oman. I hope
you may have known Mr. Rowan long enough to justify your confidence
in him."

It was still the voice of a raven! Mrs. Prime as she spoke thus
knew that she was croaking, and would have divested herself of her
croak and spoken joyously, had such mode of speech been possible
to her. But it was not possible. Though she would permit no such
foreshadowings as those at which her mother had hinted, she had
committed herself to forebodings against this young man, to such
extent that she could not wheel her thoughts round and suddenly think
well of him. She could not do so as yet, but she would make the
struggle.

"God bless you, Rachel!" she said, when they parted for the night.
"You have my best wishes for your happiness. I hope you do not doubt
my love because I think more of your welfare in another world than in
this." Then she kissed her sister and they parted for the night.

Rachel now shared her mother's room; and from her mother, when they
were alone together, she received abundance of that sympathy for
which her heart was craving.

"You mustn't mind Dorothea," the widow said.

"No, mamma; I do not."

"I mean that you mustn't mind her seeming to be so hard. She means
well through it all, and is as affectionate as any other woman."

"Why did she say that he had been dismissed when she knew that it
wasn't true?"

"Ah, my dear! can't you understand? When she first heard of Mr.
Rowan--"

"Call him Luke, mamma."

"When she first heard of him she was taught to believe that he was
giddy, and that he didn't mean anything."

"Why should she think evil of people? Who taught her?"

"Miss Pucker, and Mr. Prong, and that set."

"Yes; and they are the people who talk most of Christian charity!"

"But, my dear, they don't mean to be uncharitable. They try to do
good. If Dorothea really thought that this young man was a dangerous
acquaintance what could she do but say so? And you can't expect
her to turn round all in a minute. Think how she has been troubled
herself about this affair of Mr. Prong's."

"But that's no reason she should say that Luke is dangerous.
Dangerous! What makes me so angry is that she should think everybody
is a fool except herself. Why should anybody be more dangerous to me
than to anybody else?"

"Well, my dear, I think that perhaps she is not so wrong there. Of
course everything is all right with you now, and I'm sure I'm the
happiest woman in the world to feel that it is so.