Chapter 17 No.17

How fine it would be if one could foresee the result of every action! Hester Alden's slight prevarication to Robert Vail, when she told him that her father had been Miss Debby's brother, carried with it a long series of misunderstandings. Had Robert Vail known the facts-but he did not.

Hester, bearing within her heart the consciousness of her ow