“They had to be sold, my child! I had to sell the heirloom that had been so long in our family. You will never be able to wear the corals again, dear Beth.”
Beth actually swallowed something that seemed to choke her. “Oh, my dear!” she said. “I might have known you poor folks at home were having a worse time than you let selfish me know.”
“No, no, Beth!” cried Mrs. Baldwin. “They were sold before your father left the Works. They were sold to pay your first year’s tuition!”
“What?” almost shouted Beth.
“Yes, my dear. Forgive me——”
“Forgive you?” cried the deliriously happy Beth, trying to dance her mother about the room. “Why, darling little Mumsy! you have freed my heart of a great burden of woe! I’m glad to go to Mrs. Haven’s party to-night——”
“What are you saying, child?”
“Oh, well! I can look everybody straight in the eye and tell each and every one—— Well! never mind! I am happy—so happy!”
“But, my dear child! Are you crazy? Your Great-grandmother’s corals——”
“Goodness me, Mother mine!” interposed Beth. “What do you suppose I care about the old corals—really? This that you tell me lifts a load off my mind. Then you didn’t borrow money to send me to Rivercliff?”