"Mamma, I cannot see why you were so anxious to have that shy, awkward Jaquelina Meredith come to our party. She has not a decent thing to wear--her aunt said so. She will have to come in an old white dress that belonged to her mother." Violet's brother, the young collegian, laughed. Gentle Mrs. Earle looked at them both a little reproachfully. "My dears, I wish you would not laugh at little Lina's poverty," she said. "The Merediths do not treat her right. But aside from her poverty she ranks as high in the social scale as we do. Her father was an artist of no mean ability. He would have made his mark if he had not died young. I feel sorry for little Jaquelina." "Was her mother a nice person, too, mamma?" Violet asked, interested. "I did not know her mother very well," said Mrs. Earle. "She was Jaquelina Ardell, a young French girl whom Claude Meredith married while he was abroad. She did not live but a few months after they returned here. When her little girl was born she died." "And Mr. Meredith soon after," said the student; "I remember it myself. I was a lad of five years at the time." "Yes, he died of a fever," said Mrs. Earle, with a sigh, quickly suppressed. "Did he leave no money for his daughter?" inquired Violet. "No--he spent the few thousands his farmer-father bequeathed him upon his education and his art-studies abroad. So Lina is dependent upon her uncle's charity." "A cold charity it is too," said Violet, thinking of cold, hard Mrs. Meredith. "Charlie Meredith is not purposely unkind," Mrs. Earle said, quickly, "but he is thoughtless and careless, and his wife rules him. Still, for the sake of his feelings, I should not like to slight Claude's daughter." "I do hope she will make a respectable appearance so that no one will be able to laugh at her," said Violet. "It was on my mind to offer to lend her a party-dress, but I decided that she would not have accepted it." "I am glad you did not," her mother said promptly. "I think Lina is proud in her way. She would have been hurt." Violet and her brother thought their mamma was very kind and thoughtful over Jaquelina Meredith. No one had ever told them that Claude Meredith and their mother had been lovers in their boy and girl days, and that an ambitious father had come between them and persuaded the girl into a loveless union with the wealthy Mr. Earle. Jaquelina herself did not know what an interest the pretty, faded woman took in her fate. As she walked up and down the low sitting-room with her little cousin in her arms she remembered how tenderly Violet had said "Mamma," and a vague yearning stood over her to feel herself enfolded in the sweetness of a mother's love, which she, poor child, was never to know. At twilight Sambo came over from the neighboring farm with a message for Mrs. Meredith. Her husband had joined the band of men who were going to pursue the horse-thieves, and would not be home until morning.