It was Mrs.Wentworth's day, and to call on Mrs.Wentworth was in some sort the cachet of good society.

Many, it was true, called there who were not in "society" at all,--serene and self-contained old residents, who held themselves above the newly-rich who were beginning to crowd "the avenues" and force their way with a golden wedge,--and many who lived in splendid houses on the avenue had never been admitted within that dignified portal.

They now began to drop in, elegantly dressed women and handsomely appointed girls.

Mrs.Wentworth received them all with that graciousness that was her native manner.

Miss Brooke, having secured her "new cap," was seated at her side, her faded face tinged with rising color, her keen eyes taking in the scene with quite as much avidity as Gordon's.