"Sylvia," I exclaimed, springing up and stepping nearer to her, "it must
be discussed! Ever since I parted from you at the window of your
writing-room I have been yearning to speak to you. I do not understand
the actions of your family and friends, but I do know that those actions
were on your account and on mine. They knew I loved you. I have not in
the least concealed the fact that I loved you, and I hoped, Sylvia, that
you knew it."
She stood, her closed portfolio in one hand, her pen in the other, her
eyes downcast, and her face grave and quiet. "I cannot say," she
answered presently, "that I knew it, although sometimes I thought it was
so, but other times I thought it was not so. I was almost sure of it
when you took leave of me at the window, and tried to kiss my hand, and
were just about to say something which I knew I ought not to stay and
hear. It was when thinking about that morning, in fact,--and I thought
about it a great deal,--that I became convinced I must act very promptly
and earnestly in regard to my future life, and be true to the work I had
undertaken to do; and for this reason it was that I solemnly vowed to
devote the rest of my life to the House of Martha, to observe all its
rules and do its work.
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