THE MEETING
Sally found Mara sitting in an easy-chair that had been sent to her by
the provident love of Miss Emily. It was wheeled in front of her room
window, from whence she could look out upon the wide expanse of the
ocean. It was a gloriously bright, calm morning, and the water lay clear
and still, with scarce a ripple, to the far distant pearly horizon. She
seemed to be looking at it in a kind of calm ecstasy, and murmuring the
words of a hymn:--
"Nor wreck nor ruin there is seen,
There not a wave of trouble rolls,
But the bright rainbow round the throne
Peals endless peace to all their souls."
Sally came softly behind her on tiptoe to kiss her. "Good-morning, dear,
how do you find yourself?"
"Quite well," was the answer.
"Mara, is not there anything you want?"
"There might be many things; but His will is mine."
"You want to see Moses?"
"Very much; but I shall see him as soon as it is best for us both."
"Mara,--he is come."
The quick blood flushed over the pale, transparent face as a virgin
glacier flushes at sunrise, and she looked up eagerly. "Come!"
"Yes, he is below-stairs wanting to see you."
She seemed about to speak eagerly, and then checked herself and mused a
moment. "Poor, poor boy!" she said. "Yes, Sally, let him come at once."
There were a few dazzling, dreamy minutes when Moses first held that
frail form in his arms, which but for its tender, mortal warmth, might
have seemed to him a spirit. It was no spirit, but a woman whose heart
he could feel thrilling against his own; who seemed to him like some
frail, fluttering bird; but somehow, as he looked into her clear,
transparent face, and pressed her thin little hands in his, the
conviction stole over him overpoweringly that she was indeed fading away
and going from him,--drawn from him by that mysterious, irresistible
power against which human strength, even in the strongest, has no
chance.
It is dreadful to a strong man who has felt the influence of his
strength,--who has always been ready with a resource for every
emergency, and a weapon for every battle,--when first he meets that
mighty invisible power by which a beloved life--a life he would give his
own blood to save--melts and dissolves like smoke before his eyes.
"Oh, Mara, Mara," he groaned, "this is too dreadful, too cruel; it is
cruel."
"You will think so at first, but not always," she said, soothingly. "You
will live to see a joy come out of this sorrow."
"Never, Mara, never. I cannot believe that kind of talk. I see no love,
no mercy in it. Of course, if there is any life after death you will be
happy; if there is a heaven you will be there; but can this dim,
unsubstantial, cloudy prospect make you happy in leaving me and giving
up one's lover? Oh, Mara, you cannot love as I do, or you could not"--
"Moses, I have suffered,--oh, very, very much. It was many months ago
when I first thought that I must give everything up,--when I thought
that we must part; but Christ helped me; he showed me his wonderful
love,--the love that surrounds us all our life, that follows us in all
our wanderings, and sustains us in all our weaknesses,--and then I felt
that whatever He wills for us is in love; oh, believe it,--believe it
for my sake, for your own."
"Oh, I cannot, I cannot," said Moses; but as he looked at the bright,
pale face, and felt how the tempest of his feelings shook the frail
form, he checked himself. "I do wrong to agitate you so, Mara. I will
try to be calm."
"And to pray?" she said, beseechingly.
He shut his lips in gloomy silence.
"Promise me," she said.
"I have prayed ever since I got your first letter, and I see it does no
good," he answered. "Our prayers cannot alter fate."
"Fate! there is no fate," she answered; "there is a strong and loving
Father who guides the way, though we know it not. We cannot resist His
will; but it is all love,--pure, pure love."
At this moment Sally came softly into the room. A gentle air of womanly
authority seemed to express itself in that once gay and giddy face, at
which Moses, in the midst of his misery, marveled.
"You must not stay any longer now," she said; "it would be too much for
her strength; this is enough for this morning."
Moses turned away, and silently left the room, and Sally said to Mara,--
"You must lie down now, and rest."
"Sally," said Mara, "promise me one thing."
"Well, Mara; of course I will."
"Promise to love him and care for him when I am gone; he will be so
lonely."
"I will do all I can, Mara," said Sally, soothingly; "so now you must
take a little wine and lie down. You know what you have so often said,
that all will yet be well with him."
"Oh, I know it, I am sure," said Mara, "but oh, his sorrow shook my very
heart."
"You must not talk another word about it," said Sally, peremptorily, "Do
you know Aunt Roxy is coming to see you? I see her out of the window
this very moment."
And Sally assisted to lay her friend on the bed, and then, administering
a stimulant, she drew down the curtains, and, sitting beside her, began
repeating, in a soft monotonous tone, the words of a favorite hymn:--
"The Lord my shepherd is,
I shall be well supplied;
Since He is mine, and I am His,
What can I want beside?"
Before she had finished, Mara was asleep.