"Charles, were you with her when it happened?" she asked.
"I was."
"Did you comfort her?"
"Such poor words of comfort as one can offer on such occasions, I gave her," he answered.
"It was so sad, and she is so good, so kind and so noble. Did she bear up well under her great afflictions?"
"As well as one could."
"Alas, the fires of affliction are to try the faithful. God gave her strength to bear up under her trials and sufferings."
"Her troubles are over, Cora, and ours are but just begun."
"What do you mean?"
"This cloud of superstition which is settling about us may engulf us in ruin."