"'Indeed, ma'am, I have not the pleasure of knowing you.'
"'Not remember Polly Bennet?' replied Mrs. Symonds, 'but I remember you, my best and dearest friend, and shall remember you, for I have cause to do so, when time shall be no more.'
"Mrs. Howard now herself came forward and kissed Mrs. Symonds. The tears stood in the old lady's eyes, and she placed her old thin hands in the other's.
"'And are you,' she said, 'the mother of these dear little girls? and have I lived near you so long and not
known you? Now I think I can trace the features; sit down, my dear friend, and tell me all about yourself and your family.'
"'I have not much to say,' answered Mrs. Symonds; 'my parents are dead, and my brother living far off: and I have been blessed beyond my deservings in a good husband and these dear children.'
"'Dear, indeed,' said Mrs. Howard.
"'But how can I value enough what you have done for me, Mrs. Howard?' said Mrs. Symonds, 'and through me, in some sort, to my mother and father before their death.'
"'I do not understand you,' said Mrs. Howard.
"Mrs. Symonds then told the old lady how she had been affected by the last kindness which she had shown to her and her brother.