we feel the magnitude of our transgression, and return confidingly to the loving Father's arms who never casts us off, but in tender compassion guards us pityingly from the pit our own hands have dug?"
She little thought as she said these last words which had reference to James, how exactly they applied to her mother. Such a devoted, forgiving nature as hers could never have understood those darker passions which would hazard its own purity and integrity in the strife between its own promptings and the malicious designs of others. Mrs. Kingley's heart was full. It seemed as if a new elixir of life quickened her pulse and sent its healing balm through every pore. She said no more to dissuade Mary, but lent her assistance in many little things that she understood best how to manage, without asking a word of her plans and intentions. The trunk was packed and Mary was ready at ten o'clock when Walter came. She met him with a smile, calm and self-possessed. He had the forethought to ask his mother's leave to invite her there to meet James, if it should be deemed advisable, so that point was soon settled to Mary's great relief. At eleven the hack came, when she bade adieu to her childhood's home.
As her mother asked no questions she thought it best to give her no information of her destination, thus enabling Mrs. Kingley to reply to her husband's inquiries that they had held no private interview. She gave her a long and affectionate embrace, leaving a message for her father that she had acted solely on her own responsibility, without asking or receiving the advice of any human being.
