"
She came forward and gave him her hand. The door shut behind him.
"Won't you sit down?"
"I think not. You must be very busy. I only came to say a few words.
Miss Mallory!"
He still held her hand. Diana trembled, and looked up.
"--I fear you may have thought me harsh. _I_ blame myself in many
respects. Will you forgive me? Mrs. Roughsedge has told me what you
wished her to tell me. Before you go, will you still let me give you
Christ's message?"
The tears rushed back to Diana's eyes; she looked at him silently.
"'Blessed are they that mourn,'" he said, gently, with a tender dignity,
"'for they shall be comforted!'"
Their eyes met. From the man's face and manner everything had dropped
but the passion of Christian charity, mingled with a touch of
remorse--as though, in what had been revealed to him, the servant had
realized some mysterious rebuke of his Lord.
"Remember that!" he went on. "Your mourning is your blessing. God's love
will come to you through it--and the sense of fellowship with Christ.
Don't cast it from you--don't put it away."
"I know," she said, brokenly. "It is agony, but it is sacred."
His eyes grew dim.
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