But Superiority had begun to find that to continue a friendship with Grace and Glory was not the simple and easy matter which she had at first supposed. Strange as it seemed, considering the great difference in their worldly positions, it was impossible not to feel a growing sense of inferiority and envy. Certainly Grace and Glory had no home of her own in the valley, no husband, no children, and no position, but in spite of that she did really seem to live like a queen—waited on hand and foot, apparently, by her two regal attendants, every possible want somehow or other supplied, and enjoying complete liberty and independence. More extraordinary still was the growing influence which she seemed to exert on others. There were her aunt and cousins, for instance, so mysteriously changed in their attitude toward her—as loving now as they had been hateful before!

In addition so many of her Fearing relatives were now actually entering the service of the Shepherd! The influence and power which her relationship with him seemed to give her and the way so many people in the valley were now entering his service, was a bitter pill for Superiority to swallow, for it was the Shepherd who had humbled her husband; and now he who had been so long despised and ignored by the whole Fearing clan, was accepted by them all as a kind of King!

It was not only the family of Mrs. Dismal Forebodings—they were not rich and important people, even though they were related to Lord Fearing! There was Bitterness, for instance, actually giving up his prosperous hotel in order to follow the Shepherd, and now Resentment had announced his intention of resigning as bank manager because the Shepherd had infected him with scruples about the investments in the Dead Valley Mines by which so many of the bank clients were getting rich! There was Self-Pity, too, and his stupid little wife, Helpless, actually working for the Shepherd and apparently enjoying it! Furthermore, according to valley gossip, a host of less prominent citizens were doing the same thing. Then, to top it all, Grace and Glory held a position of influence and authority among them which she herself, the wife of Pride, and daughter-in-law of Sir Arrogant, had never possessed!

There came a day when Superiority asked herself if it would not be better to end the friendship and to escape once for all from the growing sense of inferiority which every meeting with Grace and Glory, and with her friends, increased in her. Should she give up her friend and so sever all connection with the Shepherd and cut herself off from all news of his doings? Or should she continue the friendship and accept the fact that the one she had once patronized and championed had now surpassed her altogether?