“Yes, ma’am,” said Marion unhesitatingly.
“And to be selfish is always?”
“Mean. Don’t say another word please, Miss Ashton.”
“I am sure, Marion, in the future you will be more careful. It is such an easy thing to wound and worry those about whom we should always be thoughtful. If I were you, I would not let a mail go out without carrying a note to your aunt, telling her of your safe arrival here, and of your regrets for what has happened. It’s always a noble thing to say ‘I’m sorry,’ when one has done wrong.” 165
The next mail took the following letter:—
My dear Aunt,—I am going to write you to-night, to tell you two things. One is, that I am safely back again at the academy, and the other, that I think it was both inconsiderate and unkind for me to leave you as I did, when I saw you thought I had better stay with you. I am ashamed and grieved that I did not do as you wanted me to. I hope most sincerely you will forgive me and forget it.
I cannot easily forgive myself, and I am sure I shall never forget all your kindness to me, or the nice time we had with the bright warming-pan and the crisp pop-corn, or the wonderful mountains all wrapped in their ermine mantles.
Please forgive, and love your ashamed niece,
Marion Parke.
Aunt Betty’s correspondence amounted sometimes to two letters a year, so this penitent letter of Marion’s remained in the post-office until the postmaster found a chance to send it to her. By that time, what she had suffered from anxiety had made her unable to cope with the perils of the winter before her, and she often said to the few visitors who came in to see her, “I’ve dropped a stitch I can never take up again,” but never a word of blame for Marion did she speak; indeed, she had come to love the young girl so well, that it is doubtful whether, even in her heart, she harbored one hard thought toward her.
The letter finished, Marion’s conscience gave her less uneasiness. No thought had she of the suffering her selfish action had occasioned. The visit had, after all, many pleasant memories, and for her only beneficial results. There had come to her from her repentance and Miss Ashton’s kind reproof, a lesson, 166 if not new, at least impressive, of the necessity of thinking of others more than of one’s self.