him. But don't tell papa yet, for I have not quite accepted him. I
think I am sure, but I am not quite sure. I am not quite sure about
him."

And then, two days after that, there had come a letter that was not
at all joyful. "Dearest Mamma,--It is not to be. It is not written
in the book. We have both agreed that it will not do. I am so glad
that you have not told dear papa, for I could never make him
understand. You will understand, for I shall tell you everything,
down to his very words. But we have agreed that there shall be no
quarrel. It shall be exactly as it was, and he will come at
Christmas all the same. It would never do that he and papa should
be separated, nor could we now put off Isabella. It is better so in
every way, for there is and need be no quarrel. We still like each
other. I am sure I like him, but I know that I should not make him
happy as his wife. He says it is my fault. I, at any rate, have
never told him that I thought it his." From all which it will be
seen that the confidence between the mother and daughter was very
close.

Elizabeth Garrow was a very good girl, but it might almost be a
question whether she was not too good. She had learned, or thought
that she had learned, that most girls are vapid, silly, and
useless,--given chiefly to pleasure-seeking and a hankering after
lovers; and she had resolved that she would not be such a one.

Industry, self-denial, and a religious purpose in life, were the
tasks which she set herself; and she went about the performance of
them with much courage. But such tasks, though they are excellently
well adapted to fit a young lady for the work of living, may also be