“Your costume is rather rich for your position,” she remarked, with well-assumed indifference, “but it is of no consequence for once.”

Then, as they left the house, she whispered to her daughter:

“No one need know but that she is a guest.”

“It’s fine, isn’t it, to have your governess outshine your own daughter? I do hope this night’s experience will teach you wisdom,” grumbled the envious girl.

CHAPTER XIII
A SCENE

Her Majesty’s Opera, Drury Lane, was crowded to its utmost capacity when our party arrived.

But having secured a private box, this circumstance did not inconvenience them in the least.

Wilbur Coolidge took care, after his mother and Isabel were comfortably seated, that Miss Douglas should have a place where she could command a good view of the stage.

He was disgusted with their treatment of the lovely governess, and strove by numerous little attentions to atone in part for their rudeness.

A battery of lorgnettes was immediately leveled at this brilliant company, and there were numberless surmisings and questionings as to who the newcomers could be.