“He?  She?  It?”

“A girl, who will in all probability arrive before noon to-day.”

“Peyton!”

The rose-coloured crochet web fell into her lap, and deep dissatisfaction spread its sombre leaden banners over her telltale face.

“I regret it more keenly than you possibly can; and, Elise, if I could have seen the mother before it was too late, I should have declined this painful responsibility.”

“Too late?  Is the woman dead?”

“No, but she has sailed for Europe, and notifies me that she leaves the little girl under my protection.”

“What a heartless creature she must be to abandon her child.”

“On the contrary, she seems devotedly attached to her, and uses these words:  ’If it were not to promote her interest, do you suppose I could consent to put the Atlantic between my baby and me?’ The circumstances are so unusual that I daresay you fail to understand my exact position.”

“I neither desire nor intend to force your confidence; but if you can willingly answer, tell me whether the mother is in every respect worthy of your sympathy.”

“I frankly admit that upon some points I have been dissatisfied, and her letter sorely perplexes me.”

“What claim had she on you, when the promise was extorted?”

“She had none, save such as human misery always has on human sympathy.  I performed the marriage ceremony for her when she was a mere child, and felt profound compassion for the wretchedness that soon overtook her as a wife and mother.”

“Then, my dear brother, there is no alternative, and you must do your duty; and I shall not fail to help you to the fullest extent of my feeble ability.  Since it cannot be averted, let us try to put our hearts as well as hands into the work of receiving the waif.  Where has the child been living?”

“For nearly seven years in a convent.”

“Tant mieux! We may at least safely infer she has been shielded from vicious and objectionable companionship.  How is her education to be conducted in future?”

“Her mother has arranged for the semi-annual payment of a sum quite sufficient to defray all necessary expenses, including tuition at school; but she urges me, if compatible with my clerical duties, to retain the school fees, and teach the child at home, as she dreads outside contaminating associations, and wishes the little one reared with rigid ideas of rectitude and propriety.  Will you receive her among your music pupils?”

“Have I a heart of steel, and a soul of flint?  And since when did you successfully trace my pedigree to its amiable source in—­

‘Gorgons and hydras and chimeras dire’?

“What is her name?”

Mr. Hargrove hesitated a moment, and, detecting the faint colour that tinged his olive cheek, his sister smilingly relieved him.