It was to Helen they appealed in all their differences, which were many, and her judgment was final; Lois never doubted it, even though Helen generally thought Gifford was in the right.

So now, when her cousin had left her, she was at least sure of the young man's sympathy.
She was glad that he was going to practice in Lockhaven; he would be near Helen, and make the new place less lonely for her, she said, once.

And Helen had smiled, as though she could be lonely where John was! They walked now between the borders, where old-fashioned flowers crowded together, towards the stone bench.

This was a slab of sandstone, worn and flaked by weather, and set on two low posts; it leaned a little against the trunk of a silver-poplar tree, which served for a back, and it looked like an altar ready for the sacrifice.

The thick blossoming grass, which the mower's scythe had been unable to reach, grew high about the corners; three or four stone steps led up to it, but they had been laid so long ago they were sunken at one side or the other, and almost hidden by moss and wild violets.