Page:Restless Earth.djvu/224
He searched in silence, and presently found his souvenir. He sat upon the wet grass and slapped the clip home with a petulant blow of his palm.
“Some people have all the luck.” he said plaintively. “Cats take to ’em naturally.”
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CHAPTER XXV.
The afternoon sun shone into the room where Grace Harley lay. The window curtains waved lazily, and in the room there brooded a peace which had long been absent from it.
James Harley, clothed and in his right mind, sat at the bedside of his wife looking thoughtfully at her hands. Gentle hands they were; hands which traced endlessly the embroidered pattern of the counterpane; soft hands, doomed to grope in eternal darkness.
In his own wasted hands, hanging between his knees, he held a single sheet of notepaper. He had read the words upon it many times, aloud and silently. He knew them by heart.
Good-bye, people.
Of what use are mere words to us?
Of what use to say “Let us forget?”
We shall never forget; neither shall we forgive where there is mothing to forgive.
No, it is just good-bye.
Patricia Weybourn.
P.S. Although the hour is early, Mrs. Langham is peeping through her curtains. I intend to make a long nose at her as I go down the path. I would recommend this vulgar proceeding to you both. Good-bye. P.W.
James Harley was puzzled. He thought he had not slept. Yet he must have done so, for he had not heard Patricia depart.