In the morning Helen got an invitation from Jess Stone to dinner that evening. She said "come just as you are"; but she did not tell Helen that she had innocently betrayed her true condition to the Starkweathers. Helen wrote a long reply and sent it by special messenger through old Lawdor, the butler. Then she prepared for the tea in Mary Boyle's rooms. At breakfast time Helen met the family for the first time since the explosion. Self-consciousness troubled the countenances and likewise the manner of Mr. Starkweather and his three daughters. "Ahem! A very fine morning, Helen. Have you been out for your usual ramble, my dear?" "How-do, Helen? Hope you're feeling quite fit." "Dear me, Helen! How pretty your hair is, child. You must show me how you do it in that simple way." But Flossie was more honest. She only nodded to Helen at first. Then, when Gregson was out of the room, she jumped up, went around the table swiftly, and caught the Western girl about the neck. "Helen! I'm just as ashamed of myself as I can be!" she cried, her tears flowing copiously. "I treated you so mean all the time, and you have been so very, very decent about helping me in my lessons. Forgive me; will you? Oh, please say you will!" Helen kissed her warmly. "Nothing to forgive, Floss," she said, a little bruskly, perhaps. "Don't let's speak about it." She merely bowed and said a word in reply to the others. Nor could Mr. Starkweather's unctuous conversation arouse her interest. "You have a part in the very worthy effort to liven up old Nurse Boyle, I understand?" said Mr. Starkweather, graciously. "Is there anything needed that I can have sent in, Helen?" "Oh, no, sir. I am only helping Miss Van Ramsden," Helen replied, timidly. "I think May Van Ramsden should have told _me_ of her plans," said Belle, tossing her head. "Or, _me_," rejoined Hortense. "Pah!" snapped Flossie. "None of us ever cared a straw for the old woman. Queer old thing. I thought she was more than a little cracked." "Flossie!" ejaculated Mr. Starkweather, angrily, "unless you can speak with more respect for--ahem!--for a faithful old servitor of the Starkweather family, I shall have to--ahem!--ask you to leave the table." "You won't have to ask me--I'm going!" exclaimed Flossie, flirting out of her chair and picking up her books. "But I want to say one thing while I'm on my way," observed the slangy youngster: "You're all just as tiresome as you can be! Why don't you own up that you'd never have given the old woman a thought if it wasn't for May Van Ramsden and her friends--and Helen?" and she beat a retreat in quick order.