I closed my eyes and said, 'I thank Thee, Lord,
For life!'"
He turned the picture over and looked long at the face. He did not see Philip's this time. What was this thing? Had she written it herself, or only found it somewhere and pasted it on the back of the photograph before giving it away? Perhaps the older woman had put it there. He read on:
"A moment only—then I heard,
'A happy, sheltered life—but 'tis not thine.'
I reached my hand to grasp my treasured page;
It closed upon a bare, blank sheet—no more.
And still the voice said, 'Write!'"
He looked again at the picture. This sounded as if it might be an echo from her own life. Was it? Yet he had always thought her so cold.
"Through falling tears