"It is obscure; but in its usefulness and self-sacrifice it must be noble. What would Greylands be without their care?"
"A great deal better than with it."
"They help the poor, they tend the sick, they teach the young ones; they try to make the fishermen think a little of God. Who would do it if they were not here, uncle? Do you know, I have thought so much of it in the past few days that I long to join them."
"This is utter folly!" cried Mr. Castlemaine; and he had never felt so inclined to be angry with his niece. "To join this meddling Sisterhood would be to sacrifice all your future prospects in life."
"I have no prospects left to sacrifice," returned Mary. "You know that, Uncle James."
"No prospects? Nonsense! Because that dishonourable rascal, William Blake-Gordon, has chosen to forfeit his engagement, and make himself a by-word in the mouths of men, are you to renounce the world? Many a better gentleman than he, my dear, will be seeking you before a few months have gone by."
"I shall never marry," was her firm answer. "Never, never. Whether I joined the Sisters, or not; whether I retired from the world, or mixed to my dying day in all its pomps and gaieties; still I should never marry. So you see, Uncle James, I have now to make my future, and to create for myself an object in life."
"Well, we'll leave the question of marrying. Meanwhile your present home must be with me, Mary Ursula. I cannot spare you. I should like you to make up your mind to stay in it always, unless other and nearer ties shall call you forth."
"You are very kind, Uncle James; you always have been kind. But I--I must be independent," she added with a smile and a slight flush. "Forgive the seeming ingratitude, uncle dear."
"Very independent you would be, if you joined those living-by-rule women!"