Page:George Weston--The apple-tree girl.djvu/123

 "It's because I'm such a plain thing!" she sighed as she advanced to the ball.

Lady Salisbury's critical eye was following her like a searchlight, and altogether it wasn't surprising that after a wild swing Charlotte nearly missed her ball, which rolled forward a few miserable feet instead of sailing grandly half way to the hole.

The gallery gasped. Mr. Ogilvie groaned. And, fortunately for Charlotte, Lady Salisbury smiled. Yes, fortunately for Charlotte! And why? Because it only needed Lady Salisbury's smile to drive the blush from her cheeks and to stiffen her knees till they felt as firm as two steel sockets. "I'll show them," she breathed; "yes—homely as I am!"

It was a thought which had won her many a struggle. She was no longer playing Lady Salisbury; she was playing her old imagined enemy—that wicked fairy who had tiptoed to her