It sounds foolish enough for young people to talk love, but for old
people like Joshua Blake and I, it is unpardonable. He told me he had
resolved never to return to his native land again, till, by the merest
chance, he met a man in Australia who informed him of the death of his
father, and that his father had said upon his death-bed, that all that
gave him the least anxiety was his aged partner, who, at his death,
would be left quite alone in the world. 'Then,' continued he, 'I thought
of the sin I had committed in so long neglecting my parents, and I
resolved to atone for my past neglect, by hastening home to care for my
mother, should I find her still alive; and the happiness is yet left me
of watching over the declining years of my aged mother.' For awhile I
refused to listen to him when he spoke about marriage, and told him it
was better we should remain only as friends; but he talked and talked,
and kept saying that, as we loved each other in youth, we could yet
spend the evening of our lives together; and I at last said yes, only to
stop his talking, and if we should happen not to agree, we shall have
less time to quarrel than if we had got married twenty-five years ago;
but, I rather think we have both got sobered down, so we can get along
peaceably.
Pages:
217
218
219
220
221
222
223
224
225
226
227
228
229
230
231
232
233
234
235
236
237
238
239
240
241