By the Light of the Soul

A Novel

By
Mary E. Wilkins Freeman

Author of
"The Debtor" "The Portion of Labor"
"Jerome" "A New England Nun"
Etc. etc.

Illustrations by
Harold M. Brett

New York and London
Harper & Brothers Publishers
1907

Copyright, 1906, by Harper & Brothers.
All rights reserved.
Published January, 1907.

To Harriet and Carolyn Alden

Chapter I

Maria Edgham, who was a very young girl, sat in the church vestry beside a window during the weekly prayer-meeting.