usual vigor and system
into her arrangements for the reception of the new comer. Nothing could
be neater than the little chamber, provided with its white curtains, its
spotless linen, its dark old mahogany furniture, its Testament and
Catechism upon the toilet-table; one or two vases of old china had been
brought up and placed upon brackets out of reach of the little hands
that might have been tempted by their beauty, and a coquettish porcelain
image of a flower-girl had been added to the other simple adornments
which the ambitious spinster had lavished upon the chamber. Her pride as
housekeeper was piqued. The young stranger must be duly impressed with
the advantages of her position at the start.

"There," said she to Esther, as she gave a finishing touch to the
disposal of the blue and white hangings about the high-post bedstead, "I
wonder if that will be to the taste of the little French lady!"

"I should think it might, Marm; it's the beautifullest room I ever see,
Marm."

Reuben, boy-like, passes in and out with an air of affected
indifference, as if the arrangements for the new arrival had no interest
for him; and he whistles more defiantly than ever.

XIX

In early September of 1829, when the orchard behind the parsonage was
glowing with its burden of fruit, when the white and crimson hollyhocks
were lifting their slanted pagodas of bloom all down the garden, and the
buckwheat was whitening with its blossoms broad patches of the hillsides
east and west of Ashfield, news came to the Doctor that his expected
guest had arrived safely in New York, and was waiting his presence there
at the elegant home of Mrs. Brindlock. And Sister Mabel writes to the
Doctor in the letter which conveys intelligence of the arrival,--"She's
a charming little witch; and if you don't like to take her with you, she
may stay here." Mrs. Brindlock had no children.

A visit to New York was an event for the parson. The spinster, eager for
his good appearance at the home of her stylish sister, insisted upon a
toilet that made the poor man more awkward than ever. Yet he did not
think of rebelling. He rejoiced, indeed, that he did not dwell where
such hardships would be daily demanded; but remembering that he was
bound to a city of strangers, he recalled the Scriptural
injunction,--"Render unto Caesar the things which be Caesar's."

The Brindlocks, well-meaning and showy people, received the parson with
an effervescence of kindness that