luncheon with Ellen Brownlee there was such a difference in the atmosphere that she could feel it.
"I am almost sorry I have these clothes," she said to Ellen.
"In the name of sense, why?" cried the astonished girl.
"Everyone is so nice to me in them, it just sets me to wondering if in time I could have made them be equally friendly in the others."
Ellen looked at her introspectively.
"Well, sir, I believe you could," she announced at last. "But it would have taken time and heartache, and your mind would have been less free to work on your studies. No one is happy without friends, and I just simply can't study when I am unhappy."
That night the Bird Woman made the last trip to the swamp. Every specimen she possibly could use had been purchased at a fair price, and three additions had been made to the bank-book, carrying the total a little past two hundred dollars. There remained the Indian relics to sell on Saturday, and Elnora had secured the order to furnish material for nature work for the grades. Life suddenly grew very full. There was the most excitingly interesting work for every hour, and that work was to pay high school expenses and start the college fund. There was just one little rift in her joy. All of it would have been so much better if she could have told her mother, and given the money into her keeping. But the struggle to get a start had been so terrible, Elnora was afraid to take the risk.
