to little Annie Eustace. Nowhere else did she meet _en masse_ others
of her kind. She did not even go to church for the reason that her
grandmother did not believe in church going at all and wished her to
remain with her. One aunt was Dutch Reformed and the other Baptist;
and neither ever missed a service. Annie remained at home Sundays,
and read aloud to her grandmother, and when both aunts were in the
midst of their respective services, and the cook, who was intensely
religious, engaged in preparing dinner, she and her old grandmother
played pinocle. However, although Annie played cards very well, it
was only with her relatives. She had never been allowed to join the
Fairbridge Card Club. She never attended a play in the city, because
Aunt Jane considered plays wicked. It was in reality doubtful if she
would have been permitted to listen to Lydia Greenway, had that
person been available. Annie's sole large recreation was the Zenith
Club, and it meant, as she had said, much to her. It was to the
stifled young heart as a great wind of stimulus which was for the
strengthening of her soul. Whatever the Zenith Club of Fairbridge was
to others, it was very much worth while for little Annie Eustace. She
wrote papers for it, which were astonishing, although her hearers
dimly appreciated the fact, not because of dulness, but because
little Annie had written them, and it seemed incredible to Fairbridge
women that little Annie Eustace whom they had always known, and whose
grandmother and aunts they knew, could possibly write anything
remarkable. It was only Alice Mendon who listened with a frown of
wonder, and intent eyes upon the reader. When she came home upon one
occasion, she remarked to her aunt, Eliza Mendon, and her cousin,
Lucy Mendon, that she had been impressed by Annie Eustace's paper,
but both women only stared and murmured assent. The cousin was very
much older than Alice, and both she and her mother were of a placid,
reflective type. They got on very well with Alice, but sometimes she