ing robbed.
If you do go to the country, be sure and get a house near others.
Well, I must be going. Say good-bye to the others for me. I shall
look in again on you before long, and if you want me, you know my club.
Your cousin Helen has left town, and I shall be taking a trip to the
Continent with her very soon.'

He rose, shook hands politely, and directly the door closed upon him,
Agatha hastened to find her sisters.

She knew where to look for them. In a small room at the end of the
passage past the best bedrooms, Nannie would now be taking her
afternoon cup of tea. She had been with them all since they were quite
tiny children; had brought them over from India after their parents'
death, and had been kept in Miss Dane's service ever since--first as
their nurse, then as housekeeper, when they no longer needed her care.

She was an old woman now, crippled with rheumatism; but she was a
bright and happy Christian, and had a good influence upon all who came
in contact with her. It had been already arranged that she was to go
into an alms-house when the house was sold, and Miss Dane had left her
a small legacy, so that her future was provided for. Agatha's face as
she opened the door was a troubled one. She saw the old woman in her
easy chair by the fire; Gwen and the two younger ones making themselves
comfortable round her; and all were talking freely to her of what had
passed downstairs.

'Come along, Agatha; has he gone?'

'Yes,' was the reply; 'and I have come to Nannie to be soothed. All
the way upstairs I have been saying to myself, "Fret not thyself,
because of him who prospereth in his way." But it is hard to see his
self-complacency.'

'Poor old thing! When Agatha is disturbed, it must be something
indeed! Here is a seat. Nannie has been scolding us, and now she
shall scold you.'

CHAPTER II

Four Verses

'In preparing a guide to immortality, Infinite Wisdom gave not a
dictionary, nor a grammar, but a Bible--a book of heavenly doctrine,
but withal of earthly adaptation.'--_J. Hamilton._

The old woman looked through her glasses at her four nurslings with a
loving eye; then she said very quietly, 'I have been hearing all about
your plans, Miss Agatha, and I'm thinking you have shown your wisdom in
keeping a home together. Forgive my plain speaking. I know 'tis an
age for young ladies to make homes for themselves, anywhere and
everywhere, but unless a woman is married, 'tis a r