"He has been quite well ever since he went there: he says very strong. I hope it has set him up for life. What were you thinking of so deeply, Sara, that you did not hear me come in?"
"At the moment, I was thinking of that evening when you and I met there, in the graveyard," she answered, pointing down to it. "What a miserable evening it was!"
"Don't dwell on it, love. I cannot, without a pang of shame."
"Nay, but it is pleasant to look back upon it now, Oswald. It is pleasant to contrast that time with this."
He shook his head with a sort of shiver, and relapsed into silence, his hand thrown round her.
"Oswald," she resumed in a low tone, "won't you tell me what your suspicion was?"
"I will tell you some time, Sara; not now. Oh, my wife, my wife, how much is there in the past for many of us to repent of!" he continued in what seemed an uncontrollable impulse. "And it is only through God's mercy that we do repent."
She laid her head upon his shoulder and let it rest there. Its safe abiding-place, so long as the world, for them, should last.
Only through God's mercy. My friends, may it be shed on us all throughout our pilgrimage in this chequered life, and ever abide with us unto the end! Fare you well.