ough a clergyman. And then, it must be
confessed, Nan's charming face and figure had never been forgotten:
he had looked out for the sisters many times since his chance
encounter with Phillis, and had been secretly disappointed at their
total disappearance. And now they proved not mere visitors, but
positively inhabitants of Hadleigh. He would meet them every day; and,
as there was but one church in the place, they would of course be
numbered among his flock. As their future clergyman he would have a
right of entrance to the cottage.

"How soon do you think we ought to call upon them, Mattie?" he asked,
when he was seated opposite to his sister at the luncheon-table. The
accounts had not progressed very favorably, and the letter to Grace
was not yet commenced. Mattie's news had been a sad interruption to
his morning's work.

"Whom do you mean, Archie," she returned, a little bewildered at this
abrupt remark; and then, as he frowned at her denseness, she bethought
herself of the new people. It was not often Archie asked her advice
about anything, but on this occasion the young vicar felt himself
incompetent to decide.

"I suppose you mean the new folk at the Friary," she continued,
carelessly. "Oh, they are only moving in to-day, and they will be in a
muddle for a week, I should think. I don't think we can intrude for
ten days or so."

"Not if you think it will be intrusive," he returned, rather
anxiously; "but they are strangers in the place, and all ladies--there
does not seem to be a man belonging to them--would it not be
neighborly, as we live so close, just to call, not in a formal way,
you know, but just to volunteer help? There are little things you
could do for them, Mattie; and, as a clergyman, they could not regard
my visit as an intrusion, I should think. Do you not agree with me?"
looking at his sister rather gravely.

"Well, I don't know," replied Mattie, bluntly: "I should not care for
strangers prying into my concerns, if I were in their place. And yet,
as you say, we are such close neighbors, and one would like to be kind
to the poor things, for they must be lonely, settling in a strange new
place. I'll tell you what, Archie," as his face fell at this
matter-of-fact speech: "it is Thursday, and they will be sure to be at
church on Sunday; we shall see them there, and that will be an excuse
for us to call on Monday. We can say then that we are neighbors, and
that we would not wait until they were al