There was, however, a slight drawback; very much more than his profits were outstanding.

But he doubted not that all would come in.
As for Mrs.Parker the year had not gone by without leaving some marks of its passage upon her heart.

Some are purified by much suffering who, to common observation, seem purer far than hundreds around them whose days glide pleasantly on and whose skies are rarely overcast, and then only by a swiftly-passing summer cloud.
Rachel Parker was one of these.

During the first year of her absence from those who were loved next to her husband and child, her father died.

And what rendered the affliction doubly severe, was the fact, that it occurred while she herself was so ill that she could not be moved without endangering her life.