as
turned out just as I expected it would! Only what I did not expect was
that we should have her back upon our hands! I wonder at Edith! I
thought she had more pride than to come back to me for comfort after
leaving as she did!"

This was all the satisfaction Mrs. Waugh got from Old Nick, when she had
related to him the sorrowful story of Edith's widowhood and return, and
had appealed to his generosity in her behalf. But he unbent so far as to
allow Edith and Marian to be installed at Mrs. L'Oiseau's cottage, and
even grudgingly permitted Henrietta to settle a pension upon her.

CHAPTER VII.

WANDERING FANNY.

It was a jocund morning in early summer--some five years after the
events related in the last chapter.

Old Field Cottage was a perfect gem of rural beauty. The Old Fields
themselves no longer deserved the name--the repose of years had restored
them to fertility, and now they were blooming in pristine youth--far as
the eye could reach between the cottage and the forest, and the cottage
and the sea-beach, the fields were covered with a fine growth of sweet
clover, whose verdure was most refreshing to the sight. The young trees
planted by Marian, had grown up, forming a pleasant grove around the
house. The sweet honeysuckle and fragrant white jasmine, and the rich,
aromatic, climbing rose, had run all over the walls and windows of the
house, embowering it in verdure, bloom and perfume.

While Marian stood enjoying for a few moments the morning hour, she was
startled by the sound of rapid footsteps, and then by the sight of a
young woman in wild attire, issuing from the grove at the right of the
cottage, and flying like a hunted hare toward the house.

Marian impulsively opened the gate, and the creature fled in,
frantically clapped to the gate, and stood leaning with her back
against it, and panting with haste and terror.

She was a young and pretty woman--pretty, notwithstanding the wildness
of her staring black eyes and the disorder of her long black hair that
hung in tangled tresses to her waist. Her head and feet were bare, and
her white gown was spotted with green stains of the grass, and torn by
briars, as were also her bleeding feet and arms. Marian felt for her the
deepest compassion; a mere glance had assured her that the poor,
panting, pretty creature was insane. Marian took her hand and gently
pressing it, said:

"You look very tired and faint--come in and rest yourself and take
break