she learned just what they did, and had
precisely the same advantages. She was treated just like the others.
No one could guess that her circumstances were different. And
certainly Maggie would never tell, but none the less did she in her
heart hate her position.

As a matter of fact, Molly and Isabel Tristram were also coming to the
school on specially low terms; but no one would know this. Maggie,
however, suspected it, and intended, if necessary, to make the fact an
added power over her young friends when they all assembled at Aylmer
House.

"Yes," said Mrs. Ward, half-aloud, half to herself, "I don't quite
trust Maggie Howland. But I cannot possibly dismiss her from the
school. I may win her round to a loftier standard of life, but at
present there is no doubt she has not that high ideal in view which I
think my other girls aim at."

Between three and four o'clock that day Mrs. Ward