The Mountain Girl by Emma Payne Erskine Chapter 30 Page 17

stable boys — to the farmer’s daughters — and to the public rooms of the Queensderry Inn.

Thus it was Cassandra heard tales of the brother and sister and mother of her David, and of him also. How it was said that once he was engaged to a rich tradesman’s daughter but had broken it off and gone to America against the wishes of all his family, and had become a common practitioner there to the disgust of all his relatives; and again Cassandra felt that she had left a sweet and lovely world behind her to step into “Vanity Fair.”

She tried to hold fast her faith in goodness and high purpose. She was sure — sure — David had been moved by noble motives; why should she not trust him now? Did this girl know him better than she — his wife? Yet,