"Just tell me, first, have you a fire downstairs?"

"A very nice one!"

"And we can't have one here?"

"Decidedly--no."

"Decidedly, then, I shall accompany you downstairs, if that horrid old
man is gone. Oh, I never was so terrified in my life; I thought he'd
beat me last night. Is he gone?"

"Uncle Stillinghast has been gone an hour or more," replied May,
gravely.

"Do tell me, May, does he always jump and snarl so at folk as he did at
me?" inquired Helen; seriously.

"I see that I must initiate you, dear Helen, in the mysteries of our
domicile," said May, pleasantly. "I must be plain with you, and hope
you will not feel wounded at my speech. Our uncle is very eccentric,
and says a great many sharp, disagreeable things; and his manners,
generally, do not invite affection. But, on the other hand, I do not
think his health is quite sound, and I have heard that in his early
life he met with some terrible disappointments, which have doubtless
soured him. He knows nothing of the consolations of religion, or of
those divine hopes which would sweeten the bitter fountains of his
heart, like the leaves which the prophet threw into Marah's wave. His
commerce is altogether with and of the world, and he spares no time for