have
never paid to me! Wear what I may, you never seem to know how _I_ am
dressed."

"I beg your pardon, Catherine, I know that you are always dressed well."

That little tribute restored him to his place in his wife's estimation.
"I may tell you now," she resumed, with her gentle smile, "that you only
remind me of what I had thought of already. My milliner is at work for
Miss Westerfield. The new dress must be your gift."

"Are you joking?"

"I am in earnest. To-morrow is Sydney's birthday; and here is _my_
present." She opened a jeweler's case, and took out a plain gold
bracelet. "Suggested by Kitty," she added, pointing to an inlaid
miniature portrait of the child. Herbert read the inscription: _To
Sydney Westerfield with Catherine Linley's love._ He gave the bracelet
back to his wife in silence; his manner was more serious than usual--he
kissed her hand.

The day of the dinner-party marked an epoch in Sydney's life.

For the first time, in all her past experience, she could look in the
glass, and see herself prettily dressed, with a gold bracelet on her
arm. If we consider how men (in one way) and milliners (in another)
profit by it, vanity is surely to be reckoned, not among the vices but
among the virtues of the sex. Will any woman, who speaks the truth,
hesitate to acknowledge that her first sensations of gratified vanity
rank among the most exquisite and most enduring pleasures that she has
ever felt? Sydney locked her door, and exhibited herself to herself--in
the front view, the side view, and the back view (over the shoulder)
with eyes that sparkled and cheeks that glowed in a delicious confusion
of pride and astonishment. She practiced bowing to strangers in her new
dress; she practiced shaking hands gracefully, with her bracelet well in
view. Suddenly she stood still before the glass and became serious and
thoughtful. Kind and dear Mr. Linley was in her mind now. While she was
asking herself anxiously what he would think of her, Kitty--arrayed in
_her_ new finery, as vain and as happy as her governess--drummed with
both fists outside the door, and announced at the top of her voice that
it was time to go downstairs. Sydney's agitation at the prospect of
meeting the ladies in the drawing-room added a charm of its own to the
flush that her exercises before the glass had left on her face. Shyly
following instead of leading her little companion into the room, she
presented such a charming appearance of yo