Mr.  Jonas  White,  who  with  his  son  Henry  kept  a
63


BY    THE    LIGHT    OF    THE    SOUL

market,  thereby  insuring  such  choice  cuts  of  meat,
spoke  then.  He  did  not,  as  a  rule,  say  much  at  table,
especially  when  Maria  and  her  father,  who  in  his  estima
tion  occupied  a  superio^  place  in  society,  were  present.
"Guess  Mr.  Edgham  knows  what  he's  about,"  said  he.
"He's  going  to  marry  a  good-looking  woman,  and  one
that's  capable  of  supportin'  herself,  if  he's  laid  up  or
anything  happens  to  him.  Guess  she's  all  right."

"I  guess  so,  too,"  said  Henry  White.  Both  nodded
reassuringly  at  Maria,  who  felt  mournfully  comforted.
"Shouldn't  wonder  if  she'd  saved  something,  too,"
said  Mr.  White.
When  he  and  his  son  were  on  their  way  back  to  the
market,  driving  in  the  white-covered  wagon  with  "J.
White  &  Son"  on  the  sides  thereof,  they  agreed  that
women  were  queer.
"There's  your  mother  and  Lillian,  they  mean  all
right,"  said  Jonas  White,  "but  they  were  getting  that
poor  young  one  all  stirred  up."

Maria  never  settled  with  herself  whether  the  Whites
thought  she  had  a  pleasant  prospect  before  her  or  the
reverse,  but  they  did  not  certainly  influence  her  to  love
Miss  Ida  Slome  any  more.
Miss  Slome  was  so  kind  to  Maria,  in  those  days,  that
it  really  seemed  to  her  that  she  ought  to  love  her.  She
and  her  father  were  invited  to  take  tea  at  Miss  Slome 's
boarding  -  house,  and  after  tea  they  sat  in  the  little
parlor  which  the  teacher  had  for  her  own,  and  Miss
Slome  sang  and  played  to  them.  She  had  a  piano.
