“No, we will be so happy we will never wish to come.”
“Oh, I want to go now! Take me with you, Aunt Janette, to see my father and mother and Uncle Ashley!”
“Be patient, my love, and you will come. I cannot talk any more now; I am very weak, but will speak of it again when rested. I hope you will be polite and obedient to Diana; she is good and kind. What would we do without her?”
Hilda was silent, her thoughts busy with what she had just heard. Where was heaven? How could she get there? And what was being patient?
Diana had made good speed in preparing the evening meal, and brought a cup of tea and a slice of cream toast, daintily served, to the invalid.
“Any letter?” inquired Mrs. Ashley, eagerly scanning the countenance of the nurse as she drew near.
“No,” replied Diana sadly. “Mr. Merryman’s errand boy, Perry, passed just now on his way from the postoffice. I ran out and asked him if he had a letter for you, but there was none. I hoped you would not ask until you had taken your tea.”
“Oh, Diana, two letters unanswered! Sister Sarah is surely ill or she would write to me, whether she had received my letters or not. I know that she has much on her mind with the care of her two boys and the farming, and Ohio is some distance from here, but the reply to even my last letter has had time to reach me.”
“Yes, there has been time,” agreed Diana sympathizingly.
“She and my brother Herbert were opposed to my marriage to Mr. Ashley, but they were always loving and kind. They wrote affectionate letters to me as soon as they received my letter telling them that my husband had fallen in battle, and Sarah offered me a home with her, and said to bring Hilda. She was glad that I intended adopting her as my own, and said she would be much company for me.”