Had any confession that she had made touched him anew? Was he
troubled at that acknowledged hardness towards his brother? Or was it
sorrow afresh at the mention of her disappointments? Or was it sympathy
for the friend who had given her up and gone away without her?
Would Miss Prudence have been burdened as she never had been burdened
before could she have known that he had lost a long-cherished hope for
himself? that he had lived his lonely life year after year waiting until
he should no longer be bound by the promise made to his brother at their
parting? The promise was this; that he should not ask Prudence, "Prue"
his brother had said, to marry him until he himself should be dead; in
pity for the brother who had educated him and had in every way been so
generous, and who now pleaded brokenly for this last mercy, he had given
the promise, rather it had been wrung out of him, and for a little time
he had not repented. And then when he forgot his brother and remembered
himself, his heart died within him and there was nothing but hard work
left to live for; this only for a time, he found God afterward and worked
hard for him.
He had written to his brother and begged release, but no word of release
had come, and he was growing old and his health had failed under the
stress of work and the agony of his self-control, "the constant anguish
of patience."
But the letter in his pocket was of no avail now, Prudence had loved him
only as a brother all these long years of his suspense and hope and
waiting; that friend whose sudden death had moved her so had been in her
thoughts, and he was only her dear friend and--Jerome's brother.
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