For the young girl Afton, who’d known nothing for the past week but the misfortune of losing a most beloved father and the harrowing ordeal of being uprooted to a most strange and empty house far from the home she knew, the opportunity to forget her troubles for a few hours in Miss Holland’s cheerful company was a welcome one. Whatever Esther Holland made of their acquaintance, in Afton’s impressionable mind, she already regarded the older girl as a most indispensable friend.

“Oh, Afton, what fun you are!” Esther declared as Kit cleared their breakfast things away, a little before the time ordinary people would be taking their midday meal. “I simply cannot wait for you to meet Mattie!”

“Who is Mattie?”

“Well, her name is Martha, Martha Beattie, but everyone calls her Mattie. She is only the stablemaster’s daughter, but she is such a dear! She is my only companion in this horrid house, or at least she was, before you came. You will adore her, she is as pretty as a doll. She is smaller than me so I give her all of my old clothes. Why, as a matter of fact, she is nearly exactly your size. Which reminds me!”

Taken suddenly by some happy scheme of her own, Esther rushed over to the closet and began pushing aside gowns.

“Mattie will be terribly cross with me,” she admitted, producing at last a pale primrose muslin. “I had as good as promised this one to her as soon as I outgrew it. Ah, well. She shall simply have to learn to share.”

Afton protested that she could not possibly take Miss Holland’s clothes, but Esther would hear nothing of it. Within a quarter of an hour she had her dressed in the finest gown she’d ever seen, soft yellow with a russet spencer brought out to accompany it. Afton had never been so beautifully or colorfully dressed in all her fifteen years; she felt like a princess.

Meanwhile, having had Kit put the finishing touches on her hair, Esther stepped back to admire her work.

Her satisfaction lasted only a moment.

“Oh.”

From the tone, Afton sensed the other girl’s disapproval. She looked anxiously down at herself. “Is something wrong?”

“No. Well, it’s only—oh, dear. I looked exceedingly pretty in that color…”

“I’m sure you did,” Afton remarked, noting the other girl’s beautiful golden copper hair and jewel-like eyes, feeling increasingly more self-conscious as she considered her own gray appearance.

“But that’s just the trouble! I looked pretty in it, but you do not!”

Afton’s heart sank to her stomach, then leapt to her throat where it pulsed frantically. Her chest warmed, and her face and ears flushed crimson.

How ashamed she was! How foolish she felt! Of course such a fine gown would not suit one so plain as her. It had been impudence itself to even dare put it on! Mortified, she began to pull at the delicate skirt in an attempt to remove it.

“Oh, don’t look so wounded!” Esther cried, sensible of her new friend’s chagrin. “It isn’t you—it is the yellow. It’s all wrong for your complexion. Now, let me just take a closer look at your eyes, dear, and—”

A knock at the door interrupted the girls, and they turned in unison as a third girl admitted herself very naturally, as though she’d lived at Holland House all her life. Afton thought her at once the sweetest, most harmless-looking creature she had ever seen, a small thing, dressed all in lace and pink ribbons and wearing a mint green coat. Her dark hair was as naturally curly as Esther’s, and her eyes were guileless and wide as could be.

“Mattie, you are here! I had just been about to send for you,” Esther declared, rushing over to greet her friend with kisses. Then she turned to introduce them. “Mattie Beattie, this is Miss Afton Green, my father’s new ward from Littlewood. Afton, this is Mattie.”

“Miss Green—Afton!” Mattie’s confused expression changed quickly to one of simple childlike delight, and she rushed to Afton’s side to embrace her wholeheartedly. “How good it is you have come, and all the way from Littlewood! Esther will be so glad to have a companion in the house. But tell me, will you be staying long? Does not your family miss you?”

As quickly cheered as Afton had been by Mattie’s friendly greeting, she was just as quickly depressed by her artless question, and she felt her countenance fall without meaning to.

“Mattie, dear,” Esther pulled the younger girl aside gently. “Afton’s good father has just passed away—it is for this very reason she has come to stay at Holland House.”

“Oh!” Mattie cried, and tears welled at once in her big brown eyes. “Oh, how awful I am. Oh, Miss Green, how can you forgive me?”

“It’s quite all right—”

“No, no it isn’t! How stupid of me! Oh, I always say the wrong thing!” she cried, and turned to hide her face in Esther’s shoulder. Esther, for her part, endured the girl’s distress with patient affection.

“Now, now, Mattie, you mustn’t be so hard on yourself. Afton isn’t upset with you. Are you Afton?”

“Certainly not!”

“There, see?” Esther encouraged her, and Mattie looked up, her nose and eyes red with crying.

“Truly?”

“Truly, truly,” Afton insisted, feeling terrible that the sweet girl could be made so upset on her account.

“You are too kind, Miss Green,” she said, taking a hesitant step forward.

“Please, you must call me Afton.”

“May I?” She embraced Afton once more, clinging almost too tightly. Afton, embarrassed and overwhelmed, embraced her back.

“Oh, I just know we three are going to be the best of friends,” Mattie declared, separating with a wide smile, her eyes sparkling delightedly. “I see you are already become Esther’s favorite.”

“Indeed she has. I had just been about to give her this primrose gown from my own closet.”

“What a beautiful gown!” Mattie declared, stepping back to appreciate the picture. “It looks very well on you, Afton.”

