her came up.

'Why, my daughter, are you here? Has Meeker left? It is early yet.'

'Yes, he went some little time ago. I got the whole story out of him;
and when he finished he ran off, because I made him talk so much, I
fear.'

Mr. Burns observed that his daughter was somewhat excited; but there was
good reason, and he did not feel in any mood for scrutiny.

For perhaps the first time in her life, however, _she_ felt conscious of
something like _heart vacancy_--of some void her father's presence did
not fill. This made her very unhappy. She strove to conceal it, and
probably succeeded.

For the first time in her life, her father's kiss did not soothe,
comfort, and satisfy her.

As soon as Joel Burns had finished his devotions (his daughter and he
knelt always, morning and evening, side by side, and sent up their joint
supplications to the Almighty), Sarah hastened to her room. She slept
little that night; but when she rose in the morning, after having
breathed forth her prayers to God, in whom she so implicitly put her
trust, she felt composed and happy, and ready to welcome her father and
receive his usual caress.

* * * * *

I have no design to occupy too much of this narrative with the present
subject. I am writing the history of Hiram Meeker--not of Sarah Burns.
And Hiram's 'little affair' with Sarah, as he used to call it, was
scarcely an episode in his life.

The reader can easily understand how quietly, and with a manner both
fascinating and insinuating, Hiram installed himself absolutely in the
affections of Sarah Burns.

Mark you, Sarah was not a girl to be treated like Mary Jessup, or the
Hawkinses, or many others with whom Hiram was or had been a favorite.
Hiram knew this magnetically, and he undertook no false moves--assumed
no petty freedoms; but he knew how to make such a true-hearted girl love
him, and he succeeded.

There were times when Hiram was ready to give up his life-project of
settling in New York. There were times when, even arguing, as he could
only argue, from his selfishness, he was ready to decide to marry Sarah
and down in Burnsville. He would have a large field there. He would
start with abundant capital; he would go on and introduce various
improvements and multiply plans and enterprises. Then the recollection
of the vast city, teeming with facilities for his active brain to take
advantage of, where MILLIONS were to be commanded, with no limits