He almost exclaimed aloud, "My God, my God, now is the time that I need her the most. I will never need her more. How can I go on? Life will be a blank. I will be a dismal failure without her." He wondered if there ever could be a time in the future when he would need her more, when she would mean more to him, than she meant at this moment.
He could imagine no unfriendly circumstances, no break of any kind that would cause Marie to change in a few hours and decide to turn back from the step she had taken. He could not understand how she could have slipped to his berth in the wee small hours of the morning and placed this note in his inside coat pocket. It was her handwriting, and he knew that Marie had written it. But why! why! why!
As the train rolled into the Union Station at St. Louis he stood in the car dazed, with her letter crumpled in his hand. With a heavy heart he made his way to the station and sat down to think what he could or should do. Finally, he decided to send a telegram and lay the circumstances of Marie's disappearance before Mr. Kennelworth and ask his advice before making any move.
Robert realized that he must have time to collect his thoughts, if he ever could think again. His thoughts turned back to the dream Marie had told him she had, where some terrible tragedy had overtaken him and she had gone out of his life in a mysterious way and came back into it in the same way. He wondered if at that time Marie had had any doubt that she might not want to continue to carry out the plans agreed on. Then he thought of what she said just before bidding good-night in the train, when she had asked him to tell her what the surprise was he had for her and said to him that the train might wreck and kill her or that something might happen to separate them. He wondered then if she had something in her mind which she thought might separate them during the night, or if she intended to hide from him in some way.
But he must get all that out of his mind—must have faith in Marie, must understand and wait. Then like a flash he became contented. Thought it was all a joke that Marie had played on him, that she was hiding somewhere in the train and in a few minutes would show up, so he decided not to send a telegram to Mr. Kennelworth but simply stay in the station and wait. He opened his suit case and took out the Bible, and there began to read from St. Paul, who said that love suffers long and is kind, seeks not its own, is not easily provoked and thinks no evil. Robert resolved to have patience, to have faith in Marie, and never doubt her, and never to think any evil of her no matter what happened. His mind was relieved. He felt happy and more cheerful, and was hopeful.
He waited a short time in the station, hoping Marie would join him. The seconds drifted away like weeks, the minutes seemed like months, and when an hour had gone by, to Robert it seemed like years. He waited and hoped; watched in every direction for Marie's beautiful eyes, the eyes he told her he loved so much and always wanted them to greet him when he came home from his work because they were an inspiration. Slowly the hands on the great clock in the Union Station showed it was nearly 12 o'clock noon. Robert listened attentively as the old clock tolled twelve times for 12 o'clock and each time it seemed that the blood from his heart was slowly trickling away. Hope was fast giving away to despair. Robert found his patience waning, but that was not to be. He must trust to the word of God which said: "O, ye of little faith, saith the Lord," and must try to find Marie who meant everything to him.
As the last stroke of the clock died slowly away, Robert started to think again. He finally decided that he would stay in the Union Station and have patience to wait one more hour for Marie. He thought that she was really playing a joke on him and would surely come by 1 o'clock. While he waited he continued to read the Bible: "The heavenly Shepherd is leading you in the right way to his own blessed fold. Leave all to him, to his faithfulness, his love, his power, his watchful, sleepless care." Robert decided to trust, to have faith and leave it all to God that He might protect Marie and bring her safely back to him.
Then he read the poem by Gerhart:
"The prison where thou art
Thy God will break it soon,
And flood with light thy heart
In his own blessed noon."
Robert thought how happy he would have been, as he expected by this time to be married to Marie and happily on their way to New York to celebrate their honeymoon. The hour had drifted slowly away and it was now a quarter to one. Robert was troubled and discouraged, but had not lost hope. He opened his Bible and read—Job 6:8: