, in a low, hopeless voice, "the shrine is deserted, and
the idol is broken, and the world feels a great wide, empty place where
there is no room for me--a cold, hard place that I must toil through,
and the only hope left is to get to the end as soon as possible."

Oh, I wish Flora or Annas were here! I do not know how to deal with my
poor Hatty. Thoughts which would comfort me seem to fall powerless with
her; and I have nobody to counsel me. I suppose my Aunt Kezia would say
I must set the Lord before me; but I do not see how to do it in this
case. I am sure I have prayed enough. What I want is an angel to
whisper to me what to do again; and my angel has gone back into Heaven,
I suppose, for I feel completely puzzled now. At any rate, I do hope
things have done happening.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Note 1. Our forefathers thought colds a much more serious affair than
we do. They probably knew much less about them.

CHAPTER TWELVE.

BOUGHT WITH A PRICE.

_Host._ "Trust me, I think 'tis almost day."
_Julia._ "Not so; but it hath been the longest night
That e'er I watched, and the most heaviest."

SHAKESPEARE.

I am writing four days later than my last sentence, and I wonder whether
things have finished beginning to happen.

Grandmamma's Tuesday was the day after I writ. The Newtons were
there,--at least Mrs Newton and Miss Theresa,--and ever so many people
whom I knew and cared nothing about. My Lady Parmenter came early, but
did not stay long; and very late, long after every one else, Ephraim
Hebblethwaite. Mr Raymond I did not see, and have not done so for
several times.

I was not much inclined to talk, and I got into a corner with some
pictures which I had seen twenty times, and turned them over just as an
excuse for keeping quiet. All at once I heard Ephraim's voice at my
side:

"Cary, I want to speak to you. Go on looking at those pictures: other
ears are best away. How is Hatty?"

"She is better," I said; "but she is not the old Hatty."

"I don't think the old Hatty will come back," he said. "Perhaps the new
one may be better. Are the Miss Bracewells gone home?"

"They start to-morrow," said I.

"Cary, I am going to ask you something. Don't show any surprise. Are
you a brave girl?"

"I hardly know," said I, resisting the temptation to look up and see
what he meant. "Why?"

"Because a woman is wanted for a piece of