Mary Marston by George MacDonald

Author:George MacDonald
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: RosettaBooks
Published: 2018-01-15T00:00:00+00:00

— Twenty-Nine —

Mary and Letty

When her landlady announced a visitor, Letty could not imagine who it could be—she had not a single friend in London. When Mary entered, she jumped to her feet and stood staring. What with being so much in the house, and seeing so few people, the poor girl, I think, had grown a little stupid. But when the fact of Mary’s presence cleared itself to her, she rushed forward with a cry, fell into her arms, and burst out weeping. Mary held her tight until she had come a little to herself, then pushed her gently away to the length of her arms and looked at her.

She was not a sight to make one happy. She was no longer the plump, fresh girl that used to go singing about, nor was she merely thin and pale. Simply put, she looked sad and unhealthy. Things could not be going well with her. Her dress looked neglected, even shabby. The sadness of it all sunk to Mary’s heart. Letty had apparently not found marriage a grand affair!

But Mary had not come into the world to be sad or to help another to be sad. Sorrowful we may often have to be, but to indulge in sorrow is either not to know or to deny God our Saviour. True, her heart ached for Letty, and the ache immediately laid itself as close to Letty’s ache as it could lie. But that was only the advance-guard of her army of salvation, the light cavalry of sympathy. The next division was help, and behind that lay patience, and strength, and hope, and faith, and joy. This joy many modern teachers fail to regard as a virtue and therefore decline to regard as a duty. But he is a poor Christian indeed in whom joy has not at least a growing share, and Mary was not a poor Christian. Her whole nature drew itself together, confronting the destroyer, whatever he might be, in possession of Letty. How to help she could not yet tell, but sympathy was already at its work.

“You are not looking your best, Letty,” she said, clasping her again in her arms.

With a little choking, Letty assured her she was quite well.

“How is Mr. Helmer?” asked Mary.

“Quite well—and very busy,” answered Letty—a little hurriedly, Mary thought. “—But,” she added in a tone of disappointment, “You always used to call him Tom.”

“Oh,” answered Mary with a smile, “one must be careful how one takes liberties with married people. A certain mysterious change seems to pass over some of them, and then you have to make your acquaintance with them all over again from the beginning.”

“You don’t have to worry about that with me, Mary. I have never ceased to love you.”

“I am so glad!” answered Mary. “People don’t generally take much to me—at least not to come near me. But you can be friends without having friends,” she added.

“I don’t quite understand you,” said Letty sadly. “But then, I never could quite, you know.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.