When you looked around you, she thought, with triumph, there wasn't any explanation of the seeming injustice except original sin.

There was a strange comfort in this conviction, as though it represented the single reality to which she could cling amid the mutable deceptions of life.

"Thar wouldn't be any sense in it if 'twarn't for that," she would sometimes say to herself, as one who draws strength from a secret source of refreshment.
In Abel the news of Reuben's death awoke a different emotion, and his first thought was of Molly.

He longed to comfort her in his arms, and the memory of the quarrel of yesterday and even of the kiss that led to it seemed to increase rather than diminish this longing.
Rising from his untasted breakfast, he hurriedly swallowed a cup of coffee and took up his hat.
"I am going to see Molly, mother; would you like to send a message ?" Blossom, who was gazing out of the window with her eyes full of dreams, turned at his words.
"Give her my love, Abel," she said.
"Tell her he was a good man and had fewer sins to his account than most of us," added Sarah.
"Did you know, Abel, that old Mr.Jonathan left her ten thousand dollars a year as long as she lives with the Gays ?" asked Blossom, coming over to where he stood.
He stared at her in amazement.

"Where on earth did you hear that ?" he asked.
A flush reddened her face.
"Somebody told me.