After his death there was nothing to relieve the tedium of Hannah's
life, and but for her trust in God her reason must have given way under
the strain, for it was not only her own sorrow, but her father's as
well, which she had to bear. With him there was no rest, day or night,
and every breath was a prayer for mercy and forgiveness.
At first he was continually haunted with a fear of detection, and
frequently in the night he would steal noiselessly to Hannah's room, and
awakening her with a whisper, tell her there were men about the house,
come to arrest him, and charge her with having broken her oath and
betrayed him into the hands of the law. Every possible precaution
against a surprise was taken. Iron bolts were put on the doors, the
windows were nailed down, and the house was never for an hour left
alone. The people said the man was deranged, and pitied the young girl
who, from daily association with him, was becoming almost as peculiar as
himself.
After a few years the aged pastor, who had so long officiated in the
stone church on the common, died, and the Rev.
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