She made no difference between you and me, Aneta, who
are so rich, and your cousins the Cardews, who are so rich too. She
said, 'Maggie Howland, your father was a gentleman and a man of honor,
a man of whom his country was proud; and I will educate you, and give
you your chance.' And, oh, I was happy here! And I--and I should be
happy now but for you and your prying ways."

"You are unkind to me, Maggie. The knowledge that your stepfather was
a grocer was brought to me in a most unexpected way. I was not to
blame for the little person who called herself Tildy coming here
to-day. Tildy felt no shame in the fact that your mother had married a
grocer. She was far more lady-like about it than you are, Maggie. No
one could have blamed you because your mother chose to marry beneath
her. But you were to blame, Maggie, when you gave us to understand
that her husband was in quite a different position from what he is."

"And you think," said Maggie, stamping her foot, "that the girls of
this house--Kathleen O'Donnell, Sylvia St. John, Henrietta and Mary
Gibson, the Cardews, the Tristrams, you yourself--would put up with me
for a single moment if it was known what my mother has done?"

"I think you underrate us all," said Aneta. Then she came close to
Maggie and took one of her hands. "I want to tell you something," she
added.

Maggie had never before allowed her hand to remain for a second in
Aneta's grasp. But there was something at this moment about the young
girl, a look in her eyes, which absolutely puzzled Maggie and caused
her to remain mute. She had struggled for a minute, but now her hand
lay still in Aneta's clasp.

"I want to help you," said Aneta.

"To--help me! How? I thought you hated me."

"Well, as a matter of fact," said Aneta, "I did not love you
until"----

"Until?" said Maggie, her eyes shining and her little face becoming
transformed in a minute.

"Until I knew what you must have suffered."

"You do not mean to say that you love me now?"

"I believe," said Aneta, looking fixedly at Maggie, "that I could love
you."

"Oh!" said Maggie. She snatched her hand away, and, walking to the
window, looked out. The fog was thicker than ever, and she could see
nothing. But that did not matter. She wanted to keep her back turned
to Aneta. Presently her shoulders began to heave, and, taking her
handkerchief from her pocket, she pressed it to her eyes. Then she
turned round. "Go on," she said.

"What do yo