Mr. Dinsmore, too, looked very much gratified, and the old gentleman
could not fail to perceive that the difference he made between the
children was quite distasteful to both parents.




CHAPTER V.

A lovely being, scarcely formed or moulded,
A rose with all its sweetest leaves yet folded.

--BYRON.


Elsie was nearly twelve when her little brother was born. During the
next three years she led a life of quiet happiness, unmarked by any
striking event. There were no changes in the little family at the Oaks
but such as time must bring to all. Mr. and Mrs. Dinsmore perhaps
looked a trifle older than when they married, Elsie was budding into
womanhood as fair and sweet a flower as ever was seen, and the baby
had grown into a healthy romping boy.

At Roselands, on the contrary, there had been many and important
changes. Louise and Lora were both married; the former to a resident
of another State, who had taken her to his distant home; the latter to
Edward Howard, an older brother of Elsie's friend Carrie. They had not
left the neighborhood, but were residing with his parents.

For the last two or three years Arthur Dinsmore had spent his