that is the way it seemed to her.  If there was any one expense which stood out glaringly above another in her list of luxuries it was kid gloves.  They must be absolutely immaculate as to quality, shade and fit, and she remorselessly consigned them to the waste-bag at the first hint of rip or change of color.  How strange that Mrs. Miller should have pitched upon just that item, and what an amazing declaration to make concerning it!

It was very strange, had any one been looking on to observe it, the manner in which this young girl was being educated.  It is doubtful if a whole year of church work in the regular home routine, listening to the stated, statistical sermon of her pastor, that sermon which presupposes so much more knowledge than people possess, would have begun to do for Flossy what the strange, fanciful, pungent story of “Fair Haven” did.

* * * * *

Before that hour was closed she had settled within her resolute little heart a plan that should henceforth put her in close communion and sympathy with mission work—­not exactly the plans of operation, except that kid gloves and peanuts took stern places in the background, but this was simply the foundation for a resolute system of education, carried all through her future life.

What a pity it seems sometimes that people cannot read the hearts and watch the springs of action of those around them.  If Mrs. Miller, as she closed her paper and moved away from the platform, could have seen the earnest purpose glowing and throbbing in Flossy’s heart, and have known that it was born of words of hers, what a glad and thankful heart would she have carried back to her tent!

Also, if the much troubled pastor at home could have taken peeps into the future and seen what Flossy Shipley’s resolves would do for Missions, how glad he would have been!

Perhaps it would be better to lay all the troubles and the tangles down in the Hand that overrules it all, and say, in peace and restfulness, “He knoweth the end from the beginning.”

CHAPTER XIII.

“CROSS PURPOSES.”

When people start out with the express design of having a good time, irrespective of other people’s plans or feelings—­in short, with a general forgetfulness of the existence of others—­they are very likely to find at the close of the day that a failure has been made.

It did not take the entire day to convince Eurie Mitchell that Chautauqua was not the synonym for absolute, unalloyed pleasure.  You will remember that she detached herself from her party in the early morning, and set out to find pleasure, or, as she phrased it, “fun.”  She imagined them to be interchangeable terms.  She had not meant to be deserted, but had hoped to secure Ruth for her companion, she not having the excuse of wishing to report the meetings to call her to them.  Failing in her,