"Yes, I think I must," was the answer, while Mr. Hamilton continued:
"You had better stay; but if you insist upon going, I will order the
carriage, as you must not walk."

"Rather than put you to all that trouble, I will remain," said Mrs.
Carter; and when Mag returned with two umbrellas and two pairs of
overshoes, she found the widow comfortably seated in her mother's
armchair, while on the stool at her side sat Lenora looking not unlike
a little imp, with her wild, black face, and short, thick curls.

Walter Hamilton had not had much opportunity for scanning the face of
Mrs. Carter, but now, as she sat there with the firelight flickering
over her features, he fancied that he could trace marks of the
treacherous deceit of which Mag had warned him; and when the full
black eyes rested upon Margaret he failed not to note the glance of
scorn which flashed from them, and which changed to a look of
affectionate regard the moment she saw she was observed. "There is
something wrong about her," thought he, "and the next time I am alone
with Mag I'll ask what it is she fears from this woman."

That night, in the solitude of their room, mother and child communed
together as follows: "I do believe, mother, you are twin sister to the
old one himself. Why, who would have thought, when first you made that
_friendly_ visit, that in five weeks time both of us would be snugly
ensconced in the best chamber of the homestead?"

"If you think we are in the best chamber, you are greatly mistaken,"
replied Mrs. Carter. "Margaret Hamilton has power enough yet to keep
us out of that. Didn't she look crestfallen though, when she found I