ate quite so much happiness from Hester's marriage
as you do. Do not be distressed or alarmed. She means no mistrust of
anybody, I imagine; but only that there is no perfect happiness in this
life, that nobody is faultless; and no home, not even where her young
ladies live, is quite free from care and trouble. It would not hurt
you, surely, if she was to say this outright to you?"

"Oh, no; nor a good deal more of the same tendency. She might come much
nearer to the point, good soul! without hurting me. Suppose I ask her
what it was she did mean, to-night or to-morrow, when she and I are
alone?"

"Well! if she is such a wise woman--. But I doubt whether you could get
her nearer to the point without danger of hurting her. Can she bring
herself to own that either of you have faults?"

"Oh, yes: she has never spared us, from the time we were two feet high."

"What can make you so anxious as to what she meant?"

"I really hardly know, unless it be that where one loves very much, one
fears--Oh, so faithlessly! I know I ought to fear less for Hester than
ever; and yet--."

The door burst open, and the foot-boy entered with his jingling tray,
and news that the sedan for Miss Young was at the door. What sedan?
Margaret had asked Mrs Grey for hers, as the snow had fallen heavily,
and the streets were not fit for Maria's walking. Maria was very
thankful.

Here was an end of Maria's bright holiday. Mr Grey's porters must not
be kept waiting. The friends assured each other that they should never
forget this day. It was little likely that they should.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN.

HOME.

Margaret had an unconscious expectation of seeing her sister altered.
This is an irresistible persuasion in almost every case where an
intimate friend is absent, and is under new influences, and amidst new
circumstances. These accessories alter the image of the beloved one in
our minds; our fancy follows it, acting and being acted upon in ways in
which we have no share. Our sympathy is at fault, or we conceive it to
be so; and doubt and trouble creep over us, we scarcely know why.
Though the letters which come may be natural and hearty, as of old,
breathing the very spirit of our friend, we feel a sort of surprise at
the handwriting being quite familiar. We look forward with a kind of
timidity to meeting, and fear there may be some restraint in it. When
the hour of meeting comes, there is the very same face, the line of the
ch