d a man from out of town say, `That
black-haired Miss Madison is a pretty girl.' And some one with him
said, `Yes; you'll think so until you meet her sister!'"

"You are an old dear!" Cora enfolded her delightedly; then,
drawing back, exclaimed: "You _know_ he's gorgeous!" And with a
feverish little ripple of laughter, caught her dress together in
the back and sped through the hall to her own room.

This was a very different affair from Laura's, much cooler and
larger; occupying half the width of the house; and a rather
expensive struggle had made it pretty and even luxurious. The
window curtains and the wall-paper were fresh, and of a quiet
blue; there was a large divan of the same colour; a light desk,
prettily equipped, occupied a corner; and between two gilt
gas-brackets, whose patent burners were shielded by fringed silk
shades, stood a cheval-glass six feet high. The door of a very
large clothes-pantry stood open, showing a fine company of
dresses, suspended from forms in an orderly manner; near by, a
rosewood cabinet exhibited a delicate collection of shoes and
slippers upon its four shelves. A dressing-table, charmingly
littered with everything, took the place of a bureau; and upon it,
in a massive silver frame, was a large photograph of Mr. Richard
Lindley. The frame was handsome, but somewhat battered: it had
seen service. However, the photograph was quite new.

There were photographs everywhere--photographs framed and
unframed; photographs large and photographs small, the fresh and
the faded; tintypes, kodaks, "full lengths," "cabinets,"
groups--every kind of photograph; and among them were several of
Cora herself, one of her mother, one of Laura, and two others of
girls. All the rest were sterner. Two or three were seamed across
with cracks, hastily recalled sentences to destruction; and here
and there remained tokens of a draughtsman's over-generous
struggle to confer upon some of the smooth-shaven faces additional
manliness in the shape of sweeping moustaches, long beards,
goatees, mutton-chops, and, in the case of one gentleman of a
blond, delicate and tenor-like beauty, neck-whiskers;--decorations
in many instances so deeply and damply pencilled that subsequent
attempts at erasure had failed of great success. Certainly,
Hedrick had his own way of relieving dull times.

Cora turned up the lights at the sides of the cheval-glass, looked
at herself earnestly, then absently, and began to loosen her hai