share it? Fifteen dollars! It was
equal to one quarter and a half's allowance. My fund for more than a
third of the year would be doubled, if I could turn that black feather
into silver or gold again. And the feather was of no particular use
that I could see. It made me look like the heiress of Magnolia, my
aunt said; but neither could I see any use in _that_. Everybody knew,
that is, all the servants and friends of the family knew, that I was
that heiress; I needed no black feather to proclaim it. And now it
seemed to me as if my riding cap was heavy with undeveloped bulbs,
uncrystallized sugar, unweighed green tea. No transformation of the
feather was possible; it must wave over my brow in its old fashion,
whether it were a misguided feather or not; but my thoughts, once set
a going in this train, found a great deal to do. Truth to tell, they
have not done it all yet.

"Aunt Gary," I said that same evening, musing over the things in my
boxes, "does lace cost much?"

"That is like the countryman who asked me once, if it took long to
play a piece of music! Daisy, don't you know any more about lace than
to ask such a question?"

"I don't know what it costs, Aunt Gary. I never bought any."

"Bought! No; hardly. You are hardly at the age to _buy_ lace yet. But
you have worn a good deal of it."

"I cannot tell what it cost by looking at it," I answered.

"Well, _I_ can. And you will, one day, I hope; if you ever do anything
like other people."

"Is it costly, ma'am?"

"Your lace is rather costly," my aunt said, with a tone which I felt
implied satisfaction.

"How much?" I asked.

"How much does it cost? Why it is the countryman's question over
again, Daisy. Lace is all sorts of prices. But the lace you wear is, I
judge, somewhere about three and five, and one of your dresses ten,
dollars a yard. That is pretty rich lace for a young lady of your
years to wear."

I never wore it, I must explain, unless in small quantity, except on
state occasions when my mother dressed me as part of herself.

"No, I am wrong," my aunt added, presently; "that dress I am thinking
of is richer than that; the lace on that robe was never bought for ten
dollars, or fifteen either. What do you want to know about it for,
Daisy?"

I mused a great deal. Three and five, and ten, and fifteen dollars a
yard, on lace trimmings for me--and no tea, no cups and saucers, no
soft bed, no gardens and flowers, for many who were near me. I began