Ann Holland would be overjoyed to think of seeing Upton again, and to
return to her old friends and townsfolk. No; they must not be doomed to
continual exile for her sake. She must take up the cross that lay before
her, from which she had so long escaped, and be willing to bear the
penalty of her transgressions, learning that no sins, though forgiven,
can be blotted out as far as their consequences are concerned--can never
be, through endless years, as though they had never been.
"We must go home to Upton," she said to her husband the evening before
the mail left for England. "I have considered everything, and we must
go."
"Willingly, Sophy? Gladly?" he asked, looking keenly into her face, so
changed from when he had seen it first. What lines there were upon it
which ought not to have been there so early, he knew well. How different
it was from the fair fresh face of his young wife when they first went
home to Upton Rectory. Yet he loved her better now than then.
"Willingly, though not gladly yet," she answered; "but do not argue with
me. Do not try to persuade me against my own decision.
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