But I
followed that chart spiked with the captain's pencil, as he had done it
in season and out of season, and by and by I ceased to look for any word.
I even became reconciled to my life. The ambitious and aching cares of
the world dropped from me, and I stood above all--alone in my suffering,
yet not yielding. Loneliness is a terrible thing. Under it a man--"
"Goes mad or becomes a saint--a saint!" Pierre's voice became reverent.
Fawdor shook his head, smiling gently. "Ah no, no. But I began to
understand the world, and I loved the north, the beautiful hard north."
"But there is more?"
"Yes, the end of it all. Three days before you came I got a packet of
letters, not by the usual yearly mail. One announced that the governor
was dead. Another--"
"Another?" urged Pierre.
--"was from Her. She said that her brother, on the day she wrote, had by
chance come across my name in the Company's records, and found that I had
been here a quarter of a century. It was the letter of a good woman.
Pages:
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111