These were Mabel's thoughts when she awoke the next morning, but she resolved to persevere. She would not be disheartened by the first difficulty. She would commence her district work that very day. And when her mother saw that she was thoroughly in earnest, she would no longer disapprove of her plans. Mabel had her own views about district visiting, as she had about most other things, and after breakfast, instead of going to her own sitting-room, she turned out an old dress from her wardrobe that had not seen the light of day for nearly a year. It was a gray that had not worn well as to colour, for it was faded to a yellow in some places and a dull green in others. But Mabel had decided the previous day that this was just the dress for visiting among the poor. And although she looked rather rueful at its creased and tumbled appearance, she would not give it up. An old jacket of another colour, and her garden hat, completed her costume. And Mabel thought, with pride, that no one could accuse her of a love of finery, or that she taught her poor people to dress above their station. Armed with a bundle of tracts and a note-book, Mabel set forth. And nurse, catching a glimpse of her at the back as she left the door, thought the laundress had sent a message about the washing. "It was not Miss Mabel I saw," she remarked when the housemaid told her that no message had come from the laundress, but that Miss Mabel had gone out. At dinner-time, however, Mr. Randolph asked rather sharply where Mabel had gone to in that masquerade dress, for he had caught a glimpse of her going through the town, and it annoyed him exceedingly. "It will set everybody talking about us, and discussing our affairs, and I begged you to do nothing that could bring our name before the public," he said to his wife in a tone of anger. He was worried and anxious about business matters, or he would not have spoken so irritably, or have fancied that such a trifle could awaken people's attention to their concerns. Mabel, too, came in cross and out of humour. The people in Fisher's Rents had not overwhelmed her with gratitude, and some had even refused to look at her tracts. And so when her father scolded her for disgracing him by walking through the town like a beggar girl, she felt she was greatly ill-used and misunderstood. Poor Mabel! She was to be pitied, for she had done it all with the best of motives, and had only received angry looks and hard words for her pains. Her mother sympathized with her in spite of the vexation she felt, and after dinner said a few comforting words to her, at the same time pointing out that she must not wear the obnoxious dress again, and that she was afraid she had undertaken too much work for her strength. "Go and rest in your own room for half an hour, and then come and practise the duet with Mary," said Mrs. Randolph as she left her.