Nina and Miggie

Incidentally she spoke of Mr. St. Claire, and when
the widow asked "What under the sun possessed him to live as he
did," she replied by telling of NINA, his ward, who, she said, had
recently come to Grassy Spring from the Asylum, adding a few items
as to how Arthur chanced to be her guardian, talking as if she had
known of it all the time, and saying she did not wonder that a
young man like him should shrink from having it generally
understood that he had a crazy girl upon his hands. He was very
kind to her indeed, and no brother could treat his sister more
tenderly than he treated Nina.

To every thing she said, Mrs. Eliakim smilingly assented, drawing
her own conclusions the while and feeling vastly relieved when, at
last, her visitor departed, leaving her at liberty to don her
green calash and start for the neighbors with this precious morsel
of gossip. Turning back, Edith saw her hurrying across the fields,
and knew it would not be long ere all Shannondale were talking of
Arthur's ward.

Arrived at home she found the dinner waiting for her, and when
asked by Richard what had kept her she replied by repeating to him
in substance what she had already told Mrs. Eliakim Rogers. There
was this difference however, between the two stories--the one told
to Richard was longer and contained more of the particulars. She
did not, however, tell him of Arthur's love for Nina, or of the
neglected wife, the mother of little Miggie, though why she
withheld that part of the story she could not tell.