Domestic fiction; England -- Fiction; Family -- England -- Fiction; Young women -- Fiction
It was good to know that there was Cynthia to talk to--Cynthia, who
might not be able to advise and strengthen as wisely as mother did, but
who was a girl, and knew how girls felt--"up and down, and in and out,
and--oh, and so topsy-turvy upside down!" thought poor Betty to herself.
A breathless, "I want to speak to you; I have something dreadfully
interesting to tell!" whispered in a chance encounter in the street,
brought an immediate invitation to tea `in my own room, where we shan't
be bothered'; and under these happy auspices the adventure was once more
related, while Cynthia's grey eyes grew wide with excitement.
"Dear Betty, how glorious for you!" she cried ecstatically. "What a
wonderful thing to remember! You can never be blue again, and say that
you are no use in the world. To have saved a man's life, and started
him on the right road--at eighteen--not eighteen! You are the most
fortunate girl in the whole world! It's so strange that this chance
should have come to you on that particular day, because your brother and
I had been talking about the different work of men and women as we
walked over the Park to the Albert Hall, and he said that if it was
men's province to make the greatest things in the world, it was women's
work to make the men; and that was what you did, Betty dear. You helped
God to make a man!"
Betty raised her brows in a surprise which was not altogether agreeable.
"Miles--_Miles_ said so! How extraordinary! He never talks like that
to me, and he hardly knew you at all. However did you come to discuss
such a subject?"
"I asked him about his work, and envied him for being able to do
something real. He is a nice boy. I like him very much," said Cynthia
placidly.
Imagine being favoured with confidences from Miles, and remaining quite
cool and unconcerned! For a good two moments Betty forgot all about her
own affairs in sheer wonder at such an astonishing state of mind. Then
remembrance came back, and she asked eagerly--
"Cynthia, do you think I shall ever hear anything more about him?
Mother says it will take years and years to save so much money. Do you
think I shall ever know?"
"Yes!" said Cynthia confidently. "Of course you will know. He will
find some way of telling you. You told him your address, so it was the
easiest thing in the world to find out your name. You will get
something from him every year--perhaps on Christmas Day, perhaps in
summer, perhaps on the anniversary of the night. It may be only a
newspaper, it may be a letter, it may be just a flower--like the man in
_The Prisoner of Zenda_ sent to the princess, but it will be
_something_! He mayn't sign his name or give his address, but he will
want you to know--he will feel you ought to know that he is alive and
remembering."
Oh, the beauty of a girl confidante! How truly she understands the art
of comfort!
"And shall I ever see him again?"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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