Amelia's mother, who was a woman of strong charac-
ter, had suspected, she would have taken strenuous
measures to prevent such a peculiar state of affairs;
the more so because she herself did not in the least
approve of Lily Jennings. Mrs. Diantha Wheeler
(Amelia's father had died when she was a baby)
often remarked to her own mother, Mrs. Stark, and
to her mother-in-law, Mrs. Samuel Wheeler, that she
did not feel that Mrs. Jennings was bringing up Lily
exactly as she should. "That child thinks entirely
too much of her looks," said Mrs. Diantha. "When
she walks past here she switches those ridiculous
frilled frocks of hers as if she were entering a ball-
room, and she tosses her head and looks about to see
if anybody is watching her. If I were to see Amelia
doing such things I should be very firm with her."

"Lily Jennings is a very pretty child," said
Mother-in-law Wheeler, with an under-meaning, and
Mrs. Diantha flushed. Amelia did not in the least
resemble the Wheelers, who were a handsome set.
She looked remarkably like her mother, who was a
plain woman, only little Amelia did not have a square
chin. Her chin was pretty and round, with a little
dimple in it. In fact, Amelia's chin was the pretti-
est feature she had. Her hair was phenomenally
straight. It would not even yield to hot curling-
irons, which her grandmother Wheeler had tried sur-
reptitiously several times when there was a little
girls' party. "I never saw such hair as that poor