"No, father, never," Hannah replied, as she pressed her hands tightly
together, while two great burning tears rolled down her cheeks.

"And yet you were a comely enough lass then," her father rejoined, as if
bent on tormenting her. "You had lost your bright color to be sure, but
there was something very winsome in your face and eyes, and manner; and
he might better have married you than the sharp-eyed, sharp-tongued,
fussy Martha Craig, who, like the Martha of old, is troubled about many
things, and leads the minister a stirred up kind of life."

"Mrs. Sanford is a model housekeeper, and takes good care of her
husband," Hannah said, softly; and then, as she heard the sound of
voices outside, she arose quickly, and went to meet her brother, and the
man who, her father had said, would better have married her than the
"sharp-eyed, sharp-tongued Martha."




CHAPTER X.

THE INTERVIEW.


The rector was full of interest and concern as he stepped into the room,
and when Hannah apologized for sending for him on such a night, he
answered promptly:

"Not at all, not at all. If I can be of any comfort to you or your