mother; I love her as I should
have loved my own. And, oh, while she was scorching me up with her
scornful looks and words, how I did long to show her that I was not the
unworthy creature she deemed me, but a poor, honest, loving girl, who
adored both her and her son, and who would, for the love I bore them--"

"Die, if necessary, I suppose! That is just about what foolish lovers
promise to do for each other," said the elder sister, impatiently.

"Well, I would, Hannah; though that is not what I meant to say; I meant
that for the love I bore them I would so strive to improve in every
respect that I should at last lift myself to their level and be worthy
of them!"

"Humph! and you can rest under this ban of reproach!"

"No, not rest, Hannah! no one can rest in fire! and reproach is fire to
me! but I can bear it, knowing it to be undeserved! For, Hannah, even
when I stood shriveling in the blaze of that lady's presence, the
feeling of innocence, deep in my heart, kept me from death! for I think,
Hannah, if I had deserved her reproaches I should have dropped,
blackened, at her feet! Dear sister, I am very sorry I told you anything
about it. Only I have never kept anything from you, and so the force of
habit and my own swelling heart that overflowed with trouble made me do
it. Be patient now, Hannah! Say nothing to my dear husband of this. In
two days the lady and her daughters will be in Washington. Herman will
take us home, acknowledge me and write to his mother. There will then be
no outbreak; both will command their tempers better when they are apart!
And there will be nothing said or done that need make an irreparable
breach between the mother and son, or between her and myself. Promise
me, Hannah, that you will say nothing to Herman about it to-morrow!"

"I promise you, Nora; but only because the time draws so very near when
you will be acknowledged without any interference on my part."

"And now, dear sister, about you and Reuben. Have you told him of Mr.
Brudenell's offer?"

"Yes, dear."

"And he will accept it?"

"Yes."

"And when shall you be married?"

"The very day that you shall be settled in your new home, dear. We both
thought that best. I do not wish to go to Brudenell, Nora. Nothing can
ever polish me into a fine lady; so I should be out of place there even
for a day. Besides it would be awkward on account of the house-servants,
who have always looked upon me as a sort of companion, because I