e of God, but
you have really no church, no priesthood, no ordinances. We won't
discuss this. I will introduce you to our clergyman, and you shall
examine the subject for yourself. Perhaps you don't know it, Hiram, but
I have been confirmed; yes, I was confirmed last spring. When I had that
fit of sickness in the winter, I thought more about these matters than I
ever did before, and I came to the conclusion that it was my duty to be
confirmed. I have felt much more comfortable ever since, I assure you.
My wife, you know, is a strict churchwoman. She and you will agree first
rate if you come with us. For my part, I don't pretend to be so very
exact. I believe in the spirit more than the letter, and our clergyman
don't find any fault with me. What say you, will you call on him? If
yes, I will open up a little plan which I have this moment concocted for
your particular benefit. But you must first become a churchman.

Hiram sat stupefied, horrified, in a trance, in a maze. Cast loose from
his church, within whose pale he was accustomed to think salvation could
only be found, the possibility that there might be hope for him in
another quarter nearly took away his senses. He had been accustomed to
regard the Episcopalians as little better than Papists, and _they_ were
the veritable children of wrath. Could he have been mistaken? He was now
willing to hope so. It could certainly do no harm to confer with the
clergyman. He would hear what he had to say, and then judge for himself,
and so he told his cousin.

'All right; you talk like a sensible man. Now, Hiram, between us two, I
am going to find you a wife.'

Hiram started. His pulse began again to beat naturally.

'Yes, I have found you a wife, that is, if you will do as I advise you,
instead of following your own head. I tell you what it is, Hiram; you're
green in these matters.'

Hiram smiled an incredulous smile, and asked, in a tone which betrayed a
good deal of interest, 'Who is the young lady?'

'Never mind who she is until you come over to us. Then my wife shall
introduce you. But I'll tell you this much, Hiram: she has a clear two
hundred thousand dollars--no father, no mother, already of age, in our
first society, and very aristocratic.'

'Is she pious?' asked Hiram, eagerly.

'Excessively so. Fact is, she is the strictest young woman in the church
in--Lent. She belongs to all the charitable societies, and gives away I
don't know how much.'

'Humph,' respon