g for the last
fortnight what bonnets they would wear----"

"Oh, mother!" and "Oh, Elinor!" said the "girls," "you must not mind
what mother says. We know very well that you must have worlds of people
to ask. Don't think, among all your new connections, of such little
country mice as us. We shall always just take the same interest in you,
dear child, whether you find you can ask us or not."

"But of course you are asked," said Elinor, in _gaiete de coeur_, not
reflecting that her mother had begun to be in despair about the number
of people who could be entertained in the cottage dining-room, "and you
must not talk about my new grand connections, for nobody will ever be
like my old friends."

"Dear child!" they said, and "I always knew that dear Elinor's heart was
in the right place." But it was all that Elinor could do to get free of
their eager affection and alarm lest she should be caught in the rain.
Both of the ladies produced waterproofs, and one a large pair of
goloshes to fortify her, when it was found that she would go; and they
stood in the porch watching her as she went along into the darkening
afternoon, without any of their covers and shelters. The Miss Hills were
apt to cling together, after the manner of those pairs of sweet sisters
in the "Books of Beauty" which had been the delight of their youth; they
stood, with arms intertwined, in their porch, watching Elinor as she
hurried home, with her light half-flying step, like the belated birds.
"Did you hear what she said about old friends, poor little thing?" "I
wonder if she is finding out already that her new grand connections are
but vanity!" they said, shaking their heads. The middle-aged sisters
looked out of the sheltered home, which perhaps they had not chosen for
themselves, with a sort of wistful feeling, half pity, perhaps half
envy, upon the "poor little thing" who was running out so light-hearted
into the storm. They had long ago retired into waterproofs and goloshes,
and had much unwillingness to wet their feet--which things are a
parable. They went back and closed the door, only when the first flash
of lightning dazzled them, and they remembered that an open door is
dangerous during a thunderstorm.

Elinor quickened her pace as the storm began and got home breathless
with running, shaking off the first big drops of thunder-rain from her
dress. But she did not think of any danger, and sat out in the porch
watching how the darkness came down