– Because their hearts are filled with hope," the pastor replied briefly to the daughter's question, interrupting her prayer for an answer.

– But why is he coming now, in the spring, when we have already gone through a terrible winter? – Catherine asked, not satisfied with her father's answer.

– Because God sends him when he is most needed," the pastor replied with a sigh.

– Will you ask him for the church? – Catherine asked again.

– Can't you be quiet? I'm trying to sleep! – Christine, curled up on her mattress under a rough woollen blanket, dreaming of tomorrow.

– We are talking with father about very important matters! – Kate said to her reproachfully. – Will the new lord repair the church and give us a new organ?

– Of course I'll ask him for the church, but I won't insist. You know that the true church is our souls, and in the parish we gather to honour God with common prayers and hymns for His grace, and no more. My dear, there is no need to deify a stone building," Pastor Glowford said with a slight reproach to his eldest daughter.

There was silence in the house for a few moments, and the pastor was able to continue his prayer.

– Cassie needs a new dress," Kate said thoughtfully, and stroked the head of her sister, who slept beside her on her mattress. – Her old one is all worn out.

– Well, of course! Cassie's getting her third dress this year! – grumbled Christine, who had only received one dress for the year.

– You should read the Bible more and pray to God for guidance," Catherine told her earnestly, believing it would make her more sensible.

– Cassie does nothing around the house but run round the field and catch bugs. Why should she get a new dress? – Christine said with undisguised anger.

Catherine sighed deeply, irritated by her sister's words: in her opinion, Christine's misfortune was that she was not diligent in serving the Lord, so her soul was filled with envy and resentment that the best things did not go to her.

– Christine, please pray," said the pastor, who had to interrupt her prayer again. – And you, Catherine, sew up Cassie's dress. We can't get a new one right now.

Pastor Glowford knew that there was little friendship between his daughters: Kate and Cassie were always together, but Christine tried to avoid socialising with them and often left the house for long periods of time. Talks and sermons did not help, and the pastor tried to ignore his daughters' relations, immersing himself in the affairs and sorrows of his parishioners: he knew that prudent Catherine would cope with the house and Christine's character, and that Christine herself would soften after marriage, and Cassie would always be close to Catherine, who would not let anyone hurt her.

When the pastor thought of his youngest daughter, his heart was filled with love, pity and remorse: there was a time when sin had broken his faith and made him a bitter drunkard, and neither wife nor children could save him. During this black streak Mrs. Glowford became pregnant for the third time, and Cassandra was born, while the mother died of a haemorrhage after struggling to unburden herself. The pastor was left alone with three daughters, one of whom was an infant. He did not know what to do, his hands were down, but his eldest nine-year-old daughter Catherine took care of the child, replacing her mother. Christine cried for a long time and did not want to even look at Cassie, because she considered her guilty for the death of her mother, to whom Christine was very attached. Cassie's birth brought the pastor out of darkness into light: he took up his work again and worked hard and almost without rest to feed his daughters. Cassie became a sign from God that helped him out of his drunkenness, but when the little girl was five years old, the pastor noticed with despair her developmental delays: she could not walk, but could only crawl, and she spoke in separate sounds and letter combinations. From then on, the pastor fell into a religious ecstasy: he considered Cassie's illness as God's punishment for his sin, so he began to love her more than his older daughters. Cassie was his suffering and pain, a reminder of his black sin. And now Cassandra was seventeen years old, but she had the mind of a six-year-old child, and if the village lads were suitors for Catherine and Christine, none were suitors for Cassie, nor would the parson himself put his treasure in the wrong hands.