She might have been more beautiful in her youth which was past, but now she was more than beautiful. The "afterwards" had come--of the chastening, "not joyous, but grievous," which she had endured in her youth; and the "peaceable fruits" of the promise were appearing. Very fragile she looked, but cheerful and bright.

"To think that I ever should have been afraid for my Eunice!" said Fidelia with a sob, before her foot touched the ground.

"Well, dear, safe home!" was her sister's gentle greeting.

"Home at last!" Fidelia answered.

Few words were spoken, either of welcome or rejoicing. Few were needed.

It was not the way of either of them to say out easily all that was in her heart; and in a little they were sitting as quietly as they sat that last day, when Dr Everett brought Fidelia home. It was spring-time then; and now the summer was nearly over--the summer which had done something for Eunice, as her sister clearly saw, but which, even to herself, she could not name.

She was not so much stronger as Fidelia had hoped to find her. There was the same paleness, with the same quick flush coming and going on her cheek when anything moved her, beautiful but sad to see. She had been peaceful then, even cheerful, but there had been some tokens that the peace had been striven for, and had come slowly, perhaps to go away again. Now it was a.s.sured. And Fidelia said again to herself, "How could I have been afraid?"

As Eunice went on to tell how, after all, Mrs Stone had decided not to delay her departure after the day appointed, Fidelia was recalling with sorrowful amazement her troubled thoughts about Dr Justin and Miss Avery, and her doubts as to how Eunice might feel when she came to know.

Neither the one nor the other, nor both together, could harm her, nor even trouble her peace. "Nor any one or anything else in the world,"

she added in her heart.

"I think I am a little glad that Mrs Stone went, after all," Eunice was saying, when Fidelia came back to the present again. "I am glad to have you to myself a little while: you must have a great deal to tell me after so long a time, and we won't hurry over it. It is good to have you at home again."

"It is good to be at home, though they were all very good to me in Eastwood."

"You are not looking very rosy even yet," said Eunice gravely.

"Oh, I am perfectly well; and so I was when I went there, only I was tired. Yes, I liked every one of them. They were all very good to me."

"And the visitors?"

"I liked them pretty well. I envied them a little, I am afraid. It was silly of me, wasn't it, and wicked? But I have got over it, and I don't suppose I shall ever be exposed to the same temptation again--I mean, I have seen the last, of them, I guess--of Miss Avery at any rate. I am glad too that Mrs Stone went away for awhile, though I would like to see her. What is she like?"

"She is good, and sensible, and strong. Some people might think her hard at first not knowing her well--but she is not hard. She has been in some hard spots since she used to take care of me as a baby, and she might have grown hard and sour also, if it had not been, as she says, 'for the grace of G.o.d.' But, hard or not, I love her dearly. She suits me."

"You must have been glad to see her again."

"Yes; when she came I was glad. I was not altogether glad at the thought of her coming. I suppose I was afraid a little of the old times coming back too clearly, and that I might be troubled and unsettled by the sight of her. But it has not been so--far otherwise," added Eunice with a smile.

A momentary shadow had pa.s.sed over her face, but Fidelia forgot it in seeing the brightness that followed it; and she sat thinking about it in silence, till the gate opened, and Susie Everett came in. But as they sat the next morning in the back porch, looking out on the large garden, the subject of Mrs Stone's relations to them was renewed.

"I don't suppose that Ruby will be away long, and before she comes I want you to understand how it is with her, and just what she would like to do. Of course you are going back to the seminary next year?"

"Of course I would like to go, if ways and means will permit I would like to graduate with my cla.s.s."

"I am afraid you have worked too hard, dear."

"No, not too hard; but I don't think I worked in the best way. I should do differently next year. At least I should try."

"Tell me about it, dear."

Fidelia sat silent a minute or two, then she said:--

"Some time I will tell you about it--not to-day. But about 'ways and means.' Perhaps I had better teach this year, as I meant to do at first."

But Eunice had a plan to unfold, by which, should Fidelia approve, all would be made easy for them both. Mrs Stone wished to stay in Halsey for a time. The place was more like home than any other place could ever be to her, and she would like to share the home of the sisters for a time.

"Would you like it, Eunice?" asked Fidelia a little anxiously.

"Yes; for some reasons I would like it. Mrs Stone is kind and good, and she does not seem like a stranger to me, though she has been away so many years. She is capable too, and I am not so strong as I used to be."

"But you are well, Eunice? You are not afraid any more--of--"

Fidelia could not utter the word which rose to her lips--a word which, indeed, had never been uttered between them.

"Yes, I am well--for me. No, I am not afraid any more. But, dear, I own to have been lonesome last winter, and a little downhearted sometimes."

"I ought to have been at home."

"No, dear. It was all right; and it is best that you should go again next year for various reasons, rather than to wait. And, besides--"

Then Eunice went on to explain that, though not a rich woman, Mrs Stone had enough for her own wants, and more. She had no near ties of kindred, and no special work in the world to look forward to, and work she could find in Halsey more easily than anywhere else.

"And, dear, if I had been asked to plan for my own comfort, and for a chance to make going away again easy for you at the same time, I could not have asked for anything more suitable than this. The obligation and the comfort will be mutual. Yes, I like the plan."

"Would it be for always, Eunice?"

Eunice smiled and shook her head.

"Dear, I don't much believe in making plans for always. 'Short views'

are best, you know. We might try it for a year, and then decide."

"Eunice, if I liked to take it, I might have the school at the Corners this winter; and I could be at home."

"Yes; and that would be pleasant all round, if it were necessary. But I think it would be wiser for you to go back to the seminary this winter."

Fidelia did not answer immediately. Indeed, she rose and went the length of the garden, and stood looking over the fields to the river and the hills, and she was saying some hard things to herself as she stood there. In a little she turned and came slowly back again.

"Well, dear, what do you say?" said Eunice gently.

"I say that the plan is good, if you like it. It is I who am all wrong.

It is hateful in me, I know, but, Eunice, I could not have any one come between you and me. Not _any one_, Eunice."

"But, my darling," cried Eunice, laughing a little, and stretching out her hands, "that could never be! Why, you are all I have got!"

Fidelia sat down on the step, and laid her face for a minute on her sister's lap.

"I never knew till lately that I had an envious and jealous disposition," said she in a little.

"But you need not be jealous of Ruby Stone, or of any one else, as far as I am concerned, dear. I am almost sorry now, that she did not stay another day, so that you might have seen her. Oh, you will like her, I am sure!--she is so sincere and simple, and so much in earnest."

A great deal more was said about their plans, and about Mrs Stone, but not a word about Dr Justin Everett.

It was good to be at home again. A great many people, young and old, came to see Fidelia within the next three days. In the meantime Mrs Stone returned, and all necessary arrangements for the year were made between her and the sisters. Mrs Stone would have liked to rent the place or to buy it; but it was not to be thought of that the sisters should give up their home altogether, and so their plans were made for the year only.