But, oh, for all
their sakes, how I hoped this cloud, whatever it was, would blow over!
I have a very good constitution and I know how to take care of it, but
when several more days passed without Peggy's hearing from Henry again
I gave way, but I tried to keep up on Ada's account. I began to see how
much this young man's honor and faithfulness meant to Peggy, and I took
long excursions back into the past to remember how I felt at her age.
Mail-time was the difficult time for all three of us. Before the
postman came Peggy would brighten up; not that she was drooping at any
time, only I knew how tensely she waited, because Ada and I waited with
her. When the man came, and again no letters, Peggy held up her head
bravely as could be, but I could see, all the same, how the light had
gone out. The worst of it was, everybody knew about it. It would have
been twice as easy for the child if she could have borne it alone, but
Elizabeth Talbert watched the mail like a cat, and even manoeuvred to
try and get the letters before Peggy, while Alice went around with her
nose in the air, and I heard Maria saying to Ada:
"What's all this about Harry Goward's not writing?"
To escape it all I took to my room, coming down only for meals. I
couldn't eat a thing, and Cyrus noticed it--it is queer how observant
men are about some things and how unobservant about others.
Pages:
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84