I dare say I was
to blame--shamefully to blame, if you like. I only wonder what _you_ would
have done in my place. On your word of honor as a man, would _you_ have
let that beautiful creature wander back to the shelter of the stone quarry
like a stray dog? God help the woman who is foolish enough to trust and
love you, if you would have done that!
I left her by the fire, and went to my mother's room.
IX
If you have ever felt the heartache, you will know what I suffered in
secret when my mother took my hand, and said, "I am sorry, Francis, that
your night's rest has been disturbed through _me_." I gave her the
medicine; and I waited by her till the pains abated. My aunt Chance went
back to her bed; and my mother and I were left alone. I noticed that her
writing-desk, moved from its customary place, was on the bed by her side.
She saw me looking at it. "This is your birthday, Francis," she said.
"Have you anything to tell me?" I had so completely forgotten my Dream,
that I had no notion of what was passing in her mind when she said those
words. For a moment there was a guilty fear in me that she suspected
something. I turned away my face, and said, "No, mother; I have nothing to
tell." She signed to me to stoop down over the pillow and kiss her. "God
bless you, my love!" she said; "and many happy returns of the day.
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