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Elizabeth: the Disinherited Daugheter by E. Ben Ez-er
page 14 of 63 (22%)
CHAPTER III.


THAT ALARMING MESSAGE.

The Wards, at the Cove, continued to be much troubled over Elizabeth's
letter. Had a note or a messenger announced her serious illness, or her
elopement or sudden death, the first pang would have terminated in some
sort of relief, or at least a breathing place; but this letter was
suffocating, and the dense fog seemed to grow darker as it stretched into
the future. "A religious fanatic!" "A Methodist lunatic!" "Has our darling
set out upon such a life?"

"I'm afraid it will kill your father; it struck him dumb. I can't draw him
into any conversation about her; and he is so angry!" Thus the troubled
mother would talk and cry. The sisters and brothers listen to her, and,
without comprehending "the prospect so awful in Betsey's future life,"
would keep dumb, like "daddy," and cry, like "mammy."

Finding no relief at home, Mrs. Ward consulted their aged parson, "Priest
Huntington," and placed the ominous letter in his hands; and he took the
troublesome document home for professional analysis. It is not to be
supposed that the Holy Spirit left this letter to pass through such a
crucible alone. The experience it told was substantially His work, and
the hand that wrote it was not wholly without His guidance; and now the
cultured mind which examined it was that of a logical analyst, however
strong his prejudice. The old parson was struck with its simplicity
and soundness, and hastened to the Cove to "pronounce Miss Elizabeth's
experience genuine, and even wonderful," and that he believed her to be
"one of God's chosen vessels to bear witness of His sovereign grace."
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