"I'm afraid, Margaret," said Daniel gravely, "your irreligious uncle gave you some rather unladylike ideas. However," he smiled, "my Christian influence on you, as fond of me as you are, will soon make you forget his infidel teachings. For goodness' sake, dear, don't forget yourself and repeat such atheistic thoughts before my sisters or indeed to any one in New Munich. Our best society is very critical."
It flashed upon Margaret to wonder, with a sudden sense of despair, what her uncle would have said to her marrying Daniel Leitzel.
"If I don't do it quickly, I can't hold out!" she miserably thought.
But she realized that she confronted a worse fate in the alternative of remaining with Hattie.
"How old are your sisters?" she asked.
"They are both elderly women, though as vigorous as they ever were."
Margaret told herself that she would be so much kinder to them than Hattie had ever been to her. "They shall never feel unwelcome in my home," she resolved.
"Are they your only relatives in New Munich?" she inquired.
"In New Munich, yes. But Hiram lives in Millerstown nearby."
"Your parents are not living?"