y whom Mrs. Godfrey always
calls Mother Quixote, who is so rich, and always travels with a white
Persian cat? Of course I have seen her at church. She is stout, rather
addicted to gorgeous raiment, and wears a gold pince-nez."

"That is the very person!" exclaimed Elizabeth. "Oh yes, she is
excessively rich, has not a relative in the world, gives half her
income away, and, as dear Mrs. Godfrey expresses it, spends a good deal
of her time in trying to wash her black sheep white, and weeping over
her failures."

"And I am afraid does more harm than good in the long run," observed
Malcolm; but Elizabeth would not allow this.

"She is the drollest old dear in the world," she went on, "and is quite
a Mrs. Malaprop in some of her sayings, but she has the best and
kindest heart in the world. Mrs. Godfrey means to enlist her sympathies
on Leah's behalf, and we have no fear of the result."

"And you think this good lady will be able to help Miss Jacobi?"

"We are quite sure of it. Mrs. Richardson has a weak chest, and she
always winters abroad, and she has been in the habit of engaging some
young lady to accompany her as a travelling companion. Her maid is
rather a crotchety old person, and very uneducated; besides, the cat
gives her sufficient employment. I forgot to say he is blind, and
rejoices in the name of Sir Charles Grandison. Mrs. Richardson is a
descendant of the novelist, and always carries Clarissa Harlowe and Sir
Charles Grandison about with her. She is full of amusing fads and
fancies."

"And you mean Miss Jacobi to be her travelling companion?"

"Mrs. Godfrey means it--it is her idea. Anyhow, she promised to go
round to Sandy Hollow the next day and give the old lady a full
description of Leah, and if possible to arrange a meeting."

"I think it a very good idea," chimed in Dinah, her soft voice breaking
the silence for the first time--she was always willing to leave the
conversation in Elizabeth's hands. "Miss Jacobi seems very willing to
do anything, poor thing, that will make her independent of her brother."

"Yes, indeed, she is terribly afraid of him," returned Elizabeth. "She
has reason to dread his violence, I can see that. Once or twice he has
treated her with absolute cruelty, but then she owned he had been
drinking. You see," appealing to Malcolm, "it would be such a relief to
us all to know she was abroad, and in such kind hands; and then, as
Mrs. Godfrey says, she is so exactly fitted for the