wore away. January, February, March, passed; and when
April came in there were only here and there, on the hillocks, bits of
bare ground to tell that the spring was coming.

"And to think that all my father's fields are sown and growing green by
this time--and the violets and the primroses out in all the dales!" said
Mrs Morely, with a sudden rush of homesick tears.

Mrs Grattan was with her, paying a long day's visit; for they had been
all the morning talking cheerfully of many things.

"Our winter is long," she said.

"Oh, so long and dreary!" sighed Mrs Morely. "No, you must not think
me discontented and unthankful," she added, meeting Mrs Grattan's grave
looks. "Only a little homesick now and then. If I were sure that all
was well with--" She hesitated.

"`I will trust, and not be afraid,'" said Mrs Grattan, softly.

They had not spoken much to one another about their troubles,--these two
women. Mrs Morely's reserve, even at the time of little Ben's death,
had never given way so far as to permit her to speak of her husband's
faults and her own trials. And Mrs Grattan's sympathy, though deep,
had been silent--expressed by deeds rather than by words. She knew well
how full of fear for her husband the poor wife's heart had been all the
winter; but she could not approach the subject until she herself
introduced it.

"`I will trust, and not be afraid,'" said Mrs Morely, repeating her
friend's words. "I can do naught else; and not always that."

"`Lord, increase our faith!'" murmured Dolly.

There was a pause, during which Mrs Morely went about, busy with some
household matter. When she sat down again, she said:

"You must not think I am pining for home. If I were sure that it is
well with my husband, nothing else would matter."

"You have good hope that it is well with him," said Mrs Grattan.

"Oh, I do not know. I cannot tell. I can only leave him in God's
hand." But she did not speak very hopefully.

"And surely there's no better thing to do for him than that," said Mrs
Grattan.

"I know it. But I have hoped so many times, and so few of the poor
souls who have gone so far astray as he has done come back to a better
life. I fear no more than I hope."

There was a long pause after that, and then, in a voice that seemed
quite changed, Mrs Grattan said, "I never told you about Stephen and
me, did I?"

"No. I know that you have had some great trouble in your life, like
mine--indeed, your