CHAPTER IV
When Robert received Marie's letter, he began to see himself in a different light. He read again the Book of Job, and realized what Job meant when he said, "I had a great fear, and it has come upon me." Robert realized that he had been fearful of losing Marie, and that as soon as there seemed to be a possibility of someone else being attracted to her, that that fear had come upon him and caused him to become jealous without cause, and that he had lost or was about to lose, Marie, who had been more than life to him. So he replied to Marie as follows:
Dearest Marie:
Your sweet letter received. It has opened my heart to understanding and made me see myself as I am. I have read St. Paul on the greatest thing in the world and find that I have not been patient, have not been kind or generous. Above all, I have been jealous without cause. All of these things are not a part of true love. Paul says, "Faith, Hope and Love, but the greatest of these is Love." If I had had that great faith which never faileth and which is founded on love I would not have been jealous. I have been selfish; have sought myself to please, and have not thought enough about you.
I am sending a little poem that I have written, entitled "The Garden of Love," which I think will express to you fully just how I feel and how I see things now. I have tried to enter the Garden of Love through the wrong gate, and now I want to enter it through the right gate. I will be happy and trusting, loving and thinking only of you.
No more doubts or jealousy will ever be in my mind again, because love will be there, and these foul weeds can never remain where love is.
I want you, Marie, and only you. Please forgive and forget and make me happy again.
With all the love my heart can send, I am
Hopefully,
Your own Robert.
Dedicated to Marie Stanton, Who Inspired It.