Kates Ordeal | Page 9

looked a little disappointed. "I--I thought you knew them so well,
they seemed so friendly--that they must be friends of your
brothers--that your father knew their friends and all about them,"
stammered Kate.
"You little goose! what difference can it make to us, whether my father
and grandfather knew theirs, or whether we met last week for the first
time?" said Marion, laughing.
But Kate was not satisfied. "I wish I could talk to mother about it," she
said, half aloud.
"For patience sake don't look so solemn and talk so seriously about a
little thing like that, and as to telling your mother everything, why no
sensible girl of any spirit would think of such nonsense, for she would
know that her mother could not understand about things she had never
seen or heard of. Now, don't be silly, Kate, and make your mother
uncomfortable about you. We went to church last Sunday on purpose
that you might tell her we had been, and after that she will be satisfied,
unless you tell her something on purpose to make her anxious about
you." And Marion went to serve another customer, feeling sure that
Kate would not say anything about these acquaintances now.
Kate certainly did not want to say anything that would make her mother
anxious. Only this morning she had received a letter from her mother
saying she had lost almost all her fears concerning her welfare now, for
Kate's letters had given such a faithful account of Mrs. Maple's strict
ways, and the stringent rule about chance acquaintances, and her
resolution to induce her cousins to go with her to a Bible-class very
soon, that Mrs. Haydon grew almost as hopeful as Kate about the

future.
And Kate was quite sincere in her desire to induce her cousins to spend
their Sundays differently, and she thought if she went with them to see
the various sights of London just once or twice they would be willing
to go with her afterwards. The following Sunday morning when they
were dressing to go out Marion said, "Where do you think we are going
to-day, Kate?"
"You said you would take me to Westminster Abbey or to St. Paul's,"
said Kate.
"Ah, yes, so I did; but a wet Sunday will do for those places, and they
want us to go to Richmond or Greenwich Park. Which shall it be,
Kate?" said her cousin, brushing her hair more vigorously.
"Who wants us to go?" asked Kate.
"Oh, you know--the friends who met us in the Park last Sunday."
"The young men who came into the shop on Friday? Wouldn't they go
with us to the Abbey or to St. Paul's instead?" said Kate.
Marion laughed. "I shouldn't like to ask them," she said; "and pray
don't say anything about Sunday school before them."
"I am not ashamed of it, I can tell you," said Kate, in a half-offended
tone.
"No, no, of course not; but then, you see, you are not in the country
now," said Marion, "and things are different in London."
"I don't see why they should be; there are Sunday schools in London, I
know, and I mean to find out a Bible-class, and then you and Bella
shall come and see how nice it is."
"Well, there's plenty of time for that when the fine weather is all over,"
said Marion a little impatiently. "Now, Kate, be quick and decide where
we shall go, for I expect they will meet us as we go home, and we must

tell them where to meet us this afternoon."
"Well, I would rather not go at all," said Kate slowly, for she knew her
conscience would not let her enjoy the most pleasant trip that could be
arranged.
"Oh, nonsense, but you must come, I have promised for you; they
particularly want you to go," said Marion.
Kate could not help feeling pleased and flattered by her cousin's words,
but she made another feeble protest.
"I would much rather go to St. Paul's," she said, "and if I go with you
to-day you must promise to go to Bible-class with me very soon."
"Oh, I promise," laughed Marion. "And now, Kate, once more, where
shall we go, for I promised you should decide this? I am a great mind to
be jealous of you, my little country cousin," she added; "Bella would be,
I know."
"I don't see what you have got to be jealous about," said Kate, yet still
feeling pleased and elated, in spite of her better sense.
"Now let me give you a few finishing touches before we go," said
Marion, a few minutes afterwards, "and I will lend you my green
brooch and a veil. You must let me alter your bonnet a little one night
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