"
Fanny's black eyes were dim with the truest tears she had ever shed
when Lucy's story was ended, and her voice was very low as she asked:
"And do you mean to give him up at this late hour?"
"Yes, I mean to give him up. I have been over the entire ground many
times, even to the deep humiliation of what people will say, and I
have come each time to the same conclusion. It is right that Arthur
should be released and I shall release him."
"And you--what will you do?" Fanny asked, gazing in wonder and awe at
the young girl, who answered:
"I do not know; I have not thought. I guess God will take care of
that."
He would, indeed, take care of that just as he took care of her,
inclining the Hetherton family to be so kind and tender towards her,
and keeping Arthur from the house during the time when the Christmas
decorations were completed and the Christmas festival was held.
Many were the inquiries made for her, and many the thanks and wishes
for her speedy restoration sent her by those whom she had so
bountifully remembered.
Thornton Hastings, too, who had come to town and was present at the
church on Christmas-eve, asked for her with almost as much interest as
Arthur, although the latter had hoped she was not seriously ill and
expressed a regret that she was not there, saying he should call on
her on the morrow after the morning service.
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