open softly, nor
see the gentle, sweet-faced woman who came swiftly toward her and knelt
beside her.

"Why, Miss Ashe! Blue Bonnet, dear--what is all this about? What is the
matter? Can I help you?"

The girl raised her face and struggled with her tears.

"I just wanted my mother--for a minute," she said slowly. "Sometimes I
need her so--want her--nobody knows how much! I suppose girls never do
get used to being without a mother, do they, Mrs. White--no matter how
kind and dear one's friends and relatives may be?"

"Couldn't you tell me what the trouble is? Perhaps I could help you?"

Blue Bonnet shook her head.

Mrs. White lifted the girl's wet face and held it between her cool, firm
hands.

"Did you know," she said after a moment, "that I was a mother once--for
ever so short a while--a little daughter, dear. She would have been
almost your age if she had been spared to me. I, too, know how terrible
death is--how it robs us--"

"Oh, were you--were you?" Blue Bonnet cried, her own sorrow for the
moment forgotten in another's grief. "It must have been awful to give
her up--awful! I'm so sorry."

There was an awkward silence for a moment, and then Blue Bonnet thrust
the miniature into Mrs. White's hands.

"Did I ever show you this? It's my mother. I got it last year on my
sixteenth birthday. I love it better than anything in the world."

Mrs. White gazed at the likeness for some minutes.

"It is a lovely face," she said, handing it back. "A lovely
face--_better_ than lovely--womanly. One feels the spirit back of it.
When you are lonely again, think what a gift such a mother has been.
What a privilege to follow in her footsteps--carry out her hopes of
you--her ideals."

She was gone, her own cup overflowing, before Blue Bonnet could reply.
Just before the gong sounded for dinner she came back for a moment,
smiling and serene.

"I brought you this," she said. "I tore it off my calendar a few moments
ago. It has a little message for you. Let's pin it up here in your
mirror for a day or two, so you will see it every time you dress."

And over Mrs. White's shoulder Blue Bonnet read:

"Life is mostly froth and bubble,
One thing stands like stone:
Kindness in another's trouble,
Courage in one's own."

Under the "courage in one's own," a faint line had been drawn.

CHAPTER XI

THE CLOUD LIFTS

"What's the matter with Blue Bonnet?" Annabel Jackson asked Sue
Hemphill. "She lo