“I have one question to put to you, which you must answer from your soul's deep intuition, and not from your reason alone. Do you believe Hugh Wyman guilty of the crimes charged against him?”
“I do not.”
There was no hesitation in the answer; their souls met on sympathetic ground, and those two women loved Hugh Wyman alike, with a pure sisterly affection.
CHAPTER VII.
There are pauses in every life; seasons of thought after outward experiences, when the soul questions, balances, and adjusts its emotions; weighs each act, condemns and justifies self in one breath, then throws itself hopefully into the future to await the incoming tide, whether of joy or sorrow it knows not.
In such a state Florence Vernon found herself a few days after her visit to Miss Evans. She thought when with her that no doubt could ever shadow her heart again; but fears had crept over her, even though she desired to be firm.
“Shall I stay and trust his nature, or go away and take up my old life, and be again desolate and lonely? Which?” She kept asking this again and again to herself. “I have been so happy here; but, if I go, it must be before he returns. No! I will not. I will stay and brave the talk, and-”
“Miss Vernon, please come down, papa has come!