H WITH THE TWO AUNTS.]

Copyright by C. Klackner
MARCIA PASSED FROM THE OLD STONE CHURCH WITH THE TWO AUNTS.

After that first visit Hannah never found the kitchen door unlocked when
she came to make a morning call, but she improved every little opportunity
to torment her gentle victim. She had had a letter from Kate and had
Marcia heard? How often did Kate write her? Did Marcia know how fond Harry
Temple was of Kate? And where was Kate's husband? Would he likely be
ordered home soon? These little annoyances were almost unbearable
sometimes and Marcia had much ado to keep her sweetness of outward
demeanor.

People looked upon Lemuel with new respect. He had finally won where they
had considered him a fool for years for hanging on. The added respect
brought added self-respect. He took on new manliness. Grandmother Heath
felt that he really was not so bad after all, and perhaps Hannah might as
well have taken him at first. Altogether the Heath family were well
pleased, and preparations began at once for a wedding in the near future.

And still David lingered, held here and there by a call from first one man
and then another, and by important doings in Congress. He seemed to be
rarely fitted for the work.

Once he was called back to New York for a day or two, and Harry Temple
happened to see him as he arrived. That night he wrote to Hannah a
friendly letter--Harry was by no means through with Hannah yet--and casually
remarked that he saw David Spafford was in New York again. He supposed now
that Mrs. Leavenworth's evenings would be fully occupied and society would
see little of her while he remained.

The day after Hannah received that letter was Sunday.

The weeks had gone by rapidly since David left his home, and now the
spring was coming on. The grass was already green as summer and the willow
tree by the graveyard gate was tender and green like a spring-plume. All
the foliage was out and fluttering its new leaves in the sunshine as
Marcia passed from the old stone church with the two aunts and opened her
little green sunshade. Her motion made David's last letter rustle in her
bosom. It thrilled her with pleasure that not even the presence of Hannah
Heath behind her could cloud.

However prim and fault-finding the two aunts might be in the seclusion of
their own home, in public no two could have appeared more adoring than
Amelia and Hortense Spafford. They hovered near Marcia and