"Wall, I don't know. I was thinkin',--but I guess it's as well not to say now what I was thinkin'." "That's so!" assented Miss Barry. "I don't believe he thinks nobody could ha' chosen for him no better than he has chosen for himself." "Men never do know what is good for them," Mrs. Salter remarked, but not ill-naturedly; on the contrary, there was a gleam of fun in her face. "I'm thankful, anyway, he hain't done worse," said another lady. "I used to be afraid he would go and get himself hitched to a fly-away." "Euphemie Knowlton?" said Mrs. Salter. "Yes, I used to wonder if we shouldn't get our minister's wife from Elmfield. It looked likely at one time." "Those two wouldn't ha' pulled well together, ne--ver," said another. "I should like to know how he and Di's goin' to pull together?" said Mrs. Flandin acidly. "He goin' one way, and she another." "Do you think so, Mrs. Flandin?" asked the lady thus in a very uncomplimentary manner referred to. "Wall--ain't it true?" said Mrs. Flandin judicially. "I do not think it is true." "Wall, I'm glad to hear it, I'm sure," said the other; "but there's a word in the Scriptur' about two walking together when they ain't agreed." "Mr. Masters and I are agreed," said Diana, while her lips parted in a very slight smile, and a lovely tinge of rose-colour came over her cheeks. "But not in everything, I reckon?" "In everything I know," said Diana steadily, while a considerable breeze of laughter went round the room. Mrs. Flandin was getting the worst of it. "Then it'll be the worse for him!" she remarked with a jerk at her sewing. Diana was silent now, but Mrs. Boddington took it up. "Do you mean to say, Mis' Flandin, you approve of quarrels between man and wife? and quarrels in high places, too?" "High places!" echoed Mrs. Flandin. "When it says that a minister is to be the servant of all!" "And ain't he?" said Mrs. Carpenter. "Is there a place or a thing our minister don't go to if he's wanted? and does he mind whether it's night or day, or rough or smooth? and does he care how fur it is, or how long he goes without his victuals? I will say, I never did see a no more self-forgetful man than is Mr. Masters; and I've a good right to know, and I say it with feelin's of gratitude." "That's jes' so," said Miss Barry, her eyes glistening over her knitting, which they did not need to watch. And there was a hum of assent through the room. "I'm not sayin' nothin' agin _him_," said Mrs. Flandin in an injured manner; "but what I was hintin', I warn't _sayin'_ nothin', is that he's married a"-- "A beauty"--said Mrs. Boddington. "I don't set no count on beauty," said the other. "I allays think, ef a minister is a servant of the Lord, and I hope Mr. Masters is, it's a pity his wife shouldn't be too. That's all." "But I am, Mrs. Flandin," said Diana quietly. "What?" "A servant of the Lord." "Since when?" demanded the other incredulously.