“Exceeding comfortless.” Yes, there were hours when that was true. She had taken her heart and broken it for Truth’s sake, and the broken thing cried aloud of its hurt. Only by much striving could she still it and find peace.
The glamour of the June days was gone too. July was a wet and stormy month, and Elizabeth was thankful for the rain and the cold, at which all the world was grumbling.
Mary came in one July day with a face that matched the weather.
“Why, Molly,” said Elizabeth, kissing her, “what’s the matter, child?”
Mary might have asked the same question, but she was a great deal too much taken up with her own affairs.
“Edward and I have quarrelled,” she said with a sob in the words, and sitting down, she burst into uncontrollable tears.
“But what is it all about?” asked Elizabeth, with her arm around her sister. “Molly, do hush. It is so bad for you. What has Edward done?”
“Men are brutes,” declared Mary.
“Now, I’m sure Edward isn’t,” returned Elizabeth, with real conviction.
Mary sat up.