He was
thinking of Gretchen, and longing for her so intensely that once he
groaned aloud and whispered to himself:
'Poor Gretchen! I am so sorry for it all. I can see it clearer now, how
I left her and did not write, and I don't know where she is, or if she
will ever come; and yet, I feel as if she had come, or tidings of her.
Perhaps my letter reached her. Perhaps she is on her way. God grant it,
and forgive me for all I have made her suffer.'
It was very still in the room where Arthur sat, for Charles had gone
out, and only the occasional crackling of the coal in the grate and
ticking of the clock broke the silence which reigned around him; and at
last, soothed into quiet, he fell asleep and dreamed that on his door he
heard again the thud of baby feet, while Gretchen's voice was calling to
him to let the baby in.
CHAPTER XVI.
THE FUNERAL AND AFTER.
Long before ten o'clock, the hour appointed for the funeral, the next
morning, people began to gather at the Park House, and the avenue seemed
full of them. The news that an unknown woman had been frozen to death in
the Tramp House had spread far and wide, awakening in many a curiosity
to see the stranger, and discover, if possible, a likeness to some one
they might have known.
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