e.

"Why, whatever God is, and wherever He is, He must always be there,
ready and waiting. He can't move about and miss people. It may take the
heathen a little longer to find Him, but God will make allowances, of
course. He knows if they live in such hot climates it must make them
lazy and slow; and the parrots and tigers and snakes and bread-fruit
trees distract their minds; and having no books, they can't think as
well; but they'll find God somehow, some time."

"What if they die first?" asked Emma Jane.

"Oh, well, they can't be blamed for that; they don't die on purpose,"
said Rebecca, with a comfortable theology.

In these days Adam Ladd sometimes went to Temperance on business
connected with the proposed branch of the railroad familiarly known as
the "York and Yank 'em," and while there he gained an inkling of
Sunnybrook affairs. The building of the new road was not yet a
certainty, and there was a difference of opinion as to the best route
from Temperance to Plumville. In one event the way would lead directly
through Sunnybrook, from corner to corner, and Mrs. Randall would be
compensated; in the other, her interests would not be affected either
for good or ill, save as all land in the immediate neighborhood might
rise a little in value.

Coming from Temperance to Wareham one day, Adam had a long walk and
talk with Rebecca, whom he thought looking pale and thin, though she
was holding bravely to her self-imposed hours of work. She was wearing
a black cashmere dress that had been her aunt Jane's second best. We
are familiar with the heroine of romance whose foot is so exquisitely
shaped that the coarsest shoe cannot conceal its perfections, and one
always cherishes a doubt of the statement; yet it is true that
Rebecca's peculiar and individual charm seemed wholly independent of
accessories. The lines of her figure, the rare coloring of skin and
hair and eyes, triumphed over shabby clothing, though, had the
advantage of artistic apparel been given her, the little world of
Wareham would probably at once have dubbed her a beauty. The long black
braids were now disposed after a quaint fashion of her own. They were
crossed behind, carried up to the front, and crossed again, the
tapering ends finally brought down and hidden in the thicker part at
the neck. Then a purely feminine touch was given to the hair that waved
back from the face,--a touch that rescued little crests and wavelets
from bondage and set them