It was the eternal puzzle, the old riddle to which through the ages no solution has been found.
Anne sighed once more, and then smiled at the futility of considering it again just now, when there was packing to be done.
He maketh His sun to shine upon the just and upon the unjust.
The words slipped into her mind before she turned away, with a momentary sensation of reassurance. At least the sunshine fell upon every one alike. Perhaps it symbolized a cloak of charity wider and larger than any woven by human minds.
“Will Madame come upstairs?”
The maid re-entered the room in which Anne had been waiting, and then preceded her up the staircase to a door which she threw open.
A little figure huddled over the fire, rose hastily as she entered, and with incoherent words that sounded like a cry, threw herself into her arms.
“Oh! You are good! You are good!” Madge repeated, hiding her eyes like a child against the elder woman’s arm. “I should have died if you hadn’t come.”
When at last she drew herself away, and looked at her visitor, Anne had to suppress a start of dismay.