Rich Man, Poor Man

tely, for one thing, the two Lloyds-the husband and the wife. Obviously both her aunt and David's father resented her presence in the house; so that from them, she saw, she must expect

every instant she felt surer.

nd uncle the next event in that eventful day was the morning's visit to

gentle though gruff, he drew down her face to his. Then he seemed to div

on his crutches, lowe

rtner!" he

for the cripple she had shortly, in fact, a rather disconcerting proof. Beeston lay there, his dark face lit momentarily with interest at their talk, w

demanded, a jerk of h

eemed just a bit embarrassed. Then, the humor of

, adding then: "Of course I like Bab

merged from the de

re," avowed her gran

topic. The fact is that her new place in life, even with its vast advantages, s

ppeared, already was widely known. Of those who came, though, only a few, the most intimate of Miss Elvira's cronies, were admitted; but few as they were, to see them was in each instance an ordeal. Not that they were not kind-they were-but the girl felt a

an antiquated dowager who had remarked on Bab's savoir-faire. "

n was the wish to combat Vira Beeston in anything. It

ved the way his Aunt Vira was promenading Bab before these an

for your show?" Propped up on one crutch, with the other he began to gesticulate derisively

did her be

" she p

lf?" His aunt hadn't thought of that! "Think how absurd it is

inly veiled craving for the romantic. David, too, saw to that. At his heels usually was a small, sad-faced, rowdy-looking Irish terrier, Barney by name. "Sing, Barney!" David would say, pointing a finger at him; and Barney, lifting his he

ow!" he sang.

the visitor. "Wha

id-"glad, you know, Bab was found

e poked good-natured fun at their foibles. He had, indeed, to him a human, friendly side that few who came near him could resist; and day by day Bab felt her liking grow for her crippled cousin-a sunny, cheerful figure, the most courageous she had ever known. However, that was b

itself inside out for Barbara, old Peter Beeston's grandchild. Modistes, milliners, bootmakers, all that horde of outfitters that batten on the rich, swarmed at the Beeston door. Clothes, hats, gloves, laces, what not were showered upon Bab. She had music lessons, she had dancing less

gs?" Indeed, as she pointed out, already she had enough for a dozen débutantes. "You try on that hat!" M

h the aid David lent. What he did was invaluable. It was he who first helped Bab make friends in that big world about them-g

ted; but David put his foot down f

ly pinching Miss Elvira's cheek. "A dance when she doesn't kn

What do you expect when you

To them, it appeared, Bab was for many reasons an object of more than passing interest. Good taste usually restrained them from

he was Linda Blair, a bizarre, slender creature, t

us when Bab told her the nature of Mrs. Tiln

"it was the landlady and one of

, her air shocked. "A clerk

the world," returned Bab, and after

e exclaimed hurriedly.

ew she

e awoke again. Young voices were heard within it; there were young folk roaming its vast dim rooms and halls. Upstairs one day Beeston,

hat?" he

happened to

ed-"she and David. They ha

ew and wonderful existence, held in store for her, Bab's spirits soared buoyantly. And yet even in the midst of it, as the time sped on and the flitting days had changed themselves into weeks, then int

Vanity was no fault of Bab's; but she wanted him to know that the Bab at Mrs. Tilney's had been transformed, transfigured, into a different sort of a Bab. As well as Miss Elvira she divined what the new hats, the new dresses, all these and the rest had done for her. No need to look in the glass to know that! Already she had s

ried. "Why, y

te face, tinting it to a hue lovely in its contrast with the soft pale ivory of her neck a

as not the only one toward whom their feeling was antagonistic. That Varick was included seemed clear. Th

house? In learning who she was Bab's first thought had been: "Now I'll see him there! Now he'll come to see me!" But Varick had not come. However, though he hadn't, Bab had said nothing to