titches _have_ been picked out in this instance. See the slight
mark where the canvas is the least bit drawn? And see, on the back a
fresh stitch was necessary to keep the ends from ravelling. It would
pass to a careless observer, but to one accustomed to these things the
fraud is plainly evident."

"Oh, Mr. Greatorex," and Elise looked sorrowful, "I don't care so much
about the sampler being less valuable than I thought, as I do about
having to think the friend who gave it to me would cheat me!"

"Perhaps she didn't. Perhaps somebody cheated her."

"No; she told me her mother gave her this, and that she had had it from
her mother and grandmother--and so forth."

"Then I fear your friend knew of the fraud,--though perhaps her mother
gave it to her as it is now."

"Can you judge if the stitches were picked out recently?"

"I should say very recently. The canvas is faded, of course, but, as you
see, the threads beneath where the missing stitches were is quite a
shade lighter. Had the picking been done years ago, the canvas would
have assumed a uniform tinge,--or nearly so."

"Of course it would,--I can see that for myself. Oh, dear!--Well, Mr.
Greatorex, don't say anything about this, will you?"

"Certainly not. But that's a good sampler, as it stands,--I mean as a
specimen of 1836 work."

"Yes, I know it is. And yet, oughtn't the stitches to be put back?"

"Probably not,--for they could not be matched exactly--"

"But if it remains like this, everybody will think it two hundred years
older than it really is."

Mr. Greatorex smiled. "Scarcely," he said. "You see, my dear, the
earliest known dated sampler is one of 1643 which is in the Victoria and
Albert Museum, in England. There are but six or seven known in that
century at all. It would be remarkable, therefore, to find a work of art
that would antedate all collections, and yet show the patterns and style
of work common less than a hundred years ago!"

"Oh, I understand,--I've read up on the matter somewhat,--but I'm _so_
sorry--oh, I _am_ so sorry!"

Elise looked woe-begone indeed, for she realised that Azalea had, in
all probability committed the fraud herself, and with a deliberate
intention of deceiving her.

Azalea's own ignorance of the whole matter was so great, that it was not
surprising that she thought the mere alteration of the date would make
the sampler of greater value. But what broke Elise's heart was the
knowledge of Azalea's wilful dec