Ethelyn's Mistake

Again the eager, anxious expression crept into Ethie's eyes, which grew

very soft, and even dewy, as Aunt Barbara replied, "Forgotten you? No. I

never saw a man feel as he did when he first came here, and Sophia

talked to him so, as he sat there in that very willow chair."

Involuntarily Ethie's hand rested itself on the chair where Richard had

sat, and Ethie's face crimsoned where Aunt Barbara asked: "Do you love Richard now?"

"I cannot tell. I only know that I have dreamed of him so many, many

times, and thought it would be such perfect rest to put my tired head in

his lap, as I never did put it. When I was on the ocean, coming home,

there was a fearful storm, and I prayed so earnestly to live till I

could hear him say that he forgave me for all the trouble I have caused

him. I might not love him if I were to see him again just as he used to

be. Sometimes I think I should not, but I would try. Write to him,

auntie, please, and tell him I am here, but nothing more. Don't say I

want to see him, or that I am changed from the willful, high-tempered

Ethie who made him so unhappy, for perhaps I am not."

A while then they talked of Aunt Van Buren, and Frank, and Nettie, and

Susie Granger, who was married to a missionary and gone to heathen

lands; and the clock was striking one before Aunt Barbara lighted her

darling up to the old room, and kissing her good-night, went back to

weep glad tears of joy in the rocking-chair by the hearth, and to thank

her Heavenly Father for sending home her long lost Ethelyn.