Nineteen hundred? A forecast and a storyFarningham, Marianne
General
Nineteen hundred? A forecast and a story
Farningham, Marianne
Christian life -- Fiction; England -- Social conditions -- Fiction; Reformers -- Fiction
“No, I do not, and I expect that now I never shall,” said Margaret. “For
some reason—and I am sure it was a good one—my grandfather—Mr.
Harris—never told me. Only on the evening on which he died he promised
that he would; but he was so weak and ill that I begged him to wait
until the next day, and the next day he was gone.”
“It cannot be helped, my dear, and it does not matter. You are whatever
your life and character make you.”
“And they could not be better,” said Tom, affectionately.
“And it will not matter who you were when you are happily married to my
nephew,” continued Mr. Whitwell. “He is so good a fellow that it will be
too bad if you keep him waiting longer. His mother is quite out of the
question now, I am sure of that. And the best medical authority of the
land has declared it to-day, for I met Dr. Stapleton, who told me so.
That will be the way out of the difficulty. If you think this money
ought to be his, what is yours may be made his, in spite of the Married
Women’s Property Act.”
Margaret returned to Yorkshire the next day without seeing John. She
rightly judged that it was better so. It was doubtful if John would ask
her again to marry him after all his trouble, and especially when he
knew the amount of her possessions. But the long railway ride gave her
time to think; and by the time she reached the Home her mind was fully
made up.
The place had been speedily got into good working condition, and already
there were thirty girls who had been sent down from London, in order
that they might be prepared for the work that was before them. And there
were as many helpers as could possibly be needed. Miss Wentworth, who
knew London well, and who had spent her life and her money chiefly in
work among women and girls, knew exactly where to find the right women
to help, and the girls who would be the most benefited by their
ministrations. She had entered into the scheme with enthusiasm, and it
was she who was making it a success.
Her large motherly nature made her very sympathetic. If the truth must
be told, she already loved every inmate in the Home; but she loved
Margaret the most of all, and when the girl laid her head upon her
shoulder, and told her all the history of her life, and confided the
secret about John, she was most tender and kind.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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