It was then decided that Adriana should go to New York on the following Monday; and Miss Alida went cheerfully away with the promise. "I hope to have Antony to meet you," she said, as they parted, "for I shall write to him this very night." And then turning to Peter she added, "I look forward with great delight to this new experience; for I have a large maternal instinct, and I intend to make myself believe that I have a son and daughter to settle in life." "I hope that your intention will bring you nothing but pleasure, and that it will end well." "I know not, Cousin Peter." Her face became thoughtful, and she added, with some seriousness: "The thing we intend is sure to bring with it lots of things we did not intend, and often of far superior importance; but----" "Our times are always in His hand. We do not shape our own destiny, cousin." "Oh, indeed! I should like to dispute that point with you; but the train is no respecter of persons, so we must let its settlement wait on our convenience." With these words she waved an adieu to Adriana, and Peter drove her away. Then Adriana sat down to try to realize the change that had so suddenly come over her circumstances. Her first thought was the glad one that she had voluntarily made her father happy before this invitation came. How mean she would have felt if she had not done so! He might then have been pleased to get rid of her sad face and melancholy ways; and she could not have written to him about her pleasures in New York. She would have been ashamed to do so. And on many other accounts, she understood at this hour that unselfishness pays no one so well as it pays those who practice it. It was Friday afternoon, and the interval was full of pleasant talk and anticipations; though naturally on the Sabbath the tone of both was subdued to the day and its holy observances. In the bare old Dutch Reformed Church, Adriana was an object of interest to the maidens worshipping there; almost as much so as if she were going to be married. A strange destiny had fallen upon this girl, who had been their playmate and schoolmate, and they could not help wondering what quality she possessed capable of attracting to her so much good fortune. She was pretty, but then they also were pretty; some of them lived in larger and finer homes than Adriana's; and as for her plain tweed gowns, they thought their own styles far superior. "It must have been something she learned at college," said one speculative girl, in their future discussion of this subject. "No," said another, "it is the Dutch in her. Mother says the Van Hoosens have always stuck together. There never was a poor one among them, or, if there was, they all helped him until he could stand on his feet and fight his own battle."