“Nonsense,” Esther snapped, and Afton jumped a little. “It doesn’t suit her at all.”

“You mustn’t be cruel, Esther,” Mattie cried, holding Afton defensively. “You will hurt her feelings. She looks lovely in your old dress.”

“You are doing her no favors by praising her so dishonestly,” Esther said firmly. “The yellow does not suit her, as you can well see. Afton knows I have her best interests in mind, don’t you, Afton?”

“Well, I—”

“That complexion, it requires something cooler, I think. Blue, perhaps. Or a dusky rose.” Esther considered the matter with increasing excitement, studying Afton’s figure until the girl was once more red with embarrassment. “No, this will never do! We shall have to go into town,” Esther declared.

“Into town?!” Afton and Mattie said in unison.

“I must buy my dear Afton a gown as a welcoming gift. I simply cannot have my new companion going about in colors which do not suit her.”

“Really, she looks very well,” Mattie insisted, but Esther would not hear her. In her mind, the matter was already settled. Before Afton quite understood how it had happened, the mistress of Holland House had determined that they should all go into town that very afternoon, and began making preparations to that end.

Less than two hours later, the three girls were in Bramley Cross, a small town of roughly fifteen hundred people about five miles from Holland House with tradesmen and merchants in a goodly variety of storefronts. Driving down the compact main street, Afton noticed a bakery, a butcher’s shop, a draper, tailor, shoemaker, blacksmith, apothecary, bookseller, as well as a coaching inn and several alehouses. Besides these, she spied a tobacconist shop, and immediately her thoughts went to Mr. Ezra Holland. For his errand, no servants could be summoned, but for Esther’s, the stables had been able to supply all she needed. Wondering at this, Afton followed the other girls out of the carriage when it stopped in front of the dress shop.

What a sight these three young ladies made stepping out of the grand carriage, though Afton herself was not aware of it. With the beautiful heiress, Miss Esther Holland, flanked by two young girls, each dressed elegantly in Miss Holland’s hand-me-downs, they might well have been a royal procession, a fantastic sight indeed in the sleepy streets of Bramley Cross.

Miss Holland herself wore a long, deep blue velvet pelisse with a dark full collar and fur-trimmed cuffs. Her black bonnet was decorated with tall feathers and a jeweled ornament, with a broad sapphire ribbon tied just beneath her chin. Miss Mattie Beattie wore her mint green coat over her pink patterned gown, and her pink bonnet was trimmed with flowers. She carried a large ivory fur muff and a small pink embroidered reticule with tassels, all of which she wore very naturally, as though she were a true-born lady, and not merely the daughter of the stablemaster. Meanwhile Afton felt very out of place, still wearing Esther’s yellow gown and the rust-colored spencer, and she wore Esther’s old bonnet to match besides, deep reddish-brown in color, and she carried one of Esther’s spare mink muffs to keep her hands warm.

Before the three girls had even reached the door of the dress shop, the owner, Mrs. Redmayne, was standing at the door to welcome them.

“Come in, my dears, come in! You will catch your death of cold in this weather, come inside where it is warm. Good day to you, Miss Holland, and how lovely to see you again. And your friends are welcome, of course!”

“Good afternoon, Mrs. Redmayne. I wonder if we might see about making a gown or two for my friend here, Miss Green. I should like to give her some of my old clothes, but I fear our complexions are too dissimilar.”

“Of course, of course. You have such a warm complexion, my dear, but Miss Green here is pale as ice. Oh dear,” she clucked her tongue disapprovingly, “that red and yellow really will not do.”

“I was thinking something in blue, perhaps, or mauve… Oh, this cool cream color is very nice…”

“Isn’t it lovely? We got that in just last week…”

While the two chatted, Mattie played with a row of ribbon spools, spinning them and watching the light play off of their colors.

“How pretty this ribbon is,” Mattie commented, stopping at a spool of green satin. “Just like the grass in springtime. It’s lovely, don’t you think, Afton?”

“It’s very pretty,” Afton answered conservatively, feeling out of her depth in this fine shop, wearing fine clothes not her own and discussing the purchasing of fine gowns she could never afford.

“Esther,” Mattie held up the ribbon, “what do you think of the color?”

“It’s lovely, dear,” Esther answered without looking up from the two very expensive bolts of fabric Mrs. Redmayne was casually showing her.

“Don’t you think this green looks well on me? I should love to have it for my ivory bonnet.”

“Please, Mattie,” Esther scolded her impatiently. “We are here to shop for poor Afton, not you. I daresay I’ve gifted you ribbons and gowns enough to last you two years.”

Afton thought she saw something like bitterness flash in Mattie’s eyes just then, though it was only for a moment, so fleeting she convinced herself she imagined it. Indeed, as Mattie replaced the ribbon, she showed her a smile so winning, it seemed to her utterly impossible that such a vile look could have slipped from such a pretty and amiable person.

“Esther is right, my dear. We are come here for you!” she said, and she took Afton’s arm like an old friend. “We must be certain to pick a fabric that suits you exceptionally well—though I still say the yellow looks very fine on you. I hope you will continue to wear this gown.”

“Oh, I shall,” Afton assured her. “Miss Holland was so kind as to gift me such a beautiful dress, I shall treasure it for the rest of my life…”