Gordon finished his breakfast, kissed his wife, and went away.
Constance, looking over her mail, read bits of news to Mary. Mary, in
return, read bits of news to Constance. But the blue envelope by her
plate lay untouched, until, catching her sister's eye, she flushed.
"Constance," she said, "it is from Roger Poole."
"Oh, Mary, and was that why Porter went away?"
"Yes." It came almost defiantly.
For a moment the young matron hesitated, then she held out her arms.
"Dearest girl," she said, "we want you to be happy."
Mary, with eyes shining, came straight to that loving embrace.
"I am going to be happy," she said, almost breathlessly, "and perhaps
my way of being happy won't be yours, Con, darling. But what
difference does it make, so long as we are both--happy?"
The letter, read at last in the shelter of her own room, was not long.
Among the Pines.
Even now I can't quite believe that your letter is true--I have read it
and reread it--again and again, reading into it each time new meanings,
new hope. And to-night it lies on my desk, a precious document,
tempting me to say things which perhaps I should not say--tempting me
to plead for that which perhaps I should not ask.
Dear woman--what have I to offer you? Just a home down here among the
sand-hills--a little church that will soon stand in a circle of young
pines, a life of work in a little rectory near the little church--for
your dreams and mine are to come true, and the little church will be
built within a year.
Yet, I have a garden. A garden of souls. Will you come into it? And
make it bloom, as you have made my life bloom? All that I am you have
made me. When I sat in the Tower Rooms hopeless, you gave me hope.
When I lost faith in myself, it shone in your eyes. When I saw your
brave young courage, my courage came back to me. It was you who told
me that I had a message to deliver.
And I am delivering the message--and somehow I cannot feel that it is a
little thing to offer, when I ask you to share in this, my work.
Other men can offer you a castle--other men can give to you a life of
ease. I can bring to you a life in which we shall give ourselves to
each other and to the world. I can give you love that is equal to any
man's. I can give you a future which will make you forget the past.