There is--ah--there is a great deal being said about this business of yours which I am sure you would regret if you knew it.

Do you think it is wise; do you think it is--ah--right, my dear Miss Bell, to attempt to carry on a--a place of this sort, without the presence of a--of a Matron of assured standing ?" Diantha smiled rather coldly.
"May I trouble you to step into the back parlor, Dr.Aberthwaite," she said; and then; "May I have the pleasure of presenting to you Mrs.Henderson Bell--my mother ?" ***** "Wasn't it great!" said Mrs.Weatherstone; "I was there you see,--I'd come to call on Mrs.Bell--she's a dear,--and in came Mrs.Thaddler--" "Mrs.Thaddler ?" "O I know it was old Aberthwaite, but he represented Mrs.Thaddler and her clique, and had come there to preach to Diantha about propriety--I heard him,--and she brought him in and very politely introduced him to her mother!--it was rich, Isabel." "How did Diantha manage it ?" asked her friend.
"She's been trying to arrange it for ever so long.

Of course her father objected--you'd know that.

But there's a sister--not a bad sort, only very limited; she's taken the old man to board, as it were, and I guess the mother really set her foot down for once--said she had a right to visit her own daughter!" "It would seem so," Mrs.Porne agreed.

"I _am_ so glad! It will be so much easier for that brave little woman now." It was.
Diantha held her mother in her arms the night she came, and cried tike a baby.
"O mother _dear!_" she sobbed, "I'd no idea I should miss you so much.