“I shall keep my promise—upon the condition, of which I have forewarned you.”
“Name it then—if not impossible, I am ready to accept it.”
“It is not impossible—though it may tax your generosity more than you expect. You have said that you intend returning to the States. Will you take me with, you?” A start must have betrayed my astonishment at the unexpected request.
“Willingly,” I replied; “but now—I fear—it is impossible.”
“Your journey is not ended? Is that what you mean?”
“Alas! I know not when or where it may end.”
“That is strange! But you intend to go back some time? Till then, let me be your travelling companion?”
The proposal left me for the moment without a word to say. “Oh, do not refuse me!” continued she, in an appealing tone; “I will wait upon you; I will hunt for you—anything, but longer I cannot stay here. With all their kindness—and they have been kind, in their own rude fashion—I cannot remain. I long for the society of civilised beings. O stranger! I cannot tell you how I long to see!”—She hesitated.
“Whom?”
I asked in expectation of hearing a name. “A sister—a sweet gentle sister, who loved me as her own life—whom I loved more than my life. Oh! not till we were parted knew I the strength of that love.”