situation. So Martha in this solemn session was seeking strength to give
up, strength to bear and to forbear, strength to see her household laws
and customs violated, and not go on the aggressive for their sanctity.

She had a custom that devout women in all ages have naturally followed.
She sat quiet before God and spoke to Him in low, whispered words. It
was not prayer; it was rather the still confidence of one who asks help
and counsel from a Friend, able and willing to give it.

"Dear God," she said, in a voice that none but God could hear, "give me
good, plain, household understanding--let me keep in mind that there is
no foolishness like falling out--help me to hold my temper well in hand
so that I may put things right as fast as they go wrong. I am jealous
about John--it _is_ hard to give him up. Thou gavest him to me, Thou
knowest. Oh, let nothing that happens unmother me!"

In this way she sat in the dark and silence and asked and waited for the
answer. And no doubt it came, for about two o'clock she rose up like one
that had been strengthened and went calmly to her rest.

In the morning the first shock of the coming change was over, the
everyday use and wont of an orderly house restored the feeling of
stability, and Martha told herself things might turn out better than
looked likely. John was just as loving and attentive as he had always
been, and when he asked her to call on Jane Harlow as soon as she could
and give her welcome into the Hatton family, she did not impute his
attentions to any selfish motive.

Nevertheless, it was as the Lady of Hatton Manor, rather than as John's
mother, she went to make this necessary call. She dressed with the