."

"Great deal of good? Yes; but, of course, I supposed he'd do it among
his own set of people. I had no idea that he was going to invade the
upper classes of society and make a guy out of the very young man
that--"

Then Eleanor burst into tears.

"My dear child," said the mother, "you are making altogether too much
of very little. Of course, it's impossible that everybody in the town
sha'n't be surprised at the sudden change that has come over Mr.
Bartram, but it ought to comfort you to know that all the better people
in the town are very glad to learn of it, and that his example is
making them very much ashamed of themselves, and that, instead of the
meetings being conducted almost entirely by him and Sam Kimper,
hereafter--"

"Him and Sam Kimper! Mother! the idea of mentioning the two persons in
the same day!--in the same breath! How can you?"

"Well, dear, they will no longer manage the meetings by themselves, but
a number of the older citizens, who have generally held aloof from such
affairs, have resolved that it is time for them to do something, so
Reynolds will very soon be a less prominent figure, and I trust you
will hear less about him. But don't--I beg of you, don't visit your
displeasure on that poor girl. You can't imagine that she had anything
to do with her father's conversion, can you, still less with that of
Mr. Bartram? Now, do dry your eyes and try to come back to your work
and be cheerful. If you can't do more, you at least can be human. Don't
disgrace your parentage, my dear. _She_ has not even done that as yet."

Then Mrs. Prency returned to the sewing-room and chatted a little while
with the new seamstress about the work in hand. Eleanor joined them in
a few moments, and the mental condition of the atmosphere became
somewhat less cloudy than before, when suddenly a stupid servant, who
had only just been engaged and did not entirely know the ways of the
house, ushered directly into the sewing-room Mr. Reynolds Bartram.

Eleanor sprang to her feet, spreading dress-goods, and needles, and
spools of silk, and thread, and scissors, and thimbles, all over the
floor. Jane looked up timidly for an instant, and bent her head lower
over her work. But Mrs. Prency received him as graciously as if she
were the Queen of England sitting upon her throne, with her royal robes
upon her.

"I merely dropped in to see the judge, Mrs. Prency. I beg pardon for
intruding upon the business of the day."

"I