"Common people! Miss Smith isn't any more common than you or I. She's a
very ladylike girl.--much more ladylike and nice, and nicer-looking too,
than Agnes."

"Nicer looking with those plain frocky dresses, and her hair all pulled
back without the sign of a crimp or curl!" and Dora burst into a jeering
laugh.

"Oh, she isn't all fussed up, I know, as most of us girls are; but her
clothes are of the very finest materials,--I've noticed that."

"And that stuffy old aunt's clothes are of the finest material, I
suppose; and the little yellow dog's coat is as fine as a King Charles
spaniel's," jeered Dora.

"Stuffy old aunt! She isn't stuffy in the least. She's a little
old-fashioned; that's all. Grandmother has taken quite a fancy to her."

Dora smiled a very provoking smile as she said,--

"Perhaps the Pelhams, when they come, will take a fancy to her too, and
to that pretty name of Peggy."

The hot color rushed to Tilly's cheeks and the tears to her eyes as she
turned away. She knew perfectly well that Dora was thinking: "Oh, your
grandmother is only another old woman a good deal like Mrs. Smith,--what
is her judgment worth?"

Dora was a little ashamed of herself as Tilly left her. Indeed, she had
been a little ashamed of herself for some time,--ever since, in fact,