"Do not say that, Jane. I am sure mother was conscious of no feeling but a desire to do good."
"I do not like her way of doing good. I will not voluntarily go to receive it. Would you do so, John?"
"She is my mother. A few words could not drive us apart. She may come to you, you may go to her. As to that, nothing is certain."
"Except that your words are most uncertain and uncomforting, John."
Then John rose and went to her side and whispered those little words, those simple words, those apparently meaningless, disconnected words which children and women love and understand so well.
And she wept a little and then smiled, and the wretched story was buried in love and pity—and perhaps the poor soul knew it!
"You see, Jane, my dear one, the Unknown fulfills what we never dare to expect, so we will leave the door wide open for Faith and Hope." And as John said these words, he had a sudden clear remembrance of the empty loom and the fair little woman he had so often seen at work there. Then a prayer leaped from his heart to the Everlasting Mercy, a prayer we too seldom use, "Father, forgive, they know not what they do."
For a moment or two they sat hand in hand and were silent. Then Jane, who was visibly suffering, from headache, went to her room, and John took a pencil and began to make figures and notes in his pocketbook. His face and manner was quiet and thoughtful. He had consented to his trial outwardly; inwardly he knew it to be overcome. And to suffer, to be wronged and unhappy, yet not to cease being loving and pleasant, implies a very powerful, Christ-like disposition.
He knew well very hard days were before his people, and he was now endeavoring by every means in his power to provide alleviations for the great tragedy he saw approaching. All other things seemed less urgent, and a letter from Harry full of small worries about pictures and bric-a-brac was almost an irritation. But he answered it in brotherly fashion and laid the responsibility so kindly
on Harry himself that the careless young fellow was proudly encouraged and uplifted.