Iredale, and I'm
going to answer it at once."

"And what are you going to say in your reply?" laughed Alice. "I know
your matchmaking propensity. So does Robb."

The quiet, dreamy face of the old school-mistress smiled over at the
happy mother.

"Say?" she exclaimed. "I'm going to give George a piece of my mind for
staying away so long. I know why he's doing so, and my belief as to
the cause of his absence is different from what Prudence is beginning
to imagine. She thinks he has left her because of her brother's
doings, and it's that that's driving her to an early grave. I shall
certainly tell George what I think." And Sarah wagged her head
sagely.

And she was as good as her word. She had not seen fit to tell Alice
that she had been in constant communication with George Iredale ever
since the day of the tragedy, or that she was in his confidence as
regarded Prudence. George had left the district to give both Prudence
and her mother time to recover from the shock. And now that a year or
more had passed away, he had written appealing to Sarah to tell him if
she thought the time auspicious for his return.

In a long, carefully-worded letter Sarah advised him not to delay.

"By dint of much perseverance," she wrote, "I have persuaded the child
out of her absurd notions about the reflections her brother's doings
have cast upon her. She looks at things from a healthier standpoint
now. Why should she not marry? What has she done to debar her from
fulfilling the mission which is appointed for every woman? Nothing!
And I am sure if a certain man should return and renew the appeal
which he made at the time when the Lord's anger was visited upon her
brother, she would give him a different reply. However, I must not
waste all my space upon the silly notions of a child with a
misdirected conscience."

And how her letter bore fruit, and how George Iredale returned and
sought Prudence in the midst of the distractions of Winnipeg's social
whirl, and how the girl's answer, when again he appealed to her,
turned out to be the one Sarah had prophesied for him, were matters of
great satisfaction to the sage old school-mistress.

She assisted at the wedding which followed, she saw the bride and
bridegroom off at the railway depot, she remained to console her old
friend for the loss of her daughter. Then she hied her off once more,
back to the bleak, staring school-house, where she continued to
propound sage maxims for the young