Willie brushed the tear-drops from his sister's cheek and laying his
fair, round face upon her neck, said, "And who'll be Maggie's mother?
Mrs. Carter?"

"Never! never!" answered Mag, while to the glance of hatred and
defiance cast upon her she returned one equally scornful and
determined.

Soon from the village there came words of sympathy and offers of
assistance; but Mrs. Carter could do everything, and in her blandest
tones she declined the services of the neighbors, refusing even to
admit them into the presence of Margaret and Carrie, who, she said
were so much exhausted as to be unable to bear the fresh burst of
grief which the sight of an old friend would surely produce. So the
neighbors went home, and as the world will ever do, descanted upon the
probable result of Mrs. Carter's labors at the homestead. Thus, ere
Ernest Hamilton had been three days a widower, many in fancy had
wedded him to Mrs. Carter, saying that nowhere could he find so good a
mother for his children.

And truly she did seem to be indispensable in that house of mourning.
'Twas she who saw that everything was done, quietly and in order;
'twas she who so neatly arranged the muslin shroud; 'twas her arms
that supported the half-fainting Carrie when first her eye rested on
her mother, coffined for the grave; 'twas she who whispered words of
comfort to the desolate husband; and she, too, it was, who, on the
night when Walter was expected home, _kindly_ sat up until past
midnight to receive him!

She had read Mag's letter, and by being first to welcome the young man