“My little child—grown into a woman—her face shining as brightly as the sun she has never seen, and making night like day.—But where is my brother—where is Gideon—?”
Aletta staggered forward and knelt in the road at his feet.
“Oh, Stephanus,—have mercy and let him be.—He fled when he heard you were coming.—Have mercy.—He has suffered too—”
“We both need the mercy of God.—Aletta, do not kneel to me.—Where is my brother Gideon?”
He drew the half-unconscious woman to her feet and she burst into a storm of tears.
“Oh, Stephanus,” she said, “you are not deceiving me?—Tell me,—have you forgiven the wrong?”
“Yes, Aletta,—as I hope to be forgiven. Whither did Gideon go? Let me follow him.”
“Thank God,—thank God, who has heard my prayer.”