"Perhaps if I had done this," she would say, "or if I had done that—it seems precisely like a death, and I've killed her."
Tuesday morning, two letters came from Mary. They were hurriedly and excitedly written.
"My dear good mother, I am accepted! It is the happiest day of my life; it will be a red letter day for you! I love you. I have tried so hard for your sake; I have tried to make my life hear one long prayer and the dear Lord helps me. I did not write because the exam. was delaid, and I wanted to wait untill I had something good to tell you. I look nice in the unniform. It is pink and a white cap, apron and cuffs. Oh I am so contented; this work is so filling. I never get lonely or homesick. We nurses had a party, and we danced and served ice cream, and there was some lovely doctors here, and the Princippal is so kind to us we have lots of fun"—and so the letters ran on.
The reaction was too much for Belle. She cried, then she laughed, then she fell on her knees and thanked God, and she told me she added that, for pity's sake, He must set His angels to guard Mary, for she was a poor, frail child, who had got lost in coming this time, and many persecuted her because she was pretty, and might find a resting place and get a little of what rightfully (?) belonged to them.
After a while she went down to see Mr. Armstrong, and read him the letters. He turned very white.
"Oh, the pity of it!" said he.
"I wish I could gather her slanderers into one room and read them these letters," said Belle.
For days afterward she button-holed people in the street to tell them about Mary, or to read them scraps of her letters. If they had said she was vain and idle, and selfish and incompetent, just like the half of their own daughters, Belle could have forgiven them. It was their determination to shove her into the gutter which made my wife her valiant champion.
"Whatever that girl amounts to, Dave, will be born of our faith in her, and we must never go back on her. She writes me that whenever she has a hard task, such as attending fits, there I stand at her back and help."