d like a sword in the heart of Mrs. Markland.

"She stood by me when I opened her father's letter, enclosing the
one for her. I did not dream from whence it came, and handed it to
her without a thought."

"Agnes! Agnes! What have you done?" exclaimed Aunt Grace, in a
troubled voice.

"Nothing for which I need reproach myself," said Mrs. Markland, now
grown calmer. "Had the discretion been left with me, I should not
have given Fanny the letter until Edward returned. But it passed to
her hands through no will of mine. With the Great Controller of
events it must now be left."

"Oh dear! Don't talk about the Controller of events in a case of
this kind. Wise people control such things through the wisdom given
them. I always think of Jupiter and the wagoner, when I hear any one
going on this way."

Aunt Grace was excited. She usually was when she thought earnestly.
But her warmth of word and manner rarely disturbed Mrs. Markland,
who knew her thoroughly, and valued her for her good qualities and
strong attachment to the family. No answer was made, and Aunt Grace
added, in a slightly changed voice,--

"I don't know that you are so much to blame, Agnes, seeing that
Fanny saw the letter, and that you were ignorant of its contents.
But Edward might have known that something like this would happen.
Why didn't he put the letter into his pocket, and keep it until he
came home? He seems to have lost his common sense. And then he must
go off into that rigmarole about Mr. Lyon, and try to make him out a
saint, as if to encourage you to give his letter to Fanny. I've no
patience with him! Mr. Lyon, indeed! If he doesn't have a
heart-scald of him before he's done with him, I'm no prophet.
Important business for Mr. Lyon! Why didn't Mr. Lyon attend to his
own business when he was in New York? Oh! I can see through it all,
as clear as daylight. He's got his own ends to gain through Edward,
who is blind and weak enough to be led by him."

"Hasty in judgment as ever," said Mrs. Markland, with a subdued,
resigned manner, as she arose and commenced moving toward the house,
her sister-in-law walking by her side,--"and quick to decide upon
character. But neither men nor women are to be read at a glance."

"So much the more reason for holding strangers at arms' length,"
returned Aunt Grace.

But Mrs. Markland felt in no mood for argument on so fruitless a
subject. On entering the house, she passed to her own private
apartment, there