Don't require it of me. Anything but
that. I never knew she wrote it. I never meant--oh, Richard,
Richard!"
She laid her head now on his knee and sobbed aloud, while he
continued:
"You must read it to me, 'Tis the only punishment I shall inflict
upon you."
"Read it, Edith," Arthur said, withdrawing one of his hands from
Richard's, and resting it upon her head thus to re-assure her,
Richard guessed his intention and laid his own on Arthur's. Edith
felt the gentle, forgiving pressure, even through the wounded,
bandaged hand, and this it was which gave her strength to read
that message, which brought Nina before them all, a seemingly
living, breathing presence. And when it was finished there was
heard in that library more than one "great cry, like the breaking
up of the ice on the Northern ponds."
Richard was the calmest of the three. The contents of the letter
were not new to him, and did not touch so tender a chord as that
which thrilled and quivered in Arthur's heart as he listened to
the words of his sweet child-wife, the golden haired Nina.
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