Mrs Grattan was with her, paying a long day's visit; for they had been all the morning talking cheerfully of many things. "Our winter is long," she said. "Oh, so long and dreary!" sighed Mrs Morely. "No, you must not think me discontented and unthankful," she added, meeting Mrs Grattan's grave looks. "Only a little homesick now and then. If I were sure that all was well with--" She hesitated. "`I will trust, and not be afraid,'" said Mrs Grattan, softly. They had not spoken much to one another about their troubles,--these two women. Mrs Morely's reserve, even at the time of little Ben's death, had never given way so far as to permit her to speak of her husband's faults and her own trials. And Mrs Grattan's sympathy, though deep, had been silent--expressed by deeds rather than by words. She knew well how full of fear for her husband the poor wife's heart had been all the winter; but she could not approach the subject until she herself introduced it. "`I will trust, and not be afraid,'" said Mrs Morely, repeating her friend's words. "I can do naught else; and not always that." "`Lord, increase our faith!'" murmured Dolly. There was a pause, during which Mrs Morely went about, busy with some household matter. When she sat down again, she said: "You must not think I am pining for home. If I were sure that it is well with my husband, nothing else would matter." "You have good hope that it is well with him," said Mrs Grattan. "Oh, I do not know. I cannot tell. I can only leave him in God's hand." But she did not speak very hopefully. "And surely there's no better thing to do for him than that," said Mrs Grattan. "I know it. But I have hoped so many times, and so few of the poor souls who have gone so far astray as he has done come back to a better life. I fear no more than I hope." There was a long pause after that, and then, in a voice that seemed quite changed, Mrs Grattan said, "I never told you about Stephen and me, did I?" "No. I know that you have had some great trouble in your life, like mine--indeed, your husband has told me that: that is all I know." "Well, it's not to be spoken of often. But, just to show what the Lord can do when He sets out to save a poor creature to the uttermost, I will tell you what He has done for Stephen and me. It must be told in few words, though. It shakes me to go back to those days. "We were born in Vermont--as good a State as any to be born and brought up in. It was quite a country place we lived in. My father was a farmer--a grave, quiet man. My mother was never very strong; and I was the only one spared to them of five children. We lived a very quiet, humble sort of life; but, if ever folks lived contented and happy, we did.