was to go
back to the church for the afternoon sermon.

Mrs. Grier, a spare, anxious-looking woman, with a tight friz of hair
about her temples which were thin and shining, met them at the door. She
had hurried home to "see to things," and be ready to welcome her guests.
John she ushered at once into her husband's study, a poor little room,
with even fewer books than Mr. Ward's own, while Helen she took to the
spare chamber, where she had thoughtfully provided a cambric dress for
her, for the day had grown very warm, and the riding-habit was heavy.

She sat down in a splint rocking-chair, and watched her guest brush out
her length of shining bronze hair, and twist it in a firm coil low on her
neck.

"It was a good gathering," she said; "people came from a distance to
hear Mr. Ward. The folks at Lockhaven are favored to listen to such
preaching."

"No doubt they feel favored to have Mr. Grier with them to-day," Helen
answered, courteously; but there was an absent look in her eyes, and she
did not listen closely.

"Well, people like a change once in a while," Mrs. Grier admitted,
rocking hard. "Mr. Grier's discourse was to be on the same subject as
your husband's, foreign missions. It is one that moves the preachers, and
the people seem to like it, I notice, though I don't know that it makes
much difference in the collections. But I think they like to get all
harrowed up. You'll find there won't be such an attendance in the
afternoon. It is ways and means, then, you know. Yes, seems as if sermons
on hell made them shiver, and they enjoyed it. I've sometimes thought--I
don't know as I'm right--they get the same kind of pleasure out of it
that worldly people do out of a play. Not that I know much about such
things, I'm sure."

Helen smiled, which rather shocked Mrs. Grier; but though the guest
scarcely listened, the little sharp babble of talk was kept up, until
they went down to dinner.

There had been no chance for the husband and wife to speak to each other.
John looked at Helen steadily a moment, but her eyes veiled any thought.
In the midst of Mrs. Grier's chatter, she had gone into the solitude of
her own heart, and slowly and silently light was beginning to shine into
the mysterious darkness of the last few days. John's grief must have had
something to do with this terrible sermon. She felt her heart leap up
from the past anxiety like a bird from a net, and the brooding sadness
began to fade from her face.