Keziah，inspiteofherworldlycommonsense，wasanidealistatheart。Lovematchesshebelievedinthoroughly。IfthemanhadnotbeenaRegularminister，orifhehadbeenaministerinanyothertownthannarrow，gossiping，squabblingTrumet，wherefamiliesweredividedon“religious“grounds，neighborsdidnotspeakbecausetheircreedsweredifferent，andevenafterdeathwereburiedincemeteriesthreemilesapart；ifthegirlhadbeenotherthanthewardofbigotedoldEbenHammond——then，thoughtheywerepooraspovertyitself，Keziahwouldhavejoinedtheirhandsandrejoiced。Evenasitwas，shewasstronglytemptedtodoit。
Hersenseofrightandhereveryinclinationurgedhertowardthatcourse。“Facetheworldtogetherandfightitout，“thatwastheadviceshewouldliketogivethem。Butno，thebattlewastoouneven。Theoddsweretoogreat。Theymustnotthinkofmarriage，forthepresent，andtheymustceasetomeet。Perhapssomeday——
shetriedtocomfortherselfwiththethought——perhapssomeday，yearsafterwardsandunderdifferentcircumstances，theymight——
WithElleryshefeltcertainshecouldaccomplishnothingbyargumentorpersuasion。Sheknewhimwellenoughbythistimetorealizethat，ifhismindwasmadeup，allTrumetandallcreationcouldnotchangeit。Hewouldkeeponhiscourse，and，ifwrecked，wouldgodownwithcolorssetandhelmlashed。ButGrace，perhapsshedidnotfullyrealizethesituation。Shemightbemadetosee，tolistentoreason。And，perhaps，itwaspossible——perhaps，onherpart，matterswerenotasserious。Theministerhadnotactedlikeatriumphantlover，assuredofsuccess；hehadseemed，nowthatshethoughtofit，morelikeapleader，asupplicant。
Perhaps，ifshecouldseeGraceandtalkplainlywiththegirl，itmightnotbetoolate。Shedeterminedtotrythatverynight。