The Believer by Ann H. Gabhart Page B

"I wish I hadn't:"
    "But you did:" Elizabeth didn't look over at the two women waiting for them, but she could feel them watching them. She couldn't put off the parting any longer. "Now it is time to do as they want"
    They stood up and Hannah faced the two women as if waiting for some dire punishment as the two sisters moved toward them.
    "Worry not," the sister named Nola said to Elizabeth. "Sister Ruth is going to see to your needs, and I'll take care of young sister Hannah. She and I have much in common" Nola jerked off her cap and gray curls sprang out from her head. She touched Hannah's curls and smiled down at her. "See:"
    Hannah peered at the woman's head and then reached over to softly touch her hair. "They are not as white as mine. Nor as springy."
    "Nay, mine are much older. They've lost a good bit of their spring over the years" She smiled as she pushed her cap back down on her head. "Come, we'll find you a clean dress and some supper.
    Hannah only looked back once at Elizabeth as she walked down the path away from her. And now it was Elizabeth who had to bite her lip to keep from crying out for her.

    Ethan confessed to Brother Martin the strange feelings Elizabeth had awakened in him when he and Brother Issachar had picked the young woman and her sister and brother up on the road. He tried not to hold anything back. For true forgiveness, a Believer had need to confess his failings not only to the Eternal Father and Mother Ann but also to his designated confessor. For Ethan, that was Brother Martin, although there had been many times when he wished it could be Brother Issachar instead.
    Both men were very dear to Ethan, but they were much different. Brother Martin never stopped teaching, never stopped trying to push the young brothers in his charge closer to the perfect life all Shakers sought. He labored zealously to keep Ethan from straying from the true way of the Believer into ways of the world that would surely land his feet on a slippery slope to destruction.
    On the other hand, Brother Issachar had a way of accepting Ethan as he was while trusting he would seek out the right paths to walk on his own. Ethan could never remember Brother Issachar showing disapproval of any of the brothers or sisters. Not even when the wrong had been so obvious it had resulted in ostracism. That was why, Brother Martin said, that the Ministry did not appoint Brother Issachar as a confessor. A man had to notice fault before he could correct it.
    Brother Martin had no problem noticing fault. It was obvious he saw much fault in the feelings the young woman had aroused in Ethan.
    "You must not allow yourself to be led astray by a woman who has yet to learn the ways of a Believer such as yourself."
    "She did nothing to entice me into wrong:" Ethan felt the need to make sure Elizabeth was not blamed for his own failure to control his emotions.
    "She reeked of the world" Brother Martin stared at Ethan across the small table in the tiny room he used to work on the lessons for the boys in school. His face showed disappointment in Ethan's lapse of proper thought, but not surprise. A teacher of the young brethren for many years, he claimed there was little that could surprise him.
    "She did seem different than the sisters I know here," Ethan admitted. "Weighted down with concern. Brother Issachar noticed as well and asked her about it"
    "Did she answer him with truth?" Brother Martin's frown deepened as he waited for Ethan's answer.
    "She avoided answering Brother Issachar's question, but I believe the younger sister spoke truth when she said her sister feared a man who wished to marry her." Ethan thought again of the strange eyes of the young child with the white curls. He started to say he didn't think the child could speak anything but truth, but there was no reason to stray from the words of his confession. The little sister had no part in the unsettled way the older girl had made him feel when he looked into her eyes.
    "The worldly