Sophia answered: "There is no virtue in what I do, for, had I the
choice, I certainly should not be their nursemaid."

"Do you know," he said, "I think when we see life in its reality,
instead of in its seeming, we shall find that the greatest deeds have
been done just because their doers believe that they could not do
otherwise."

"I don't see that. If circumstances shut us up to doing certain things,
there is no virtue in doing them. There may be a little virtue in not
repining at our fate, but not much."

He did not answer for a minute, but broke the curl of a little snowdrift
gently with his stick. Because he did not answer or say good-bye, Sophia
tarried for a moment and then looked up at him.

"Miss Rexford," he replied, "the voice of circumstances says to us just
what we interpret it to say. It is in the _needs must_ of a high nature
that true nobility lies."




CHAPTER XIII.


It is upon the anniversary of feasts that a family, if despondent at
all, feels most despondent. So it fell out that at Christmas-time the
homesickness which hitherto had found its antidote in novelty and
surprise now attacked the Rexford household. The girls wept a good deal.