I never thought--I never dreamed-father, can--can we see--
her?"
In the chamber above a woman sprang to her feet. Harriet had quite
forgotten the stove-pipe hole to the room below, and every sob and moan
and wailing cry had been woefully distinct to her ears. With streaming
eyes and quivering lips she hurried down the stairs and threw open the
sitting-room door.
"Jehiel! Hannah Jane! I'm here, right here--alive!" she cried. "An' I've
been a wicked, wicked woman! I never thought how bad 'twas goin' ter
make
you feel. I truly never, never did. 'Twas only myself--I
wanted yer so. Oh, children, children, I've been so wicked--so awful
wicked!"
Jehiel and Hannah Jane were steady of head and strong of heartland joy,
it is said, never kills; otherwise, the results of that sudden
apparition in the sitting-room doorway might have been disastrous.
As it was, a wonderfully happy family party gathered around the table an
hour later; and as Jehiel led a tremulous, gray-haired woman to the seat
of honor, he looked into her shining eyes and whispered:
"Dear old mumsey, now that we've found the way home again, I reckon
we'll be coming every year--don't you?"
The Black Silk Gowns
The Heath twins, Miss Priscilla and Miss Amelia, rose early that
morning, and the world looked very beautiful to them--one does not buy
a black silk gown every day; at least, Miss Priscilla and Miss Amelia
did not.
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