y down at a perilous moment, to judge by the rumours of battle and
resistance. And all she had ever heard at home, much that she daily
heard at New York, inclined her to distrust and dislike of American
speculations. It was Cora's father! Her heart smote her for including
him in English prejudice, when Henry liked and trusted him! And she
had disobeyed and struggled against Henry too long. She had promised
to be submissive and yielding. But was this the time? And the
boarding-house life--proverbially the worst for children--was fast
Americanizing Ella, while Minna drooped like a snowdrop in a hot-house,
and idleness might be mischievous to Henry.

Oh, for some one to consult! for some one to tell her whether the risk
was a foolish venture, or if the terms were safe! But not a creature
did she know well enough to seek advice from! Even the clergyman,
whose church she attended, was personally unknown to her; Cora Muller
was her sole intimate; there was a mutual repulsion between her and the
other ladies, and still more with the gentlemen. A boarding-house was
not the scene in which to find such as would inspire confidence, and
they had no introductions. There was no one to turn to; and in the
dreary indifference that had grown over her, she did not even feel
capable of exerting her own judgment to the utmost, even if she had
been able to gather certain facts, or to know prudent caution from
blind prejudice--often woman's grievous difficulty. What could a
helpless girl of one-and-twenty, in a land of strangers, do, but try to
think that by laying aside the use of her own judgment she was trusting
all to Providence, and that by leaving all to her brother she was
proving her repentance for her former conduct.

There, too, were her sisters, clamorous with hopes of the forest life;
and there was Cora, urging the scheme with all the fervour of girlish
friendship, and in herself no small element in its favour, engaging for
everything, adducing precedents for every kind of comfort and success,
and making Ave's consent a test of her love. One question Averil asked
of her--whether they should be utterly out of reach of their Church?
Cora herself had been bred up to liberal religious ways, and was ready
to attend whatever denomination of public worship came first to hand,
though that which had descended from the Pilgrim Fathers came most
naturally. She had been at various Sunday schools, and was a good
conscientious gir