"It 's like you to say it, and I won't waste any words bewailing
myself, because I was a fool. We will work up together, my brave
Polly, and you shall yet be proud of your husband, though he is
'poor Tom Shaw.' "
She was as sure of that as if an oracle had foretold it, and was not
deceived; for the loving heart that had always seen, believed, and
tried to strengthen all good impulses in Tom, was well repaid for
its instinctive trust by the happiness of the years to come.
"Yes," she said, hopefully, "I know you will succeed, for the best
thing a man can have, is work with a purpose in it, and the will to
do it heartily."
"There is one better thing, Polly," answered Tom, turning her face
up a little, that he might see his inspiration shining in her eyes.
"What is it, dear?"
"A good woman to love and help him all his life, as you will me,
please God."
"Even though she is old-fashioned," whispered Polly, with happy
eyes, the brighter for their tears, as she looked up at the young
man, who, through her, had caught a glimpse of the truest success,
and was not ashamed to owe it to love and labor, two beautiful old
fashions that began long ago, with the first pair in Eden.
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