But Margaret's heart was full, and she was saying to herself:
"Why need I have said that, as though he ever forgot her? poor
Raby--poor, unhappy brother--forget her! when every night in the
twilight I see him fold his hands as though in prayer, and in the
darkness can hear him whisper, 'God bless my darling and bring her
home to me again.'"
"Margaret!"
"Yes, dear;" but as she turned quickly at the beseeching tone in which
her name was uttered, a smile came to her lips, for Raby's hand was
feeling in his inner breast-pocket, and she knew well what that action
signified; in another moment he had drawn out a letter and had placed
it in Margaret's outstretched palm. Ever since this letter had reached
them about two months ago, each Sunday the same silent request had
been made to her, and each time, as now, she had taken it without
hesitation or comment, and had read it slowly from beginning to end.
The envelope bore the Leeds postmark, and the letter itself was
evidently written hurriedly in a flowing, girlish hand.
"MY DEAREST MARGARET," it began, "I feel to-night as though I
must write to you; sometimes the homesickness is so
bitter--the longing so intense to see your dear face
again--that I can hardly endure it; there are times when the
restlessness is so unendurable that I can not sit still and
bear it--when I feel as though I have but one wish in the
world, just to feel your arms round me again, and hear from
your lips that I am forgiven, and then lie down and die.
"You suffer, too, you say, in the one letter that has reached
me: I have ever overshadowed your happiness. You and Raby are
troubling your kind hearts about me, but indeed there is no
need for any fresh anxiety.
"I have met with good Samaritans. The roof that shelters me is
humble indeed, but it shelters loving hearts and simple,
kindly natures--natures as true as yours, Margaret--gentle,
high-souled women, who, like the charitable traveler in the
Bible, have sought to pour oil and wine into my wounds. How
you would love them for my sake, but still more for their own!
"These kindly strangers took me in without a word--they asked
no questions; I was young, friendless and unhappy, that was
all they cared to know.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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