Her figure was stout and high-shouldered, her dull-complexioned face full of placid force.

She was not very young, and she looked much older than she was; and people had wondered how George Freeman, who was handsome and much courted by the girls, as well as younger than she, had come to marry her.

They also wondered how her mother, who had been so bitterly opposed to the match, had given in, and was now living so amicably with the young couple; they had been on the alert for a furious village feud.

But when Flora and her husband had returned from their stolen wedding tour, Mrs.Maxwell had met them at the depot and bidden them home with her with vociferous ardor, and the next Sunday Flora had gone to church in the new silk.

There had been a conflict of two wills, and one had covered its defeat with a parade of victory.