Miss Erminstouns." These ladies were tall, and what some folks call
"dashing women;" wearing high feathers, bright colors, and riding hither
and thither in showy equipages, or going to church on the Sabbath with a
footman following their solemn and majestic approach to the house of
prayer, carrying the richly-emblazoned books of these "miserable
sinners."

How I pined to hear from Gabrielle that she was happy, and cherished by
her new connections; that she was humbled also, in some measure--abashed
at the bold step she had taken. So young--so fair--so determined. I
trembled, girl as I was, when I thought that God's wrath might fall on
her dear head, and chasten her rebellious spirit.

Six months subsequent to Gabrielle's departure our father died, after
but a few days' severe suffering. Dying, he took my hand and murmured,
"Good child!" and those precious words fell as a blessing on my soul;
and I know he listened to the prayers which God put into my heart to
make for his departing spirit. I mourned for the dead, because he was my
father and I his child....

Nelly accompanied me to my sister's home; and fairyland seemed opening
to my view when I embraced Gabrielle once more. What a pleasant home it
was!--a cottage not much larger than the one I had left--but how
different! Elegance and comfort were combined; and when I saw the rare
exotics in the tasteful conservatory I remembered the roses in our
wilderness. Ah, I doubt if we ever valued flowers as we did those
precious dewy buds. Wood End Cottage stood on the brow of a hill,
commanding a fair prospect of sylvan quietude; the old Parsonage was
adjacent, inhabited by a bachelor curate, "poor and pious," the church
tower peeping forth from a clump of trees. The peal of soft bells in
that mouldering tower seemed to me like unearthly music: my heart
thrilled as I heard their singular, melancholy chime. There were fine
monuments within the church, and it had a superb painted window, on
which the sun always cast its last gleams during the hours of
summer-evening service.

My brother-in-law, Mr. Thomas Erminstoun, was paler and thinner than
when I had seen him last, and I was shocked and alarmed at his
appearance. His love for Gabrielle amounted to idolatry; and for her
sake he loved and cherished me. She was colder and haughtier in manner
than ever, receiving passively all the devoted tenderness lavished by
her husband: this pained me sadly; for though he was assuredly