CHAPTER VIII.

GETTING READY TO BE MARRIED.


"Miss Helen Lennox, Silverton, Mass."

This was the superscription of a letter, postmarked New York, and
brought to Helen within a week after Wilford's departure. It was his
handwriting, too; and wondering what he could have written to her, Helen
broke the seal, starting as there dropped into her lap a check for five
hundred dollars.

"What does it mean?" she said, her cheek flushing with anger and
insulted pride as she read the following brief lines:

"NEW YORK, May 8th.

"MISS HELEN LENNOX: Please pardon the liberty I take in inclosing the sum
of five hundred dollars, to be used by you in procuring whatever Katy may
need for present necessities. Presuming that the country seamstresses
have not the best facilities for obtaining the latest fashions, my mother
proposes sending out her own private dressmaker, Mrs. Ryan. You may look
for her the last of the week.

"Yours truly, WILFORD CAMERON."

It would be impossible to describe Helen's indignation as she read this