"What can prevent it mother? I'm sure Ned is handsome, and talented and rich enough for anybody."
"I don't know what could prevent it, Louise, but I shall be glad when they are really married. I think a wife of the right stamp would have a great influence on Edward."
"Why, mother, I'm sure Ned's principles are good, and he is steady enough for a young man; I don't see what particular advantage a wife would be to him."
Mrs. Sherman only sighed.
Louise looked a little disconcerted. "Why, mother," said she, "you act as if you thought something terrible was going to happen to Ned and me, and our only escape was matrimony."
"Louise," said Mrs. Sherman after a pause, "could not Miss DeWolf be prevailed upon to spend the day of the party with us; she would only be a few hours longer away from her father."
"Why yes, I think so," said Louise thoughtfully. "Ned could go for her in the morning. O yes," she concluded decidedly, "Ned can manage that I know."
Little Wolf spent the day above mentioned in Mrs. Sherman's family. She was happy; happier than she had been since her return home. The memory of the dreadful night which she passed at Squire Tinknor's had ever since haunted her. It was only when in Edward's presence that she forgot it, and it would even sometimes cloud a moment of such companionship, as comes only to those whose very life is bound up in another's. She often said to herself, it was his first mistake, it would never be repeated; he would not dare to indulge again, now that he was convinced how a stimulant would effect him. But, spite of all her attempts at self-control, whenever the well remembered scene came up before her, she was ready to cry out with anguish. The society of Edward's mother, comforted, and reassured her. The son of such a mother was exalted, if that were possible, in her opinion, and she instinctively gathered renewed confidence in her own future happiness.
During the day, Mrs. Sherman's penetrating eye was frequently fixed upon Little Wolf, as if she would read her very soul, and the glimpses which she caught, shining out in her words and actions were on the whole satisfactory.
Louise, who was naturally rather yielding and dependent, involuntarily deferred to her young companion, whose opinions were always independent and often expressed with marked decision. In fact, before the day was ended, Little Wolf's force of character was felt and silently acknowledged; and little, and rosy, and curly though she was, she had become a power in the Sherman family. But what beauty, what sweetness, what love is potent when opposed to a depraved appetite? But why anticipate?