“My kind friend,” she said, aloud, “what a sad time it was when you left your loved family!”
Scott neared the place where she stood, and bowing, said:
“Please pardon me, madam, I did not mean to intrude upon your grief. I came to visit my father’s grave.”
“I am the one to ask pardon,” the lady replied, “and if you will excuse me I will not intrude further.”
“Do not go,” said Scott. “If my father was a friend of yours you have a right to mourn for him.”
“I have heard so much of his goodness,” she said, “that I could not help paying the tribute of a few tears 293 to the memory of so noble a man. I have heard that aside from his extreme affection for his family, he was a devout Christian.”
“Yes, he died the death of the righteous.” Scott stooped and plucked a tiny flower from his wife’s grave.
“If this one had lived as he did I should be satisfied, but God is the judge of both, and he doeth all things wisely, letting the rain fall upon the just and the unjust.”
“It seems hard for one young and beautiful as your wife was, to die and leave those who loved her.”
“You have seen her then?”