ell you also, that if it is to be so, I cannot
remain at the cottage any longer."

"Oh, Dorothea!" said Mrs. Ray.

"Indeed, mother, I cannot. If Rachel is not hindered from such
meetings by her own sense of what is right, she must be hindered by
the authority of those older than herself."

"Hindered,--hindered from what?" said Rachel, who felt that her tears
were coming, but struggled hard to retain them. "Mamma, I have done
nothing that was wrong. Mamma, you will believe me, will you not?"

Mrs. Ray did not know what to say. She strove to believe both of
them, though the words of one were directly at variance with the
words of the other.

"Do you mean to claim it as your right," said Mrs. Prime, "to be
standing out there alone at any hour of the night, with any young man
that you please? If so, you cannot be my sister."

"I do not want to be your sister if you think such hard things," said
Rachel, whose tears now could no longer be restrained. Honi soit qui
mal y pense. She did not, at the moment, remember the words to speak
them, but they contain exactly the purport of her thought. And now,
having become conscious of her own weakness by reason of these tears
which would overwhelm her, she determined that she would say nothing
further till she pleaded her cause before her mother alone. How could
she describe before her sister the way in which that interview at the
churchyard stile had been brought about? But she could kneel at her
mother's feet and tell her everything;--she thought, at least, that
she could tell her mother everything. She occupied generally the same
bedroom as her sister; but, on certain occasions,--if her mother was
unwell or the like,--she would sleep in her mother's room. "Mamma,"
she said, "you will let me sleep with you to-night. I will go now,
and when you come I will tell you everything. Good night to you,
Dolly."

"Good night, Rachel;" and the voice of Mrs. Prime, as she bade her
sister adieu for the evening, sounded as the voice of the ravens.

The two widows sat in silence for a while, each waiting for the other
to speak. Then Mrs. Prime got up and folded her shawl very carefully,
and carefully put her bonnet and gloves down upon it. It was her
habit to be very careful with her clothes, but in her anger she had
almost thrown them upon the little sofa. "Will you have anything
before you go to bed, Dorothea?" said Mrs. Ray. "Nothing, thank you,"
said Mrs. Prime; and her voice was very