I
had always looked back upon it as one of my many failures."
"But why leave it to his son," argued Joan. "Why couldn't the old man
have set about it himself, instead of wasting thirty precious years?"
"I should have preferred it, myself," agreed Mrs. Denton. "I remember
when I was a very little girl my mother longing for a tree upon the lawn
underneath which she could sit. I found an acorn and planted it just in
the right spot. I thought I would surprise her. I happened to be in the
neighbourhood last summer, and I walked over. There was such a nice old
lady sitting under it, knitting stockings. So you see it wasn't wasted."
"I wouldn't mind the waiting," answered Joan, "if it were not for the
sorrow and the suffering that I see all round me. I want to get rid of
it right away, now. I could be patient for myself, but not for others."
The little old lady straightened herself. There came a hardening of the
thin, firm mouth.
"And those that have gone before?" she demanded. "Those that have won
the ground from where we are fighting.
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