All my Lee temper, which is considerable, was roused, and turning towards the lady, I exclaimed, “My sister, Miss Montrose, is as good as _you_, aye, or as Herbert Langley either, and the news of her marriage with _him_ will carry sorrow to our home at Meadow Brook, where they will say she has literally thrown herself away.” “Very likely,” returned Ada, sarcastically. “It is quite probable that a _poor laborer_ will object to his daughter’s marrying into one of the first families in Boston.” “He isn’t a poor laborer,” I replied, “and even if he were, he _would_ object to his daughter’s marrying a drunkard, for such Herbert Langley has been and such he will be again.” A deep groan came from the white lips of my aunt, and for the first time since Ada’s outbreak, I remembered that she was there. She did not reprove me angrily, but in trembling tones she said, “Rose, Herbert is _my_ child, _my_ boy, and it becomes not a girl of your age to speak thus of him in the presence of his mother.” I was humbled, and winding my arms about her neck, I asked forgiveness for the harsh words I had spoken; and she forgave me, for she meant to do right, and if sometimes she erred, it was owing more to a weakness of the flesh than an unwillingness of the spirit. In the midst of our excitement _Tom Wilson_ was ushered in. He had returned in the same train which brought the letter, and had come to give us any further information which we might be desirous of knowing. “When will Herbert come home?” was my aunt’s first question, her whole manner indicating how much interest she felt in the answer. “Not very soon,” returned Tom. “He is tired of the city, he says, and besides that he wishes to avoid the unpleasant remarks his elopement will necessarily occasion.” “More like he wishes to avoid introducing his bride into society, which he knows has no wish to receive her,” muttered Ada. Tom paid no attention to this spiteful speech, but continued, “He has drawn his money from the —— Bank, and with it he intends purchasing a farm in the western part of New York.” “An admirable plan,” again interrupted Ada. “That Lee girl is just calculated for a farmer’s wife.”