After a few moments' whispered conversation, she came back to the table, apparently disconcerted.
"I'm so sorry—so very sorry!" she said. "Harry has been riding all round the country to find a minister to attend the funeral, this evening. It will be such a disappointment to that poor fellow! You know the negroes think so much of having prayers at the grave!"
"If no one else can be found to read prayers, I will," said Clayton.
"Oh, thank you! will you, indeed?" said Nina. "I'm glad of it, now, for poor Tiff's sake. The coach will be out at five o'clock, and we'll ride over together, and make as much of a party as we can."
"Why, child," said Aunt Nesbit to Nina, after they returned to the parlor, "I did not know that Mr. Clayton was an Episcopalian."
"He isn't," said Nina. "He and his family all attend the Presbyterian church."
"How strange that he should offer to read prayers!" said Aunt Nesbit. "I don't approve of such things, for my part."
"Such things as what?"
"Countenancing Episcopal errors. If we are right, they are wrong, and we ought not to countenance them."