“Thank God,” Kate said fervently. “Anything—anything will be better than this. Oh, Frank,” and she cried on his neck, “I am so glad, dear. I would not propose it, but oh, I have so wished you would. What are you thinking of doing?”
“We will talk it over, Katie, after tea. You are forgetting your chain. Who can have sent it?”
Kate took it out of its case, and held it up.
“Oh, Frank, what a magnificent chain to be sure; and what a curious one, with such rough gold and such splendid pearls. Can it be real, Frank?”
“I don’t know, Kate; is there no letter? look in the top of the case.”
“Oh, yes, Frank, here is a little note, addressed to me—Mrs. Frank Maynard.
“Ballaarat.
“Mrs. Maynard,—
“It is now three years since your husband helped a broken-hearted woman in the time of her greatest distress. When she was friendless and hopeless—when it seemed to her that her husband was to be parted from her for ever—when to both it seemed that God had forsaken them, your husband, on whom they had no claim, even of the slightest, came to them. He gave them hope and life; he restored them to each other and to the world. Buoyed up by hope, the husband gained the approbation of those above him, and the term of his punishment was remitted. He came to the gold fields; there he worked at his trade. He first built wooden huts, then took contracts, and bought land. A town sprang up. That land is worth a hundred times what he gave for it. He is now a rich man. He can never repay, we can never repay him whose kindness has made us what we are. My husband wishes me to say that he has heard from his brother that Mr. Maynard is down in Yorkshire, at work upon a railway. If you would not think it presuming on our part, we would say, why not come out here? Work of that kind is abundant, and well paid for. My husband can procure contracts, and would be only too glad and too proud to find the necessary capital, and to work in concert with and under Mr. Maynard’s directions. Accept a small remembrance of the grateful regard which is borne by her, who, with her husband, prays God daily to bless our benefactor and those he loves.
“Bessy Holl.”