"Boys," said the lady, "I come to thank you in person for your
assurances of sympathy for me and for my little daughter, and for your
veneration for the dead. I know that his feeling toward you was very
kind, that he tried to lighten your labors as he could, that he hoped
for you that you would all grow into strong, good men. I do not wonder
that you sorrow at his loss. This honest, simple tribute to his memory
that you have given to me has touched me deeply.
"I cannot hope to be as close to you as he was, but from this time
forth I shall be twice your friend. I want to take each one of you by
the hand as you pass by, in token of our friendship, and of my faith
in you, and my gratitude toward you."
So, one by one, as they passed into the room beyond, she held each
boy's hand for a moment and spoke to him some kind word, and every
heart in her presence went out to her in sympathy and love.
Last of all came Ralph. As leader of the party he had thought it
proper to give precedence to the rest. The lady took his hand as he
came by, the same hand that had received her husband's tender care;
but there was something in his pallid, grief-marked face, in the brown
eyes filled with tears, in the sensitive trembling of the delicate
lips, as she looked down on him, that brought swift tenderness for him
to her heart. She bent over and lifted up his face to hers, and kissed
his lips, and then, unable longer to restrain her emotion, she turned
and hastened up the stairway, and was lost to sight.
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