She was past thirty-five, and had no regrets. She was a
close student of the Bible, and brought one text from it into her own
life. "When I was a child I played as a child, but now that I am old I
have put aside childish things." She often quoted this in defence of
her industrious maidenhood.

She really felt that she had an object in life to accomplish, one that
was wider than personal benefit. She occupied the chair as President
of the Church Aid. For five years she had been the delegate to the
County Temperance Convention. She was also a regular contributor to
the religious columns of a city newspaper, and she held many other
responsible duties within her keeping. Then, her cousin, James Piper,
had three children to bring up properly, and their mother was dead.
This work, along with the superintendence of the domestic features of
his home, gave her plenty to fill up any spare time which she might
have had. She took a pardonable pride in her station in the little
community that knew her, yet above all she strove to exercise a fitting
humility of spirit.

Her face was a pleasant one to see, shapely almost to prettiness, but
growing thin and sharp-featured; though bright, smiling eyes made her
appear more youthful than her years. Her hair, smoothed back from her
forehead, was streaked with grey, and harmonized perfectly with the
purity of her countenance.

Despite her brave front and ever-abundant faculty to console others,
she had known trouble of a kind that would have crushed others of
weaker nature. From early girlhood she had been alone, her parents
having died within a year of each other before she had passed her
fifteenth birthday. She had no sisters, and her only brother had
widened the gap between them by a life of recklessness.

Tom Piper was the exact antithesis of his sister. A good fellow with
everybody, and liked accordingly; none too particular in his choice of
comrades; a spendthrift, and unable to apply himself for long at any
one occupation, 'twas a fortunate circumstance that Cousin James took
in his orphan sister, otherwise she would have had the additional
burden of poverty to harass her endeavors to sustain the respectability
of the family. Tom might also have made his home with his cousin, but
he showed no inclination to accept such charity. He was older than his
sister, and quite able to take care of himself, so he thought. He
secured work with a firm of timber contractors, a