"
Elsie, waiting only to lay aside hat and gloves, hastened to grant the
request of the gentle lady for whom she cherished almost a daughter's
affection.
She found her alone. They met silently, clasping each other in a long,
tearful embrace, Mrs. Carrington's sobs for many minutes the only sound
that broke the stillness of the room.
"I have lost all," she said at length, as they released each other and sat
down side by side upon a sofa; "all: husband, sons, home----"
Sobs choked her utterance, and Lucy coming hastily in at the open door of
the adjoining room, dropped on her knees by her mother's side, and taking
one thin, pale hand in hers, said tearfully, "Not all, dear mamma; you
have me, and Phil, and the children."
"Me too, mother dear, and your Harry's children," added Sophie, who had
followed her sister, and now knelt with her.
"Yes, yes, dear daughters, I was wrong: I have lost much, but have many
blessings still left, your love not the least; and my grandchildren are
scarcely less dear than my own. Lucy, dear, here is Elsie."
"Yes, our own dear, darling Elsie, scarcely changed at all!" Lucy cried,
springing up to greet her friend with a warm embrace.
A long talk followed, Mrs. Carrington and Sophie giving their experiences
of the war and its results, to which the others listened with deep
interest.
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