e epoch-making. Mrs. Caldwell thought
grey a ladylike colour, and therefore bought Beth a carmelite dress of
a delicate shade for the summer. For the first few weeks the dress was
a joy to Beth, but after that it began to be stained by one thing and
another, and every spot upon it was a source of misery, not only
because she was punished for messing the dress, but also because she
had messed it; for she was beginning to be fastidious about her
clothes; and every time she went out she was conscious of those
unsightly stains, and fancied everybody was looking at them. She had
to wear the frock, however, for want of another; and in the autumn,
when the days began to be chilly, a cast-off jacket of Jim's was
added to the affliction. Mrs. Caldwell caught her trying it on one
day, and after shaking her for doing so, she noticed that the jacket
fitted her, and the bright idea of making Beth wear it out, so that it
might not be wasted, occurred to her. To do her justice, Mrs. Caldwell
had no idea of the torture she was inflicting upon Beth by forcing her
to appear in her soiled frock and a boy's jacket. The poor lady was in
great straits at the time, and had nothing to spend on her daughters,
because her sons were growing up, and beginning to clamour for
pocket-money. Their mother considered it right that they should have
it too; and so the tender, delicate, sensitive little girl had to go
dirty and ashamed in order that her brothers might have the
wherewithal to swing a cane, smoke, drink beer, play billiards, and do
all else that makes boys men in their own estimation at an early age.

Rainharbour was little more than a fishing village in those days,
though it became a fashionable watering-place in a very few years.
When Mrs. Caldwell first settled there, a whole codfish was sold for
sixpence, fowls were one-and-ninepence a pair, eggs were almost given
away, and the manners of the people were in keeping with the low
prices. The natives had no idea of concealing their feelings, and were
in the habit of expressing their opinions of each other and things in
general at the top of their voices in the open street. They were as
conservative as the Chinese too, and thought anything new and strange
ridiculous. Consequently, when a little girl appeared amongst them in
a boy's jacket, they let her know that they resented the innovation.

"She's getten a lad's jacket on! oh! oh! she's getten a lad's jacket
on!" the children called aloud