Nancy's pert, familiar tones grated upon Lucy's ear with unusual
harshness, and she replied, rather haughtily, that she knew scarcely
anything about it.

"Oh, no doubt you think yourself very grand," Nancy rejoined, "but I
can find out all about it from my aunt, and no thanks to you. Come on,
Bessie." Bessie, somewhat ashamed of her companion, and instinctively
conscious of Lucy's disapproval, stopped at the gate to exchange a
good-bye with her friend, who for the moment was not very cordial.

Thus Miss Preston and her class had separated, and future days alone
could reveal what had become of the seed she had tried to sow.




II.

_Lucy's Home._

"Is the heart a living power?
Self-entwined, its strength sinks low;
It can only live in loving,
And by serving, love will grow."


As Lucy passed in under the acacias which shaded the gate, she was met
by a pretty, graceful-looking girl about her own age, who, with her
golden hair floating on her shoulders and her hat swinging listlessly