lovingly upon her, while the evening wind, as it gently moved the
boughs of the tall elm trees, seemed like the rustle of angels' wings.
Who shall say the mother's spirit was not there to rejoice with her
daughter over the glad future opening so brightly before her?




CHAPTER XIV.

VISITORS.


The Tuesday following Mary's arrival at Mrs. Mason's, there was a
social gathering at the house of Mr. Knight. This gathering could
hardly be called a tea party, but came more directly under the head of
an "afternoon's visit," for by two o'clock every guest had arrived,
and the "north room" was filled with ladies, whose tongues, like their
hands, were in full play. Leathern reticules, delicate embroidery, and
gold thimbles were not then in vogue in Rice Corner; but on the
contrary, some of Mrs. Knight's visitors brought with them large,
old-fashioned work-bags, from which the ends of the polished
knitting-needles were discernible; while another apologized for the
magnitude of her work, saying that "her man had fretted about his
trousers until she herself began to think it was time to finish them;
and so when she found Miss Mason wasn't to be there, she had just
brought them along."

In spite of her uniform kindness, Mrs. Mason was regarded by some of
her neighbors as a bugbear, and this allusion to her immediately