But her father said no very
decidedly.
"It has been a part of my punishment to keep watch in that room all
these dreadful years, and I shall stay there till I die. And, Hannah,
when I cannot get up any more, but must lie there all day and all night
long, don't let any one in, not even Miss Grey, for it seems to me there
are mirrors everywhere, and that the walls and floor have tongues, and I
am getting such a coward, Hannah--such a coward, I am too old to confess
it now. God has forgiven me; I am sure of that, and the world need not
know what we have kept so long, you and I. How long is it, Hannah? My
memory fails me, and sometimes it seems a thousand years, I have
suffered so much, and then again it is but yesterday--last night. How
long did you say, Hannah!
"Thirty-one years next Thanksgiving, was Hannah's reply, spoken, oh, so
mournfully low.
"Thirty-one years, and you were a girl of fifteen, and your hair was so
brown and glossy, just like your mother's Hannah--just like hers, and
now it is so grey Poor child! I am so sorry for you, but God knows all
you have borne for me, and some day you will shine as a star in His
crown, while I, if I am permitted to enter the gates, must have the
lowest seat.
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