ion, she must hunt as she never before had hunted and find a
Yellow Emperor. She had to have it, that was all. Also, she had to have
those dresses. She thought of Wesley and dismissed it. She thought of
the Bird Woman, and knew she could not tell her. She thought of every
way in which she ever had hoped to earn money and realized that with
the play, committee meetings, practising, and final examinations she
scarcely had time to live, much less to do more than the work required
for her pictures and gifts. Again Elnora was in trouble, and this time
it seemed the worst of all.

It was dark when she arose and went home.

"Mother," she said, "I have a piece of news that is decidedly not
cheerful."

"Then keep it to yourself!" said Mrs. Comstock. "I think I have enough
to bear without a great girl like you piling trouble on me."

"My money is all gone!" said Elnora.

"Well, did you think it would last forever? It's been a marvel to me
that it's held out as well as it has, the way you've dressed and gone."

"I don't think I've spent any that I was not compelled to," said Elnora.
"I've dressed on just as little as I possibly could to keep going. I
am heartsick. I thought I had over fifty dollars to put me through
Commencement, but they tell me it is all gone."

"Fifty dollars! To put you through Commencement! What on earth are you
proposing to do?"

"The same as the rest of them, in the very cheapest way possible."

"And what might that be?"

Elnora omitted the photographs, the gifts and the play. She told only of
the sermon, graduation exercises, and the ball.

"Well, I wouldn't trouble myself over that," sniffed Mrs. Comstock. "If
you want to go to a sermon, put on the dress you always use for meeting.
If you need white for the exercises wear the new dress you got last
spring. As for the ball, the best thing for you to do is to stay a mile
away from such folly. In my opinion you'd best bring home your books,
and quit right now. You can't be fixed like the rest of them, don't be
so foolish as to run into it. Just stay here and let these last few days
go. You can't learn enough more to be of any account."

"But, mother," gasped Elnora. "You don't understand!"

"Oh, yes, I do!" said Mrs. Comstock. "I understand perfectly. So long as
the money lasted, you held up your head, and went sailing without even
explaining how you got it from the stuff you gathered. Goodness knows
I couldn't see. But now it's gone, you come