t the
girl, "the two things are not inconsistent, I hope."

"I hope not."

"Wealth and position are good things at any rate, are they not?"

"So far as they go, I suppose so," said Lois. "O yes, they are pleasant
things; and good things, if they are used right."

"They are whether or no. Come! I can't have you holding any extravagant
ideas, Lois. They don't do in the world. They make one peculiar, and it
is not good taste to be peculiar."

"You know, I am not in the world," Lois answered quietly.

"Not when you are at home, I grant you; but here, in my house, you are;
and when you have a house of your own, it is likely you will be. No
more coffee, my dear? Then let us go to the order of the day. What is
this, Williams?"

"For Miss Lot'rop," the obsequious servant replied with a bow,--"de
bo-quet." But he presented to his mistress a little note on his salver,
and then handed to Lois a magnificent bunch of hothouse flowers. Mrs.
Wishart's eyes followed the bouquet, and she even rose up to examine it.

"That is beautiful, my dear. What camellias! And what geraniums! That
is the Black Prince, one of those, I am certain; yes, I am sure it is;
and that is one of the new rare varieties. That has not come from any
florist's greenhouse. Never. And that rose-coloured geranium is Lady
Sutherland. Who sent the flowers, Williams?"

"Here is his card, Mrs. Wishart," said Lois. "Mr. Caruthers."

"Tom Caruthers!" echoed Mrs. Wishart. "He has cut them in his mother's
greenhouse, the sinner!"

"Why?" said Lois. "Would that be not right?"

"It would be right, _if_--. Here's a note from Tom's mother, Lois--but
not about the flowers. It is to ask us to a luncheon party. Shall we
go?"

"You know, dear Mrs. Wishart, I go just where you choose to take me,"
said the girl, on whose cheeks an exquisite rose tint rivalled the Lady
Sutherland geranium blossoms. Mrs. Wishart noticed it, and eyed the
girl as she was engrossed with her flowers, examining, smelling, and
smiling at them. It was pleasure that raised that delicious bloom in
her cheeks, she decided; was it anything more than pleasure? What a
fair creature! thought her hostess; and yet, fair as she is, what
possible chance for her in a good family? A young man may be taken with
beauty, but not his relations; and they would object to a girl who is
nobody and has nothing. Well, there is a chance for her, and she shall
have the chance.

"Lois, what will you wear to this lunch