unciation of the word "shiftless;" and
by this she characterized all modes of procedure which had not a
direct and inevitable relation to accomplishment of some purpose then
definitely had in mind. People who did nothing, or who did not know
exactly what they were going to do, or who did not take the most direct
way to accomplish what they set their hands to, were objects of her
entire contempt,--a contempt shown less frequently by anything she said,
than by a kind of stony grimness, as if she scorned to say anything
about the matter.

As to mental cultivation,--she had a clear, strong, active mind, was
well and thoroughly read in history and the older English classics,
and thought with great strength within certain narrow limits. Her
theological tenets were all made up, labelled in most positive and
distinct forms, and put by, like the bundles in her patch trunk; there
were just so many of them, and there were never to be any more.
So, also, were her ideas with regard to most matters of practical
life,--such as housekeeping in all its branches, and the various
political relations of her native village. And, underlying all, deeper
than anything else, higher and broader, lay the strongest principle
of her being--conscientiousness. Nowhere is conscience so dominant and
all-absorbing as with New England women. It is the granite formation,
which lies deepest, and rises out, even to the tops of the highest
mountains.

Miss Ophelia was the absolute bond-slave of the "_ought_." Once make her
certain that the "path of duty," as she commonly phrased it, lay in
any given direction, and fire and water could not keep her from it. She
would walk straight down into a well, or up to a loaded cannon's mouth,
if she were only quite sure that there the path lay. Her standard
of right was so high, so all-embracing, so minute, and making so few
concessions to human frailty, that, though she strove with heroic ardor
to reach it, she never actually did so, and of course was burdened with
a constant and often harassing sense of deficiency;--this gave a severe
and somewhat gloomy cast to her religious character.

But, how in the world can Miss Ophelia get along with Augustine
St. Clare,--gay, easy, unpunctual, unpractical, sceptical,--in
short,--walking with impudent and nonchalant freedom over every one of
her most cherished habits and opinions?

To tell the truth, then, Miss Ophelia loved him. When a boy, it had been
hers to teach him h