But he never realized at all, until he heard Violet telling her mamma at tea that night, that "poor Lina Meredith had on a faded and darned calico, and worn-out boots with half the buttons gone."
Jaquelina had been reading a book of poetry, and some of the dreaminess still lingered in her eyes as she rose to greet her visitors.
A half wish darted into her mind that they had gone into the house at first, that she might have slipped into the back way and donned her Sunday dress, but no one guessed the thought, not even Walter Earle, who said, with a careless laugh:
"Ah! Miss Cinderella, we have caught you without your ball-dress to-day. Where are your diamond ring and gold locket?"
Jaquelina looked at them a little surprised.
"I have put away the ring and locket," she said. "I do not wear them usually; they belonged to my mother."
Then she added, a little shyly and anxiously:
"Will you come into the house and see Aunt Meredith?"
"Thanks—no," answered Violet, promptly. "It is so pretty out here in the orchard, we would rather stay."
She fluttered down to a seat at the root of the great apple tree, making a pretty picture with the low boughs bending above her head.