s appeared from behind some bushes. Her jet black eyes flashed
with fire, and her teeth gnashed until they threatened to crack between
her angry jaws.

"He hath another! Which of the two doth he love most? I will know, and
then--woe betide her!"

Sarah Williams was cunning and utterly unscrupulous. As she glared after
Charles and Adelpha, her fertile brain was forming a desperate, wicked
scheme. She watched them until they disappeared over the hill, and then,
turning about, walked hurriedly to the parsonage.

Adelpha, who was a merry, light-hearted girl, in love with all the
world, insisted on forming the acquaintance of Cora, until Charles, to
gratify her, granted her request, and the maids met. Cora was distant
and conventional, while Adelpha was warm-hearted and genial. They came
to like each other, despite the fact that each looked on the other as a
rival.

Cora had given up Charles Stevens, realizing that she was inferior and
unworthy in every sense, and certainly not capable of competing with the
daughter of the governor of New York. On the other hand, Adelpha saw a
dangerous rival in this mysterious maid with eyes of blue and hair of
gold; but Adelpha was honest and true, as were the old Knickerbockers
who followed her. She realized the maid's power and, in her frank and
open manner, loved her rival. Despite the fact that they were rivals,
the girls became friends, and as Adelpha had learned more of Cora's
trials, she gave her the full sympathy of her warm, loving heart.

Sarah Williams, who watched them with no little interest, asked herself:

"I know he loves both. Can a man wed two? No; he must choose between the
two, so I will stand between."

Charles, on account of his superior education, was regarded as an
extraordinary personage. He was gloomy and sad of late, for Sarah
Williams, with her keen woman's instinct, had probed his secret. He was
troubled to know which maid he loved most.

Cora, with her melancholy beauty, appealed to his strong emotions; but
Adelpha, with her fine figure, her great, dark, lustrous eyes and
charming manner, seemed equally attractive. If Cora were the stream that
ran deepest, Adelpha was the one that sparkled brightest. At one moment
he was ready to avow his love for one, and the next moment he was
willing to swear eternal fealty to the other.

Late one afternoon, he wandered with Cora at his side across the flowery
meadow to a point of land presenting a grand and pictu