Even in
her sleep she had prayed that one prayer with a fierce urging that
had rendered actual repose an impossibility. She had never in her
life prayed with so intense a force. It was as if she were staking
the whole of her faith upon that one importunate plea, and though
no answer came to her striving spirit, she told herself that it
could not be in vain. In all her maddening anxiety and impatience
she never for a moment dwelt upon the chance of failure. God could
not suffer her to fail when she had fought so hard. Her very brain
seemed on fire with the urgency of her mission, and again for a
space the thought of Burke was crowded out. He occupied the back
of her mind, but she would not voluntarily turn towards him. That
would come later when her mission was fulfilled, when she could
look him in the face again with no sense of a charge neglected, or
trust betrayed. She must stand straight with Burke, but she must
save Guy first, whatever the effort, whatever the cost. She felt
she had forfeited the right to think of her own happiness till her
negligence--and the terrible consequences thereof--had been
remedied. Perhaps it was in a measure self-blame that inspired her
frantic prayer, the feeling that the responsibility was hers, and
therefore that she was a sharer of the guilt. That was another
plea, less worthy perhaps; but one to which Guy could not refuse to
listen.
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