But now"--she patted her little bundle and walked down the
street, elated and happy.
Francesca watched her out of the door with eyes that presently filled
with tears. "Poor girl!" she whispered; "poor Sallie! her lover has gone
to the wars with a shadow between them. Ah, that must not be; I must try
to bring them together again, if he loves her dearly and truly. He might
die,"--she shuddered at that,--"die, as other men die, in the heat and
flame of battle. My God! my God! how shall I bear it? Dead! and without
a word! Gone, and he will never know how well I love him! O Willie,
Willie! my life, my love, my darling, come back, come back to me."
Vain cry!--he cannot hear. Vain lifting of an agonized face, beautiful
in its agony!--he cannot see. Vain stretching forth of longing hands and
empty arms!--he is not there to take them to his embrace. Carry thy
burden as others have carried it before thee, and learn what multitudes,
in times past and in time present, have learned,--the lesson of
endurance when happiness is denied, and of patience and silence when joy
has been withheld. Go thou thy way, sorrowful and suffering soul, alone;
and if thy own heart bleeds, strive thou to soothe its pangs, by
medicining the wounds and healing the hurts of another.
A few days thereafter, when Miss Ercildoune went over to Philadelphia,
Sallie and Frank bore her company.
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