4.54. The Little Minister
They wanted to tell her of me, but I would not
have it. She has been long gone from this
world; but sweet memories of her still grow, like
honeysuckle, up the white walls of the manse,
smiling in at the parlour window and beckoning
from the door, and for some filling all the air
with fragrance. It was not she who raised the
barrier between her and me, but God Himself;
and to those who maintain otherwise, I say they
do not understand the purity of a woman’s soul.
During the years she was lost to me her face ever
came between me and ungenerous thoughts ; and
now I can say, all that is carnal in me is my own,
and all that is good I got from her. Only one
bitterness remains. When I found Gavin in the
rain, when I was fighting my way through the
flood, when I saw how the hearts of the people
were turned against him,— above all, when I
found Whamond in the manse, — I cried to God,
making promises to Him, if He would spare the
lad for Margaret’s sake, and He spared him; but
these promises I have not kept.

THE END.