at Silverton, and though he
disliked to part with her, he finally consented to her going, and placed
at her disposal a sum which seemed to the deacon a little fortune in
itself.

In the kitchen there were sad faces when the servants heard of the
arrangement which was to deprive them not only of a pleasant home, but
of a mistress whom they both respected and loved. Esther pleaded hard to
go with Katy, and only the latter's promise that possibly she might come
by and by was of any avail to stay the tears which dropped so fast as
she put up her mistress' dresses, designed for Silverton, and laid away
the gayer, richer ones, which would be so sadly out of place upon her
now.

To Mrs. Cameron and Juno it was a relief to have Katy taken from their
hands, and though they made a show of opposition, they were easily
quieted, and helped her off with alacrity, the mother promising to see
that the horse was promptly called for, and Juno offering to send the
latest fashion which might be suitable, as soon as it appeared. Bell was
heartily sorry to part with the young sister who seemed going from her
forever.

"I know you will never come back. Something tells me so," she said as
she stood with her arms around Katy's waist, and her lips occasionally
touching Katy's forehead. "But I shall see you," she continued; "I am
coming to the farmhouse in the summer, to stay ever so long; and you may
say to Aunt Betsy that I like her ever so much, and"--here Bell glanced
behind her, to see that no one was listening, and then continued--"tell
her a certain officer was sick a few days in a hospital last winter, and
one of his men brought to him a dish of the most delicious dried
peaches he ever ate. That man was from Silverton, and the fruit was sent
to him, he said, in a salt bag, by a nice old lady, for whose brother he
used to work. Just to think, that the peaches I helped to pare, coloring
my hands so that the stain did not come off in a month, should have gone
so straight to Bob," and Bell's fine features shone with a light which
would have told Bob Reynolds he was beloved, even if the lips did not
refuse to confess it.

"I'll tell her," Katy said, and then bidding them all good-by, and
putting her hand on Uncle Ephraim's arm she went with him from the home
where she had lived but two short years, and those the saddest, most
eventful ones of her short life.

CHAPTER XLIV.

MARK AND HELEN.

There was much talk and wonder in