On the Church Steps

ts drove instantly to the Sloman cottage, I allowed the tardier coach-horses to set me down at the hotel. I had not telegraphed from New York. I would give her no

or I felt that a great crisis in my life was at hand, and at such times a wonderful calmness, almost to lethargy, possesses me. I went slowly up the hill. The church-clock was striking nine-c

and fro. No sign of life about the cottage-doors and windows tight shut and barred. Only the little gate swung open, but that might have been the wind. I stepped up on

ow, lingering about the roots of the old elm, the one elm tree that overhung the cottage. Last winter's snow lyin

e rustic bench by the door. If it had been Bessie's self, I could not have stirred, I was so chilled

un-bonnet in a quick, sharp voice that

n and Miss Stewart? A

: ben thar' all winter for her health. S

ewart?-is sh

me here to take charge. They left the kitchen-end open for me; and my sister-in-law-that's Hiram Splinter's wife-she made all the 'rangements. But I did hear,

, all in a mist of imp

the S

my breath angrily. "Where is th

has charge of the Gold property on the hill. Won't you come in and warm yourself by the fire in the kitche

e estate of Hiram. Some wretched mistake: the woman does not know what she's talking about.

ected her in a moment as a familiar face-some laundress or auxiliary of the Sloman family in some way; and she seemed to

t-where is s

king greatly disturbed. "Miss Stewart's gone to live with the Sha

Did Mrs. Sloman know? Why

goin' with her to the West, and I was to hire my sister-in-law to take charge of things here, so that Miss Bessie could have her mind free-like to come and go. But afore ever Mary Jane-that's my sister-in-law-could come over from Lee, where she was livin' out, Miss Bessie comes up and opens the house. She stayed there about a week, and she

your husband? Can I have

ic Mrs. Splinter. "He'll show yo

nd I knew well what castles the Shaker houses are for the world's people outside. Hiram was full of talk going over. He seemed to have been bottling it up, and I was the first auditor for his wrath. "I kno

he went on muttering in an undertone, "Yo'll see, yo'll see! You're druv' pretty hard, young man, I

il at last the fair houses and barns of the Shaker village came in sight. A sleeping village, one would have th

usly along. Stopping at a house near the bridge: "Now this is th

was flushed, as though she had just come from cooking dinner. I stepped across the threshold: "

for she was sweet and motherly in spite

he hall. "Take seat, please;" and with a cheerful ala

asant: no bolts or bars here. I

it, and some straight-backed chairs of yellow wood stood round the room. An open door into a large, roomy closet showed various garments of men's apparel hanging upon the wall. The plain thermometer in the window casement seemed the one article of luxury or ornament in the apartment. I

which I answered, led to a rambling conversation, in which he expressed the greatest curiosity as to worldly matters, and asked several purely local questions about the city of New York. Perhaps his ignorance was feigned. I do not know, but I found myself relating, à la Stanley-

, in what did he differ from the Catholic priest save in the utter selfishness of his creed? Beside the sordid accumulation of gain to which his life was devoted the priest's mission among crowded alleys and fever-stricken lanes seemed luminous and grand. A moral suicide, with no redeeming feature. The barns bursting with fatness, the comfortable houses, gain added to gain-to what end? I was beginni

ere-I know it. Do not detain her. I

ter Eliza?" she ask

re from Lenox two months ago-Bessie Stewart, Mrs. Sloman's niece." (I knew that Mrs

r outspread handkerchief before she spoke again. I noticed at this mom

n measured accents. "She is not h

the house? Will they hide from her that I am here? B

uired dismally. "How?

agons: Sister Leah and Br

ll they

nnot

staken if she thought I was going away. I stepped to the window, and throwing it open called to Hiram, who was still sitting in his wagon, chewing compose

'em you'll set there till you see h

. "Well," said I, "as I must see her, and as yo

spicion in it. She crimsoned to her temples, and said hastily, "It is impossible for us to entertain strangers to-day. A b

house if it did hold my darling. I looked at her steadily:

answered composedly. "S

ecalling the world's etiquette, which I had half forgotten, "to intrude upon you at this or any other time, but I cannot leave here in dou

he man spoke, for the first time since she had ent

he wit

she has elect

hat h

nnot

oad shall

ds: we generally u

to meet her. By the

ea

do not m

ady-abbess, answering calmly, "it will

I walked out of the door the man was at my heels. He fo

s he leaned across the back of a ho

is breath. "That's a deep

tout-hearted Splinter at my retreat, a

ably how he would have "gone in" had he been summoned. By this time we were driving on briskly toward the river-road. "You wa'n't smart, I reckon, to leave that there house. It was you

on the shafts. "You don't mea

agon, even if she seed it from her winders? To be sure, I made myself conspicuous enough, a-whistlin' 'Tramp, tramp,' and makin' the horses switch round a good

" I asked, with my gr

l sight of children comin' along while you was in there talkin', a-goin' to their school, and I tried to ask some o' them about her. But the old sheep who was dr

eisurely proceeded to evict a fly from the near horse's ear. "I think we'll

rch or a siege," he said as he dragged out a tin kettle from the same receptacle when we drew up

atience was urging me on faster

pie and cheese-mebbe we wouldn't be back afore

to follow at his leisure. My heart beat fast as I espied a wagon in the distance with one-yes, two-Shaker bonnets in it. Bessie in masquerade! Perhap

r Bessie in disguise; and the lank, long-haired brother who was driving them looked ignorant as a child o

voices: "Ben to Watervliet? Nay, they'd ben dr

ho was staying in the Shaker vil

an come there some time ago: they c

ing them, but Hiram, as it happened, did not come up to them at all. They must have turned off into some farm-house lane before they passed him. The afterno

nd then turn round and come back again. I'll turn here, and drive to the little tavern

ch the lights were shining. Hiram improved the opportunity to eat a hearty supper, urging me to partake. But as I declined, in my impatience, to take my eyes off the road, he brought me out a bowl of some hot fluid and so

ye upon the road, "you go in and take a turn lyin' down:

unction, he went in, and I seated myself, wrapped in a b

id the kind-hearted landlady, bustling ou

atient of walls and tongues, and

way! What grief and disquiet must have driven her into this refuge! Poor little soul, sc

darker and darker; the stars came out and shone with that magnetic brilliancy t

pon my face. "'Most one o'clock," he said, rubbing his ey

ering to my feet, which

or ten. I kept my own counsel as I turned over the watch to Hiram, but a suspicion shot throu

Shaker wagon rattling through the night. We breakfasted in the little room that overlooked the road. Outside, at th

n idee. You and me might shilly-shally here on this road all day, and what surety

that the other is a wild moun

they have come over that mountain-road in the night, while you and me was a-watchin' this like ferrits. In that case she's safe an

haps

it's too late, for that now. Let's you and me lay low till Sunday. She'll be sure to go to meetin' on Sunday ef she's there, and you can quietly slip in and see if she is. And to shut their eyes up, so that they won't suspect nothin', we

es

best not be seen around to the hotel, lest any of their spies be about. They do a powerful sight o' drivin' round the country this time o

llage, and drew up at the house again. This time the door was opened by a bent, sharp little Cr

home: she would go and inquire

to present myself, a humiliated failure, before the two elders again-"no:

was not for Bessie, but for the others. She would interpret it that

took my seat beside him.