"I was two years younger."
"That makes me feel better some; but I don't want such things to come to me. It frightens me."
"Daughter, you probably know you are more than good looking. Do you?"
"Yes," said Helen, in a low tone.
"It is a great gift, but it is a dangerous one. You must use it in the right way."
"Mother, I do try. I am not a flirt, am I, mother?" Helen looked up appealingly.
"Look right into my eyes, mother, and see?"
Mrs. Douglas looked and with a sigh of relief saw there as pure and womanly a soul waiting development as ever lived.
"No, thank God, Helen, I believe you realise what your beauty might mean to bless or to curse. But sometimes the hurt comes in spite of one's self."
There was a very long pause and then Helen said timidly, "Mother, you are thinking of someone in particular. I have tried to be very careful. I had to be kind. But how could I know———"