The minister and his family went into the hall to receive their visitor; and Mrs. Seaton trembled all over, for she felt it was an ordeal. So did Paul; and his mother knew that he did, as soon as she saw his face.
"Mother, this is Isabel," was all he could say; he was so dreadfully afraid that the two women he loved best in the world would not say the right things to one another.
But Isabel was equal to the occasion. She threw her arms round Mrs. Seaton's neck and kissed her.
"I want you to be a mother to me as well as to Paul," she whispered. "I haven't got a mother of my own, you know, and I do so want one."
And then and there the minister's wife took Isabel into her motherly heart, and never really let her out again, in spite of all that happened afterwards.
When Isabel had duly greeted Mr. Seaton and Joanna, she was introduced to Martha.
"This is our faithful friend, Martha," said Mrs. Seaton, "she nursed Paul when he was a little boy."
Isabel held out her hand with a radiant smile. "I must thank you for taking so much care of him for me," she said, "if you hadn't sown, I should not have reaped, so I owe much of my happiness to you."
"Don't mention it, miss," replied Martha, looking proud and joyful, "it was always a pleasure to do things for Master Paul, in spite of his temper, which I am bound to say was one of the hottest I ever came across, while he was as yet a child of nature and not of grace. I bore the marks of his dear little teeth in my arm for many a day, miss, for once contradicting him when he said that Abraham was the father of Joseph, bless his heart!"
Isabel laughed, and so did Paul.