It is true that once when Amy's mother, large and portly in a blue satin which gave out pale white lights on the curves of her great arms and back, and whose roseate face looked forth from a fichu of real lace pinned with a great pearl brooch, came up behind her little daughter and straightened the pink bow on her hair, Maria felt a cruel little pang.

There was something about the look of loving admiration which Mrs.Long gave her daughter that stung Maria's heart with a sense of loss.

She felt that if her new mother should straighten out her white bow and regard her with admiration, it would be because of her own self, and the credit which she, Maria, reflected upon her.

Still, she reflected how charming she looked.

Self-love is much better than nothing for a lonely soul.
That night Maria realized that she was in the second place, so far as her father was concerned.