swearing angrily and loud when I suddenly perceived before me the
tall form and compassionate face of Mrs. Webb. She was dressed in
her usual simple way, and had a basket on her arm, but she looked
so superior to any other woman I had ever met that I did not know
whether to hide my face in her skirts or to follow my first
impulse and run away. She saw the emotion she had aroused, and
lifting up my face by the chin, she said: 'Little boy, I have
buried six children, all of them younger than you, and now my
husband and myself live alone. Often and often have I wished that
one at least of these darling infants might have been spared us.
But had God given me the choice of having them die young and
innocent, or of growing up to swear as I have heard you to-day, I
should have prayed God to take them, as He did. You have a mother.
Do not break her heart by taking in vain the name of the God she
reveres.' And with that she kissed me, and, strange as it may seem
to you, in whatever folly or wickedness I have indulged, I have
never made use of an oath from that day to this--and I thank God
for it."

There was such unusual feeling in his voice, a feeling that none
had ever suspected him capable of before, that Miss Halliday
regarded him with astonishment and quite forgot to indulge in her
usual banter. Even the gentlemen sat still, and there was a
momentary silence, through which there presently broke the
incongruous sound of a shrill and mocking laugh.

It came from Amabel, who had just finished gathering her bouquet
in the garden outside.