Page:The Father Confessor, Stories of Danger and Death.djvu/280

270 "I may wear this, I suppose?"

Virginia laughed, but when Lucy insisted on finishing the effect, as she called it, by a bright yellow and scarlet sash, she grew almost grave.

"It's all right when you are young," she thought, "but if you keep your love of colour when you get old——" She smiled over her fancy.

Lucy was sweet to look upon, with her bright hair and flower-like face, as she stood amongst her father's guests, ready to drive away. But her mother winced when she saw her mount the trap beside Washington Gibbs. George, too, had a frown upon his face, for she had pretended not to see his look of appeal as she passed.

"I cannot always sit beside him," she excused herself; "besides, I want to see what an educated coloured person is like."

When they had all gone, Virginia turned to her mother, who claimed a bad headache as her excuse for staying behind.

"I lay awake last night," she said hesitatingly, "and I asked myself, why I had this hatred of those poor dark people; and, mother, I