“_Let_ her? O my dear child, we shall be humbly thankful that it has been put into your heart to choose for her what _we_ think is the true church,” said Mrs. Halleck, fervently. “I don't know about that,” returned Marcia. “I can't tell whether it's the true church or not, and I don't know that I ever could; but I shall be satisfied--if it's made you what you are,” she added, simply. Mrs. Halleck did not try to turn away her praise with vain affectations of humility. “We try to do right, Marcia,” she said. “Whenever we do it, we must be helped to it by some power outside of ourselves. I can't tell you whether it's our church; I'm not so sure of that as I used to be. I once thought that there could be no real good out of it; but I _can't_ think that, any more. Olive and Ben are as good children as ever lived; I _know_ they won't be lost; but neither of them belongs to our church.” “Why, what church does he belong to?” “He doesn't belong to any, my dear,” said Mrs. Halleck, sorrowfully. Marcia looked at her absently. “I knew Olive was a Unitarian; but I thought--I thought he--” “No, he doesn't,” returned Mrs. Halleck. “It has been a great cross to his father and me. He is a good boy; but we think the _truth_ is in our church!” Marcia was silent a moment. Then she said, decisively, “Well, I should like Flavia to belong to your church.” “She couldn't belong to it now,” Mrs. Halleck explained. “That would have to come later, when she could understand. But she could be christened in it--dear little thing!” “Well, christened, then. It must be the training he got in it. I've thought a great deal about it, and I think my worst trouble is that I've been left too free in everything. One mustn't be left too free. I've never had any one to control me, and now I can't control myself at the very times when I need to do it the most, with--with--When I 'in in danger of vexing--When Bartley and I--” “Yes,” said Mrs. Halleck, sympathetically. “And Bartley is just so, too. He's always been left to himself. And Flavia will need all the control we can give her,--I know she will. And I shall have her christened in your church, and I shall teach her all about it. She shall go to the Sunday school, and I will go to church, so that she can have an example. I told father I should do it when he was up here, and he said there couldn't be any harm in it. And I've told Bartley, and _he_ doesn't care.” They were both far too single-minded and too serious to find anything droll in the terms of the adhesion of Marcia's family to her plan, and Mrs. Halleck entered into its execution with affectionate zeal. “Ben, dear,” she said, tenderly, that evening, when they were all talking it over in the family council, “I hope you didn't drop anything, when that poor creature spoke to you about it this morning, that could unsettle her mind in any way?” “No, mother,” said Halleck, gently. “I was sure you didn't,” returned his mother, repentantly.