Miss Saunders sprang upon her feet, and caught her breath with difficulty.
"And so you charge me with murder,—the murder of one I loved so dearly that I would have had my hands cut off to save his life! Alice Saunders, I'm telling the truth now if I never did before; and I say that you'll repent of this. You shall repent of it!" Then, with a burst of tears, she left the room.
Five minutes later, the young lady sauntered to the piano and began to play a new and favorite opera. The scene had made little impression on her.
The next week, however, she was delighted to receive an invitation from a former schoolmate to visit her in the country, and gaining the consent of her father, was soon on her way.
Ada or Adeline Morrison was a simple, unassuming girl, who had been easily won to admiration by Alice's beauty of person and ease of manner. She was at this time in need of a confidant, and chose one she supposed possessed of qualities of mind and heart corresponding to her outward appearance. We shall see whether she chose wisely.
Squire Morrison, as he was always called, lived in a handsome house in the village of W—. He was what is sometimes styled a denominational man; that is, he was strongly attached to his own church, and unwilling any of his family should attend any other, or associate with members of other societies.
Now it so happened that a young, unmarried clergyman was about to settle over the new church, and that Ada, in visiting a poor servant of her father's, had met this gentleman, and considered him singularly interesting. Nay, she carried her admiration so far that she would willingly have forsaken the associations of her childhood and youth, for the pleasure of hearing him preach. Twice, indeed, she had enjoyed that privilege, unknown to her parents, while visiting a young friend, and fancied that the clergyman's eyes expressed pleasure at seeing her there.
Alice had scarcely been in the house an hour before she was acquainted with every thought of her friend's heart on this subject. And when Ada with flushing cheeks exclaimed, "Now, if I can only manage to get acquainted with him, I shall be perfectly happy!" she was ready with the answer,—
"Nothing can be easier, my dear; I shall tell your father that I always attend the Presbyterian Church, and of course he will not object to your accompanying your guest. Then if your clergyman is a gentleman, he will inquire us out and call upon us."
Ada clapped her hands and gave her friend a warm demonstration of her affection. It never entered her heart that Alice was planning a deliberate lie, having never entered a Presbyterian church in her life.