"I don"t mean to speak lightly," responded the husband, "but--they love each other; they suit each other; they complete each other; they don"t feel their disparity of years; they"re both so linked to Alice that it would break either heart over again to be separated from her. I don"t see why"--
Laura shook her head, smiling in the gentle way that only the happy wives of good men have.
"It will never be."
What changes!
"The years creep slowly by"--
We seem to hear the old song yet. What changes! Laura has put two more leaves into her dining-table. Children fill three seats. Alice has another. It is she, now, not her chair, that is tall--and fair. Mary, too, has a seat at the same board. This is their home now. Her hair is turning all to silver. So early? Yes; but she is--she never was--so beautiful! They all see it--feel it; Dr. Sevier--the gentle, kind, straight old Doctor--most of all. And oh! when they two, who have never joined hands on this earth, go to meet John and Alice,--which G.o.d grant may be at one and the same time,--what weeping there will be among G.o.d"s poor!
THE END.