ed and left him alone in the world, he was
all the more helpful and self-reliant. How his eyes used to twinkle
when we sat on our little porch, at evening, as he would say with a
flourish, 'Yes, this is all well enough, Anna, but wait till you see
our ancestral halls across the sea!' and then his laugh would ring out
like the boy he was. But it is the unexpected that always happens. If
we had counted on any such thing--"

"And after all it came true?" broke in Hope eagerly.

"Yes, it came true." Lady Moreham's voice sank to a sorrowful strain.
"I shall never forget the day the news came! We had eaten our little
supper--just the two of us, for we had no children,--and Duncan, after
his custom, unfolded his newspaper to read, while I took the dishes
from the table and washed them at the little white sink near by. I
used to hear if there was any news worth the telling, and when he broke
out excitedly, 'Why, Anna, listen to this!' I only turned silently,
expecting to hear of some wonderful new invention, for that was a few
years ago when the marvels of electricity were developing so rapidly,
and Duncan was deeply interested in them. Instead, he read an
advertisement, inserted by a London law firm, where his own name
appeared with the usual promise that he would hear of something to his
advantage, if he would write to their address.

"I went over to him and sat on the arm of his chair, as we discussed
it, full of wonder and conjectures, and more in earnest over the fun of
it than any possible advantage it might bring--for God knows, we were
happy enough! We only wanted to be let alone."

She spoke with extreme bitterness, and the girls looked at her,
astonished. It was difficult to believe any one could prefer plain
comfort in a porter's lodge to a title and estates.

"But you wrote?" questioned Faith, eager to hear the whole.

"Of course. We were as foolish as all the rest of the world! We
thought happiness and gold and honor the three Graces, instead of
Faith, Hope, and Charity," smiling into the girls' excited faces.

"And isn't happiness?"--began Hope, but she shook her head.

"Not worldly happiness--no. It is too brief, too treacherous. If one
learns to depend upon that, one is doomed to perpetual disappointment.
I have long understood that contentment is better than what we call
happiness--much better. Yes, we wrote, laughing together over the
possibility that our ancestral home might be seeking u