Strange to say, I had not a suspicion of the state of affairs, notwithstanding the confusion of my companion, for I had never heard of the death of Mr. Thurston’s wife, and therefore was not likely to think of him in connection with Miss Letty.
“Why,” she said, “I only wanted to know whether you had ever seen him, and how you liked him, if you had; for you see he has been over here several times lately, and called on me with Mr. Ryder, and—pshaw, how silly I am—well, he has asked me to marry him.”
Miss Letty actually blushed like a young girl as she made this confession, which took me so utterly by surprise, that for a moment I had not a word to say.
“I see you are astonished at it, and no wonder; I told him that everybody would wonder that he should offer himself to me, a seamstress, and without one cent of money in the world; but he only smiled, and said he wanted a wife for himself, and not to suit the public; that he didn’t want a young girl, nor a rich wife either, to look down on him and his poor people.”
“You are mistaken,” I replied; “it isn’t that which surprised me, but I had never heard that he was a widower; and then the thought of losing you is something so new, and not very pleasant, I assure you. What shall we do without you?”
“I thought of that,” was the reply, for Miss Letty had too much simplicity of character to pretend to be ignorant of her importance in the community, though she was truly humble in her estimate of herself; “and I told Mr. Thurston I had been here so long, and had got so into the habit of doing every thing for everybody, that I was afraid they’d miss me a good deal. But he said if that was the case, I was just the one for a poor minister, who had to contrive to make ends meet, and that his children needed me more than the folks in Woodbury did. You see he just brushed away all my objections like so many cobwebs, so that I couldn’t say another word.”
“I am glad he seems to appreciate your worth; if we must give you up, it will be a comfort to know that you are happy.”
“Oh, as to that I don’t know; I suppose people at my age haven’t very romantic notions of happiness; I’m sure I haven’t; but if I can do any good to one of the Lord’s servants, I shall be glad. But when I think how much will be expected of me, I am so frightened I feel like giving it all right up. You see, when I was a child they didn’t care much about education in our town, and though I’ve picked up some ideas here and there going through the world, I don’t know very much. Then I’m plain and homely in my ways, and I’m afraid he’ll be ashamed of me some time when he sees me by the side of other ministers’ wives; but when I told him so he only laughed, and said if that was all my difficulty, he should look on it as settled; so I had to say yes, for he wouldn’t hear to any thing else.”
I said every thing in my power to encourage Miss Letty, for I felt that Mr. Thurston had made a wise choice for himself and his children, and that our little seamstress, with her fund of good sense, energy, and activity, and above all, with her unwavering trust in God, would make a far better wife for a clergyman than many an educated and refined woman who was deficient in these qualities, as too many are.
“And how soon are we to lose you?” I inquired; “I trust not immediately; you must give us a little time to become reconciled to the thought of such a change.”