As long as there was light in the sky, long after the sun had gone down, in the lingering twilight, loath to forsake the uplands, she was at her canvas catching the soft gray tones, and dim-colored tints, and clearer masses of foliage, which only the evening could show.
To supply her need of general companionship there had been so full and satisfying a sense of friendship between herself and the household at the Old Bank at Riversborough that one day spent with them gave her thought for a month.

Every word uttered by Roland and Felicita was treasured up in her memory and turned over in her mind for days after.
Madame's simple and cheerful nature made her almost like a mother to the simple and cheerful country girl; and Felix and Hilda had been objects of the deepest interest to her from the days of their birth.

But it was Roland, who had known her best and longest, to whom she owed the direction and cultivation of her tastes and intellect, who had been almost like a god to her in her childhood; it was he who dominated over her simple heart the most.

He was to Phebe so perfect that she had never imagined that there could be a fault in him.
There is one token to us that we are meant for a higher and happier life than this, in the fact that sorrow and sin always come upon us as a surprise.

Happy days do not astonish us, and the goodness of our beloved ones awakens no amazement.