And I think that I hear again the sweet tones of my lady's voice
saying--
'It is like our dear Lord's teaching, though it was uttered more than
four centuries before He came to live as a Man upon earth.'
And those other words, spoken long afterwards--
'A Greater than Plato said, "Be thou faithful unto death, and I will
give thee a Crown of Life." That is the best Crown, Margery.'
THE END
EPILOGUE
My task is done--not brilliantly, not at all brilliantly, but to the
best of my poor ability, and I turn away from the thought of this
world's little criticisms, which may assail and rend my work, to the
consideration of how it looks in my own eyes, how it would look in
the serious eyes of Lady Jane, if she surveyed it all as searchingly
as she studied her beloved Plato; and lastly, and most importantly,
how it may appear in the eyes of our Heavenly Father.
And first, as to myself, I have sighed, smiled, and then again wept
over these pages, as in them I relived through the exciting, tragic
happenings of the year of my life which changed me from a thoughtless
child into an extremely earnest-hearted woman, and I think, as the
record has taken such deep hold of me, it will also impress others,
and know that it will do so in proportion to the greatness of their
souls. For little souls find only small things everywhere, whilst
big ones, like my Lady Jane's, find things so great and glorious as
to lift them over life's petty details into the vast, wide prospects
of the children of God, who see from the Delectable Mountains
straight into the Heart of the Kingdom.
As to the way in which Lady Jane would regard this book were she
looking at it, I have no fear. She would see that I have in every
respect endeavoured to fulfil her wish that I should represent facts
as I saw them, and not as they appeared to be to others.
And with regard to the aspect my poor little work has in the eyes of
our Heavenly Father, it is impossible to know. I can only pray Him
to mercifully grant that what is false and unworthy in this narrative
may be forgotten, whilst what is good, true and beautiful, may sink
deeply into the hearts of its hearers, and always, always be
remembered as long as life shall last.
MARGARET BROWN.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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