was so delighted and eager that he succeeded in impressing her with some
of his enthusiasm, and after he had returned to his grocery, and her
dishes were washed, she removed her large kitchen apron, and pulling
down the sleeves of her dress, went and stood before the mirror, where
she examined herself critically and not without some degree of
complacency.

Her hair was black and glossy, or would be if she had time to care for
it as it ought to be cared for; her eyes were bright, and perhaps in
time she might learn to use them as Mrs. Atherton used hers.

Mrs. Atherton stood as the criterion for everything elegant and
fashionable, and naturally it was with her that she compared herself.

'She is older than I am,' she said to herself; 'there are crow-tracks
around her eyes, and her complexion is not a bit better than mine was
before I spoiled it with soap-suds, and stove heat, and everything
else.'

Then she looked at her hands, but they were red and rough, and the nails
were broken and not at all like the nails which an expert has polished
for an hour or more. Mrs. Atherton's diamond rings would be sadly out of
place on Dolly's fingers, but time and abstinence from work would do
much for them, she reflected, and after all it would be nice to live in
a grand house, ride in a handsome carriage, and keep a hired girl to do
the heavy work. So, on the whole, she began to feel quite reconciled to
her change of situation, and to wonder how she ought to conduct herself
in view of her future position. She had intended going to the circus
that night, but she gave that up, telling her husband that it was a
second-class amusement any way, and she did not believe that either Mrs.