like some of the little old lady pincushions that I've seen, and
she makes such a queer mouth when she talks. She hasn't a tooth in her
head, has she? and I guess they didn't teach grammar when she went to
school. Why do you let her wear that white cap? all the old ladies that
I know wear black lace caps, with ribbons. I thought I should laugh
outright when she made that little dip of curtsy."

"But she is real old," said Bertha, deprecatingly, "and she has lived in
the country most of her life."

"I should think she had come from the backwoods! I wonder she doesn't
make you wear 'hum-knit' stockings; or don't you 'scour yours out?' O
dear!"

"It is not right to laugh at old persons," Bertha said, summoning all
her courage; yet she was mortified and humiliated in the extreme.

"Oh! I don't mean anything, you know--only it's so funny! You ought to
see _my_ grandmother. She is nearly eighty, I believe, but she only owns
to seventy."

Bertha was too deeply hurt to make any comment. Then Ada kissed her and
coaxed her into good humor, telling her of the enjoyments Aunt Bell had
in preparation.

When they returned to the room, Mrs. Bell was preparing to leave, and
the carriage stood at the gate.

"We have decided on Thursday, Ada," Mrs. Bell said to her niece; "and,
Miss Bertha, I have coaxed your grandmother to pay _me_ a visit. I think
a pleasant old lady, in possession of all her faculties, is rare good
company--quite a treat for me. Now, Mrs. Gilbert, I shall send the
carriage, and you will be sure not to disappoint me, if you are well."

"You are very kind, indeed;" and grandmother gave another little "dip
of a curtsy."

Bertha looked amazed.

She was very quiet after her visitors had gone. Her mother appeared to
admire Miss Frances Wilson, and grandma said of Mrs. Bell: "She's a
tender, true-hearted Christian lady."

"Mother," said Bertha, the next day, when they were alone; "couldn't you
fix grandma up a little to go to Mrs. Bell's?"

"Why, she has a nice brown silk dress to wear, and a clean cap and
kerchief."

"But she looks so--so--old-fashioned, mother."

"My dear, she is an old-fashioned lady. I think she looks a great deal
prettier than to be dressed like people thirty or forty years younger
than she is."

"But--"

[Illustration: "_I am disappointed._"]

"O Bertha! you are not ashamed of dear old grandmother?" and Mrs.
Gilbert looked at her daughter in amazement. Bertha's cheeks flushed,