"Oh, couldn't we go by the road?" asked Phoebe, drawing back apprehensively, as Rhoda sprang lightly from the top of the stile which led into the meadow. "Of course we could, but 'tis ever so much further round, and not half so pleasant. Why?" "There are--cows!" said Phoebe, under her breath. Rhoda laughed more decidedly than civilly. "Cows! Did you never see cows before? I say, Phoebe, come along! Don't be so silly!" Phoebe obeyed, but in evident trepidation, and casting many nervous glances at the dreaded cows, until the girls had passed the next stile. "Cows don't bite, silly Phoebe!" said Rhoda, rather patronisingly, from the height of her two years' superiority in age. "But they toss sometimes, don't they?" tremblingly demanded Phoebe. "What nonsense!" said Rhoda, as they rounded the Maidens' Lodge. Little Mrs Dorothy sat sewing at her window, and she nodded cheerily to her young guests as they came in. "What do you think, Mrs Dolly?--good evening!" said Rhoda, parenthetically. "If this foolish Phoebe isn't frighted of a cow!" "Sure, my dear, that is no wonder, for one bred in in the town," gently deprecated Mrs Dorothy. "So stupid and nonsensical!" said Rhoda. "I say, Mrs Dolly, are you afraid of anything?" "Yes, my dear," was the quiet answer. "Oh!" said Rhoda. "Cows?" "No, not cows," returned Mrs Dorothy, smiling. "Frogs? Beetles?" suggested Rhoda. "I do not think I am afraid of any animal, at least in this country, without it be vipers," said Mrs Dorothy. "But--well, I dare say I am but a foolish old woman in many regards. I oft fear things which I note others not to fear at all." "But what sort of things, Mrs Dolly?" inquired Rhoda, who had made herself extremely comfortable with a large chair and sundry cushions. "I will tell you of three things, my dear, of which I have always felt afraid, at the least since I came to years of discretion. And most folks are not afraid of any of them. I am afraid of getting rich. I am afraid of being married. And I am afraid of judging my neighbours." "Oh!" cried Rhoda, in genuine amazement. "Why, Mrs Dolly, what _do_ you mean? As to judging one's neighbours,--well, I suppose the Bible says something against that; but we all do it, you know." "We do, my dear; more's the pity." "But getting rich, and being married! Oh, Mrs Dolly! Everybody wants those." "No, my dear, asking your pardon," replied the old lady, in a tone of decision unusual with her. "I trust every Christian does not want to be rich, when the Lord hath given him so many warnings against it. And every man does not want to marry, nor every woman neither." "Well, not every man, perhaps," admitted Rhoda; "but every woman does, Mrs Dolly." "My dear, I am sorry to hear a woman say it," answered Mrs Dorothy, with as much warmth as was consonant with her nature. "I hoped that was a man's delusion." "Why, Mrs Dolly! I do," said Rhoda, with great candour. "Then I wish you more wisdom, child."