"If
they are spared to grow up, there must be some way of knowing one
from the other."
"THEY will not need it, and I, too, think only of them. They
have taken the cross from my heart, and I will lay none on theirs.
I am reconciled to my life through them, John; you have been very
patient and good with me, and I will yield to you in all things but
in this. I do not think I shall live to see them as men grown;
yet, while we are together, I feel clearly what it is right to do.
Can you not, just once, have a little faith without knowledge,
John?"
"I'll try, Phebe," he said. "Any way, I'll grant that the boys
belong to you more than to me."
Phebe Vincent's character had verily changed. Her attacks of semi-
hysterical despondency never returned; her gloomy prophecies
ceased. She was still grave, and the trouble of so many years
never wholly vanished from her face; but she performed every duty
of her life with at least a quiet willingness, and her home became
the abode of peace; for passive content wears longer than
demonstrative happiness.
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