when he saw how she improved, was glad that Helen came, even if she did
sometimes shock him with her independent ways, upsetting all his plans
and theories with regard to Katy, and meeting him on other grounds with
an opposition as puzzling as it was new to him.

To Mrs. Cameron, Helen was also a study, she seemed to care so little
for what others might think of her, evincing no hesitation, no timidity,
when told one day, the second day after her arrival, that Mrs. Banker
was in the parlor and had asked to see Miss Lennox. Mrs. Cameron did not
suspect how under that calm, unmoved exterior, Helen was hiding a heart
which beat most painfully as she went down to meet the mother of Mark
Ray, going first to her own room to make some little change in her
toilet, and wishing that her dress was more like the dress of those
around her--like Mrs. Cameron's, or even Esther's and the fashionable
nurse's. One glance she gave to the brown silk, Wilford's gift, but her
good sense told her that the plain merino she wore was far more suitable
to the sickroom, where she spent her time, and so with a fresh collar
and cuffs, and another brush of her rich hair, she went to Mrs. Banker,
forgetting herself in her pleasure at finding in the stranger a lady so
wholly congenial and familiar, whose mild, dark eyes, so like Mark
Ray's, rested so kindly on her, and whose pleasant voice had something
motherly in its tone, putting her wholly at her ease, and making her
appear at her very best.

Mrs. Banker was pleased with Helen, while she felt a kind of pity for
the young girl thrown so suddenly among strangers, without even her
sister to aid and assist her.

"Have you been out at all?" she asked, and upon Helen's replying that
she had not, she answered: "That is not right. Accustomed to the fresh
country air, you will suffer from too close confinement. Suppose you
ride with me. My carriage is at the door, and I have a few hours'
leisure. Tell your sister I insist," she continued, as Helen hesitated
between inclination and what she fancied was her duty.

To see New York with Mrs. Banker was a treat indeed, and Helen's heart
bounded high as she ran up to Katy's room with the request.

"Yes, by all means," Katy said. "It is so kind in Mrs. Banker, and so
like her, too. I meant that Wilford should have driven with you to-day,
and spoke to him about it, but Mrs. Banker will do better. Tell her I
thank her so much for her thoughtfulness," and with a