"I have invited several people," she went on, looking at Mrs. Meredith, "and they all said they would be sure to come. Mamma said she thought you would be very glad to have Lina come, as she sees so very little pleasure." Miss Violet's fine little shaft of malice told. Mrs. Meredith's face turned red in a moment. She could not but be aware that the neighbors gossiped over her treatment of her husband's niece, and said that she kept her a dowdy and a drudge. "Lina sees as much pleasure as she can afford to see," she retorted, a little shortly. "She wasn't born with a silver spoon in her mouth, like some people. She has to work for her living the same as I do. As for the party, I'm obliged to your mother, I'm sure, for inviting Jaquelina. I've not a word to say against her going, but she's nothing but calico dresses." Lina glanced at Miss Earle's pretty blue-and-white lawn, and the deep color flushed into her face again. Even Violet looked disconcerted. "Haven't you even a white?" she said, after a minute. "Almost any kind of a white would look well at a lawn-party at night, you know. You can wear natural flowers." Jaquelina looked at her aunt with a sudden gleam in her eyes. "Aunt Meredith, there's mamma's white dress in the chest up in the garret--her wedding-one, you know," she said. "Old-fashioned--and yellow as gold!" sniffed Mrs. Meredith contemptuously. "The very thing," cried Violet Earle. "Yellow-white is the rage, and antique styles are very fashionable. Wear your mother's wedding-dress by all means, Lina. And plenty of flowers, remember." "It's ill-luck wearing the clothes of them that's dead and gone," said Mrs. Meredith, half-fearfully. "Oh! Aunt Meredith--could you think mamma would care for me wearing her wedding-dress?" cried Jaquelina, reproachfully. "Certainly not," said Violet Earle. "Could an angel in Heaven care for an old dress she had left upon earth? What do cast-off garments matter to one wearing the robe of righteousness? Wear it by all means Lina!" She rose as she spoke and moved toward the door. "Good-bye, Lina; good-bye, Mrs. Meredith. Lina, don't fail us! We have only invited a certain number of girls and we count on everyone being there." CHAPTER III. Miss Earle went away. Jaquelina brought the cows from the pasture, and tended the baby while her aunt did the milking. It was a dull and prosaic life enough for a young girl who was pretty, spirited and imaginative. No wonder her thoughts dwelt eagerly and longingly on the lawn-party to which Violet Earle had invited her. The girl felt as if she were going to have a peep into fairyland. She thought Violet Earle was the dearest and kindest girl in the world. She did not know how Violet had said, half-laughingly, half-carelessly, when she went home: