"Who is your friend, Mr.Gridley ?" "An excellent woman,--Mrs.Hopkins.

You know her, Gifted Hopkins's mother, with whom I am residing.

Shall the minister be given to understand that you will see him hereafter in her company ?" Myrtle came pretty near a turn of her old nervous perturbations.

"As you say," she answered.

"Is there nobody that I can trust, or is everybody hunting me like a bird ?" She hid her face in her hands.
"You can trust me, my dear," said Byles Gridley.