He was very pale, and the great sweat drops stood on his forehead and
under his white hair, but Maddy wiped them away and listened with a
breaking heart while the aged disciple almost home told her of the
peace, the joy, that shone around his pathway to the tomb, and of the
everlasting arm bearing him so gently over Jordan. Then he talked of
herself, blessing her for all she had been to him, telling her how
happy she had made his life since she came home to stay, and how for a
time he had ached so with fear lest she should choose to go back and
leave him to a stranger. "But my darling stayed with her old grandpa.
She'll never be sorry for it, never. I've tried you sometimes, I know,
for old folks ain't like young; but I'm sorry, Maddy, and you'll
forget it when I'm gone, darling Maddy, precious child;" and the
trembling hand rested caressingly on her bowed head as grandpa went on
to speak of his affairs, his little property which was hers after the
mortgage to Mr. Guy was paid. "I've kept up the interest," he said,
"but I could never get him to take any of the principal. I don't know
why he is so good to me. Tell him, Maddy, how I thanked and blessed
him just before I died; tell him how I used to pray for him every day
that he might choose the better part. And he will--I'm sure he will,
some day. He hasn't been here of late, and though my old eyes are dim,
I can see that your step has got slow, and your face whiter by many
shades, since he stayed away. Maddy, child, the dead tell no secrets,
and I shall soon be dead. Tell me, then, what it is between you two.
Does my girl love Mr. Guy?"
"Oh, grandpa! grandpa!" Maddy moaned, laying her head beside his own
on the pillow.
It would be a relief to talk with some one of that terrible pain,
which grew worse every day; of that intense longing just for one sight
of the beloved one; of Guy, still absent from Aikenside, wandering
nobody knew where; and so Maddy told the whole story, while the dying
man listened to her, and smoothing her silken hair, tried to comfort
her.
"The worst is not over yet," he said. "Guy will offer to make you his
wife, sacrificing Lucy for you, and if he does, what will my darling
do?"
Maddy's heart leaped up into her throat, and for a moment prevented
her from answering, for the thought of Guy's really offering to make
her his wife, to shield her from evil, to enfold her in his tender
love, made her giddy with joy. But it could not be, and she answered
through her tears: "I shall tell him no."