t at all what they had pictured. David had tried
to describe Kate to them once, and this young, sweet, disarming thing did
not in the least fit their preconceived ideas of her. What should they do?
How could they carry on a campaign planned against a certain kind of
enemy, when lo, as they came upon the field of action the supposed enemy
had taken another and more bewildering form than the one for whom they had
prepared. They were for the moment silent, gathering their thoughts, and
trying to fit their intended tactics to the present situation.

During this operation Marcia helped them to remove their bonnets and silk
capes and to lay them neatly on the parlor sofa. She gave them chairs,
suggested palm-leaf fans, and looked about, for the moment forgetting that
this was not her old home plentifully supplied with those gracious breeze
wafters.

They watched her graceful movements, those two angular old ladies, and
marvelled over her roundness and suppleness. They saw with appalled hearts
what a power youth and beauty might have over a man. Perhaps she might be
even worse than they had feared, though if you could have heard them talk
about their nephew's coming bride to their neighbors for months
beforehand, you would have supposed they knew her to be a model in every
required direction. But their stately pride required that of them, an
outward loyalty at least. Now that loyalty was to be tried, and Marcia had
two old, narrow and well-fortified hearts to conquer ere her way would be
entirely smooth.

Well might Madam Schuyler have been proud of her pupil as alone and
unaided she faced the trying situation and mastered it in a sweet and
unassuming way.

They began their inquisition at once, so soon as they were seated, and the
preliminary sentences uttered. The gleaming knitting needles seemed to
Marcia like so many swarming, vindictive bees, menacing her peace of mind.

"You look young, child, to have the care of so large a house as this,"
said Aunt Amelia, looking at Marcia over her spectacles as if she were
expected to take the first bite out of her. "It's a great responsibility!"
she shut her thin lips tightly and shook her head, as if she had said:
"It's a great _impossibility_."

"Have you ever had the care of a house?" asked Miss Hortense, going in a
little deeper. "David likes everything nice, you know, he has always been
used to it."

There was something in the tone, and in the set of the bow on Aunt
Horte