“I didn’t know how much I thought of him till there was an end put to his coming to our house. I believe I grew to care more about him when other folks turned against him. Not that I ever thought hard of my father: I knew he was right, and I didn’t mean to let him see that I was worrying; but he did see it, and when Stephen came home and worked, sometimes at his trade and sometimes on his father’s farm, a year quite steady, he felt every day more and more like giving it up, and taking him into favour again. He never said so, but I am sure my mother thought so, and sometimes I did too.
“My mother died that fall, and we had a dreadful still, lonesome winter—my father and me; and when after a while Stephen came to see me, as he used to do, my father didn’t seem to mind. And pretty soon Stephen took courage and asked the old man for me. He said that I would be the saving of him, and that we would always stay with him in his old age—which came on him fast after my mother died. So, what with one thing and what with another, he was wrought on to consent to our marriage: but I do believe it was the thought of helping to save a soul from death, that did more than all the rest to bring him round.
“Things went well with us for a while—for more than two years—nearly three; but then one day Stephen went to Weston, and got into trouble; and the worst was, having begun, he couldn’t stop. It was a miserable time. My father lost faith in Stephen after that, and Stephen lost faith in himself, and he got restless and uneasy, and it was a dreadful cross to him to have to stay at father’s, knowing that he wasn’t trusted and depended on as he used to be. And I suppose it was a cross to father to have him there; for when I spoke of going away, though he said it would break his heart to part from me, his only child, he said, too, that it would not do to part husband and wife, and perhaps it would be better to try it, for a while at least. So we went to live in Weston, and Stephen worked at his trade.
“Then father married again. He was an old man, and it never would have happened if I could have stayed with him. But what could he do? He couldn’t stay alone. The woman he married was a widow with children, and I knew there never would be room for me at home any more.
“We had a sad time at Weston. I had always lived on a farm, and, though Weston wasn’t much of a place then, it seemed dreadful close and shut-up and dismal to me. I was homesick and miserable there, and maybe I didn’t do all I might have done to make things pleasant for Stephen, and help to keep him straight. It was a dreadful time for him, and for me too.
“Well, after a while our children were born—twin boys. Stephen was always tender-hearted over all little children; and over his own—I couldn’t tell you what he was. It did seem then as though, if he could get a fair start and begin again, he might do better, for his children’s sake. So, when I got well, I made up my mind that I would ask a little help from father, and we’d go west.
“I knew I never could go home to stay now. But, when I saw the old place for the last time, I thought my heart would break. It wasn’t much of a place. There were only a few stony fields of pasture-land, and a few narrow meadows; but, oh, I thought, if my babies had only been born when we were in that safe, quiet place, it might have been so different! And my father was so feeble and old, and helpless-like, I could not bear to think of going so far away that I could never hope to see him again.
“But there was no help for it. It would give Stephen another chance; and so, with the little help my father could give us, we went out west and settled.
“So we left the old life quite behind, and began again. We had a hard time, but no harder than people generally have who go to a new country. Stephen kept up good courage, and stuck to his work; and I helped him all I could; and if I was sometimes a little discouraged and homesick, he never guessed it. And I never was much of either; for I was busy always, and there was my babies—” Dolly’s voice broke into a shrill wail as she spoke the word, and she sat with her face hidden a little while before she could go on again.