ible
but now it will do very well."

He had one more attempt.

"You won't be happy there, my dear, with all their religion and the
rest of it--and two old maids. You'll see no life at all."

"That depends upon myself," she answered, "and as to their religion at
least they believe in it."

"Yes, your Aunt Anne is a very sincere woman," Uncle Mathew answered
grimly.

He was angry and helpless. She seemed suddenly some one with whom it
was impossible to argue. He had intended to be pathetic, to paint
delightful pictures of uncle and niece sheltering snugly together
defended by their affection against a cold and hostile London. His own
eyes had filled with tears as he thought of it. What a hard,
cold-hearted girl she was! Nevertheless for the moment he abandoned the
subject.

That she should go and live with her aunts was not for Maggie in any
way a new idea. A number of years ago when she had been a little girl
of thirteen or fourteen years of age her father had had a most violent
quarrel with his sister Anne. Maggie had never known the exact cause of
this although even at that period she suspected that it was in some way
connected with money. She found afterwards that her father had
considered that certain pieces of furniture bequeathed to the family by
a defunct relation were his and not his sister's. Miss Anne Cardinal, a
lady of strong character, clung to her sofa, cabinet, and porcelain,
bowls, and successfully maintained her right. The Reverend Charles
forbade the further mention of her name by any member of his household.
This quarrel was a grievous disappointment to Maggie who had often been
promised that when she should be a good girl she should go and stay
with her aunts in London. She had invented for herself a strange
fascinating picture of the dark, mysterious London house, with London
like a magic cauldron bubbling beyond it. There was moreover the
further strangeness of her aunt's religion. Her father in his anger had
spoken about "their wicked blasphemy," "their insolence in the eyes of
God," "their blindness and ignorant conceit." Maggie had discovered, on
a later day, from her uncle that her aunts belonged to a sect known as
the Kingscote Brethren and that the main feature of their creed was
that they expected the second coming of the Lord God upon earth at no
very distant date.

"Will it really happen, Uncle Mathew?" she asked in an awe-struck voice
when she first heard this.

"It's all bunku