Elnora entered. "There weren't any scraps, and I'm hungry again as I
ever was in my life."

"I thought likely you would be," said Mrs. Comstock, "and so I got
supper ready. We can eat first, and do the work afterward. What kept you
so? I expected you an hour ago."

Elnora looked into her mother's face and smiled. It was a queer sort
of a little smile, and would have reached the depths with any normal
mother.

"I see you've been bawling," said Mrs. Comstock. "I thought you'd get
your fill in a hurry. That's why I wouldn't go to any expense. If we
keep out of the poor-house we have to cut the corners close. It's likely
this Brushwood road tax will eat up all we've saved in years. Where the
land tax is to come from I don't know. It gets bigger every year. If
they are going to dredge the swamp ditch again they'll just have to take
the land to pay for it. I can't, that's all! We'll get up early in the
morning and gather and hull the beans for winter, and put in the rest of
the day hoeing the turnips."

Elnora again smiled that pitiful smile.

"Do you think I didn't know that I was funny and would be laughed at?"
she asked.

"Funny?" cried Mrs. Comstock hotly.

"Yes, funny! A regular caricature," answered Elnora. "No one else wore
calico, not even one other. No one else wore high heavy shoes, not even
one. No one else had such a funny little old hat; my hair was not right,
my ribbon invisible compared with the others, I did not know where
to go, or what to do, and I had no books. What a spectacle I made for
them!" Elnora laughed nervously at her own picture. "But there are
always two sides! The professor said in the algebra class that he never
had a better solution and explanation than mine of the proposition he
gave me, which scored one for me in spite of my clothes."

"Well, I wouldn't brag on myself!"

"That was poor taste," admitted Elnora. "But, you see, it is a case of
whistling to keep up my courage. I honestly could see that I would have
looked just as well as the rest of them if I had been dressed as they
were. We can't afford that, so I have to find something else to brace
me. It was rather bad, mother!"

"Well, I'm glad you got enough of it!"

"Oh, but I haven't," hurried in Elnora. "I just got a start. The hardest
is over. To-morrow they won't be surprised. They will know what
to expect. I am sorry to hear about the dredge. Is it really going
through?"

"Yes. I got my notification today. The tax