There was some truth in Mrs. Baxter's feeling. Mrs. Buzzell, for
instance, had three sons; Maria Sharp was absorbed in her lame father and
her Sunday-school work; and Lobelia Brewster would not have considered
matrimony a blessing, even under the most favourable conditions. But
Nancy was framed and planned for other things, and 'Zekiel was an
insufficient channel for her soft, womanly sympathy and her bright
activity of mind and body.

'Zekiel had lost his tail in a mowing-machine; 'Zekiel had the asthma,
and the immersion of his nose in milk made him sneeze, so he was wont to
slip his paw in and out of the dish and lick it patiently for five
minutes together. Nancy often watched him pityingly, giving him kind and
gentle words to sustain his fainting spirit, but to-night she paid no
heed to him, although he sneezed violently to attract her attention.

She had put her supper on the lighted table by the kitchen window and was
pouring out her cup of tea, when a boy rapped at the door. "Here's a
paper and a letter, Miss Wentworth," he said. "It's the second this
week, and they think over to the store that that Berwick widower must be
settin' up and takin' notice!"

She had indeed received a letter the day before, an unsigned
communication, consisting only of the words, "Second Epistle of John.
Verse 12."

She had taken her Bible to look out the reference and found it to be:--

"Having many things to write unto you, I would not write with paper and
ink; but I trust to come unto you, and speak face to face, that our joy
may be full."