o' the village for some time if
she's expectin' Mark Wilson to take her away."

"I shall certainly go to the door with my sister," said Waitstill
coldly, suiting the action to the word, and following Patty out on the
steps. "Shall you tell Uncle Bart everything, dear, and ask him to let
you sleep at his house?"

Both girls were trembling with excitement; Waitstill pale as a ghost,
Patty flushed and tearful, with defiant eyes and lips that quivered
rebelliously.

"I s'pose so," she answered dolefully; "though Aunt Abby hates me, on
account of Cephas. I'd rather go to Dr. Perry's, but I don't like to
meet Phil. There doesn't seem to be any good place for me, but it 's
only for a night. And you'll not let father prevent your seeing Mark and
me to-morrow, will you? Are you afraid to stay alone? I'll sit on the
steps all night if you say the word."

"No, no, run along. Father has vented his rage upon you, and I shall not
have any more trouble. God bless and keep you, darling. Run along!"

"And you're not angry with me now, Waity? You still love me? And you'll
forgive Mark and come to stay with us soon, soon, soon?"

"We'll see, dear, when all this unhappy business is settled, and you are
safe and happy in your own home. I shall have much to tell you when we
meet to-morrow."

XXIX. WAITSTILL SPEAKS HER MIND

Patty had the most ardent love for her elder sister, and something that
resembled reverence for her unselfishness, her loyalty, and her strength
of character; but if the truth were told she had no great opinion of
Waitstill's ability to feel righteous wrath, nor of her power to avenge
herself in the face of rank injustice. It was the conviction of her own
superior finesse and audacity that had sustained patty all through her
late escapade. She felt herself a lucky girl, indeed, to achieve liberty
and happiness for herself, but doubly lucky if she had chanced to open a
way of escape for her more docile and dutiful sister.

She would have been a trifle astonished had she surmised the existence
of certain mysterious waves that had been sweeping along the coasts of
Waitstill's mind that afternoon, breaking down all sorts of defences
and carrying her will along with them by sheer force: but it is a truism
that two human beings can live beside each other for half a century and
yet continue strangers.

Patty's elopement with the youth of her choice, taking into account all
its attendant risks, was Indeed an ex