to kill, an' all kase you's done
suthin' you's shamed of an' tinks he knows it. I'm gwine over to the
groun' room."

I feared Mr. Benton would strike him, and I ran to the gate, and stood
there while Matthias passed out and along the road. Mr. Benton
disappeared suddenly.

Supper-time was at hand, and there had been no time to tell mother what
I had heard of Miss Harris' history. At the table Ben, as usual, had
inquiries to make, and I said, "Oh! she is better, Ben; you shall see
her, for she will stay a long time."

"Where did she come from, Emily?"

From Charleston, South Carolina.

"Well, ain't that funny?" said he; "that's the very place Matthias came
from, and perhaps she does know him after all."

"Oh! yes, she does," I replied, and raising my eyes to meet Mr. Benton's
gaze, I shot the truth at him with a dark glance; his own eyes fell, and
he looked as if overwhelmed with confusing thoughts; and the
consciousness of being foiled roused the demon within him. This,
however, was not the time or place to unbottle his wrath, and it must
swell silently within.

My father began to feel the shadows thickening round him, and he kindly
forbore to say a word regarding the matter, as did also mother. Aunt
Hildy moved a little uneasily in her chair, and I knew she could have
said something as cutting as a knife, but did not. As for me, I could
and did talk on other things, and congratulated myself on another
victory. I afterward told mother all Miss Harris said, and she remarked
quietly:

"I am very thankful she is his wife."

"Well, but she isn't," I said.

"Yes, I know, Emily, the previous marriage would be held as the only
lawful tie, but it is much better than it might have been. She has a
good home and parents, and is young. Years will restore her. I cannot
see, however, why she should have taken the pains to find him here."

"For the reason that she desires to plead with him for the wife and boys
that are in need, and is a strong noble woman too,--why, she will have
the strength of a lion when she gets well, and there is a resolute
determination on her part to place before Mr. Benton a plain picture of
his duty."

"Hem!" said Aunt Hildy, "she can get her picture all ready and put on
the prettiest paint in the market,--that man will be gone in less than
twenty-four hours. Can't I see which way his sails are set?" Our back
door-sill never was swept cleaner than where this sentence fell.

"That may be,"