gious
rules of the convent would allow, had always been delighted to show her
any hospitality. She was a beautiful girl--did not Mr. Hathaway think
so?--and a girl of great character. It was a pity, of course, that she
had never known a mother's care, and that the present routine of a
boarding-school had usurped the tender influences of home. She
believed, too, that the singular rotation of guardianship had left the
girl practically without a counseling friend to rely upon, except,
perhaps, Colonel Pendleton; and while she, Mrs. Woods, did not for a
moment doubt that the colonel might be a good friend and a pleasant
companion of MEN, really he, Mr. Hathaway, must admit that, with his
reputation and habits, he was hardly a fit associate for a young lady.
Indeed, Mr. Woods would have never allowed Milly to invite Yerba here
if Colonel Pendleton was to have been her escort. Of course, the poor
girl could not choose her own guardian, but Mr. Woods said HE had a
right to choose who should be his niece's company. Perhaps Mr. Woods
was prejudiced,--most men were,--yet surely Mr. Hathaway, although a
loyal friend of Colonel Pendleton's, must admit that when it was an
open scandal that the colonel had fought a duel about a notoriously
common woman, and even blasphemously defended her before a party of
gentlemen, it was high time, as Mr. Woods said, that he should be
remanded to their company exclusively. No; Mrs. Woods could not admit
that this was owing to the injustice of her own sex! Men are really
the ones who make the fuss over those things, just as they, as Mr.
Hathaway well knew, made the laws! No; it was a great pity, as she and
her husband had just agreed, that Mr. Hathaway, of all the guardians,
could not have been always the help and counselor--in fact, the elder
brother--of poor Yerba! Paul was conscious that he winced slightly,
consistently and conscientiously, at the recollection of certain
passages of his youth; inconsistently and meanly, at this suggestion of
a joint relationship with Yerba's mother.

"I think, too," continued Mrs. Woods, "she has worried foolishly about
this ridiculous mystery of her parentage--as if it could make the
slightest difference to a girl with a quarter of a million, or as if
that didn't show quite conclusively that she WAS somebody!"

"Certainly," said Paul, quickly, with a relief that he nevertheless
felt was ridiculous.

"And, of course, I dare say it will all come out whe