The gates ajar. By Elizabeth Stuart Phelps.

The Gates Ajar. I03
"Very impolite in me to run off so, was n't
t I Cowardly, too, I think. Well, Mary?"
"Well, Auntie?"
"Have you not repented your proposition
yet?"
"You would excel as an inquisitor, Mrs.
Forceythe!"
"Then it shall be as you say; as long as
you want us you shall have us,- Faith and
me."
I turned to thank her, but could not when
I saw her face. It was very pale; there was
something inexpressibly sad about her mouth,
and her eyelids drooped heavily, like one weary
from a great struggle.
Feeling for the moment guilty and ashamed
before her, as if I had done her wrong, "It is
going to be very hard for you," I said.
"Never mind about that," she answered,
quickly. "We will not talk about that. I
knew, though I did not zwish to know, that it
was best for Faith. Your hands about my
neck have settled it. Where the work is, there
the laborer must be. It is quite plain now.
I have been talking it over with them all the
afternoon; it seems to be what they want."
" Wi, h them "? I started at the words; who