“That afternoon I was restless and wretched. I could not remain quietly
in any place, but wandered uneasily about until near nightfall, when I
stole out unobserved and took my way to the burying-ground, where Anna
and Robin were. Just outside the iron railing which enclosed their
graves there was a rude, time-worn seat, placed upon the grass-plat
years ago, it would seem, from the names and dates carved upon it. Here
I sat down, and leaning my face upon my hand, tried to think of all that
had transpired since I had come to Morrisville. Had I known all I was to
see and hear, would I have wished to come? I asked myself; but could
find no satisfactory answer. I was glad I had known Robin, for his
memory would be a sacred thing to me, and I said I was glad I had heard
of Anna ere I learned to think too much of Richard. Then thoughts of
Jessie arose, and I said aloud, ‘Can he ever forget Anna, who died in
his arms?’
“‘No, Dora, I shall never forget her, neither can I mourn for her
always, as I mourned when we first laid her here, and I sat nearly all
the night just where you are sitting, watching the stars as they held
their first vigil over Anna’s grave, and almost impiously questioning
the Providence which had dealt so strangely with me.’
“I knew it was Richard’s voice speaking to me, and I gave a little start
of surprise, but did not lose a word which he had spoken.
“‘I half believed I should find you here,’ he said, sitting down beside
me, and drawing a little more about my neck the shawl which had fallen
off. ‘Something told me I should find you, and so I came quite as much
to join the living as the dead. Dora, you will forgive the
familiarity,—I never called you so at home, but here, where you have
done me and mine so much good, you will surely let me use a name which
mother and Robin adopted.’
“I bowed, and he went on.
“‘You do not know how glad I am that you were with us when Robin died,
or how it lessens the smart to have you sitting with me in sight of
Robin’s grave.’
“‘And Anna’s?’ I said, looking at him for the first time.
“‘Yes, Anna’s,’ he continued in the same kind tone; ‘and it is of her I
would tell you, Dora,’ and he spoke hurriedly now. ‘How much do you know
of Anna, and who told you?’
“‘Sarah Felton; and I know more than I wish I did,’ I answered, my voice
full of tears, which I could not repress.
“‘Felton!’ he repeated in dismay. ‘Unless her reputation for veracity
has improved, I would not vouch for the truth of what she might say,
though she liked Anna. Shall I tell you her history, Dora?’
“I knew it would cost him a mighty effort to do so, but I must hear the
story. I should never be happy till I had, and I answered eagerly:
“‘Yes, tell me of Anna.’”
CHAPTER XI.
RICHARD’S STORY.
“He was very white, and his voice trembled, while his eyes had in them
the far-off look I had once or twice observed before.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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