y well be trusted," added Mistress
Grena, "if it serve you, Mistress Hall, we will take our leave. Which
road go you?"

"I will attend you, my mistress, any road, if that stand with your
pleasure."

"In good sooth, I would gladly speak with you a little. I have an
errand to Cranbrook, and if it answer with your conveniency, then shall
you mount my niece's horse, and ride with me thither, I returning hither
for her when mine occasion serveth."

Tabitha having intimated that she could make this arrangement very well
suit her convenience, as she wished to go to Cranbrook some day that
week, the elder women took their departure, and Pandora was left alone
with Christie.

Some girls would have been very shy of one another in these
circumstances, but these two were not thus troubled; Pandora, because
she was too well accustomed to society, and Christie because she was too
much excited by the unwonted circumstances. Pandora drew Christie out
by a few short, well-directed questions; and many minutes had not passed
before she knew much of the child's lonely life and often sorrowful
fancies.

"Father's the best father that ever was, or ever could be!" said
Christie lovingly: "but look you, Mistress, he is bound to leave me--he
can't tarry with me. And I've no sisters, and no mother; and Aunt
Tabitha can't be here often, and Aunt Alice is--away at present."

"Thou art somewhat like me, little Christie, for though I have one
sister, I also have no mother."

"Do you miss her, Mistress?" asked Christie, struck by the pathos of
Pandora's tone.

"Oh, so much!" The girl's eyes filled with tears.

"I can't remember my mother," said Christie simply. "She was good,
everybody says; but I can't recollect her a whit. I was only a baby
when she went to Heaven, to live with the Lord Jesus."

"Ah, but I do remember mine," was Pandora's answer. "My sister was
thirteen, and I was eleven, when our mother died; and I fretted so much
for her, they were feared I might go into a waste, and I was sent away
for five years, to dwell with my grandmother, well-nigh all the length
of England off. I have but now come home. So thou seest I can feel
sorry for lonesome folks, little Christie."

Christie's face flushed slightly, and an eager, wistful look came into
her eyes. She was nerving herself to make a confession that she had
never made before, even to her father or her Aunt Alice. She did not
pause to ask herself why she should c