MRS. H. Poor girl, I am too sorry for her now to use those hard
words, but I am afraid it is true. First she could or would not see
either that her companions might be undesirable guides, or that her
duty lay here, and then nothing would show her that her mother's
health was failing. Indeed, by that time the sort of blindness had
come upon her which really broke your mother's heart.
L. You mean her unbelief, agnosticism, or whatever she chooses to
call it. I thought at least women were safe from that style of
thing. It is all fashion and bad company, I suppose?
MRS. H. I hope and pray that it may be so; but I am afraid that it
goes deeper than you imagine. Still, I see hope in her extreme
unhappiness, and in the remembrance of your dear mother's last words
and prayers.