Part 10 (1/2)
”Alas!” he said, ”I grieve to say I can tell you nothing. I have not heard for several years from my brother, and at times I fear he must be dead. My poor brother, how I loved him! for, Mrs. Willoughby, a gentler or more kind-hearted man never lived. You may be sure, however much your daughter was to blame in marrying any one against her parents' wishes, she found in my brother a truly loving, kind husband.”
”Thank G.o.d for that!” she replied. ”But now tell me, was there a child?
Gertie spoke as if you knew there was one.”
”Certainly there was. In the last letter I had from my brother, he spoke of the great comfort their little girl (who was the image of her mother) was to them--his little Frida he called her, and at that time she was three or four years old. Oh yes, there was a child. Would that I could give you more particulars! but I cannot; only I must mention that he said, 'I am far from strong, and my beloved wife is very delicate.'”
”Ah,” said the mother, ”she was never robust; and who knows what a life of hards.h.i.+p she may have had to live! O Hilda, Hilda! Dr. Heinz, is there no means by which we may find out their whereabouts? I have lately had some advertis.e.m.e.nts put into various papers, praying them to let us know where they are; but no answer has come, and now I am losing all hope.”
”Would that I could comfort you!” he said; ”but I also fear much that we have lost the clue to their whereabouts. I will not cease to do all I can to trace them; but, dear Mrs. Willoughby, we believe that there is One who knows all, whose eyes are everywhere, and we can trust them to Him. If I should in any way hear of our friends, you may be sure I shall not be long of communicating with you. In the meantime it has been a great pleasure to me to have made the acquaintance of one whom my dear Gertrude has often spoken to me of as her kindest of friends.”
Then Dr. Heinz told of the work in which he was engaged amongst the poor, sorrowful, and also too often sinful ones, in the East End of London.
Before Dr. Heinz left, Mrs. Willoughby showed him the little brown English Bible which her daughter had given to her not long before her marriage, and told him about the German one, which looked exactly the same outwardly, which she had given to her daughter.
”Strange,” said Dr. Heinz, as he held the little brown book in his hand, ”that in the last letter I ever received from my brother, he told me of the blessing which he had got through reading G.o.d's Word in a brown Bible belonging to his wife, adding that she also had obtained blessing through reading it.”
”Praise G.o.d!” said Mrs. Willoughby; ”then my prayers have been answered, that Hilda, like her mother, might be brought to the knowledge of G.o.d. Now I know that if we meet no more on earth we shall meet one day in heaven.--I thank Thee, O my G.o.d!”
It was with a heart full of emotion that Dr. Heinz found himself leaving Mrs. Willoughby's house. Oh, how he longed that he could hear tidings of his brother and his wife, and so be able to convey comfort to the heart of the sorrowful lady he had just left!
As he was walking along, lost in thought, he came suddenly face to face with Reginald Gower, whom he had lately met several times at the Wardens', and to whom he suspected the news of his engagement to Gertrude Warden would bring no pleasure; but from the greeting which Reginald gave him he could not tell whether or not he knew of the circ.u.mstance.
He accosted him with the words: ”What are you doing, doctor, in this part of the town? I thought it was only in the narrow, dirty slums, and not in the fas.h.i.+onable part of the west of London, that you were to be found; and that it was only the sick and sorrowful, not the gay, merry inhabitants of Belgravia that you visited.”
”Do you think then,” replied Dr. Heinz, ”that the sick, sad, and sorrowful are only to be found in the narrow, dark streets of London?
What if I were to tell you that although there is not poverty, there are sorrowful, sad, unsatisfied hearts to be found in as great numbers in these fas.h.i.+onable squares and terraces as in the places you speak of; and that the votaries of fas.h.i.+on, whom you style gay and merry, are too often the most wretched of mankind, and that beneath the robes of silk and satin of fas.h.i.+onable life there beats many a breaking heart? You see that splendid square I have just left. Well, in one of the handsomest houses there dwells one of the sweetest Christian ladies I have ever met. She has everything that wealth and the love of friends can give her, yet I believe she is slowly dying of a broken heart, longing to know if a dearly-loved daughter, who made a marriage which her parents did not approve of, years ago, is still alive; and no one can tell her whether she or any child of hers still survives. I know all the circ.u.mstances, and would give a great deal to be able to help her. He would be a man to be envied who could go to that sweet mother, Mrs.
Willoughby, and say, I can tell you all about your daughter, or, if she is not alive, of her child. O Reginald Gower, never say that there are not sad hearts in the west part of London, though you may see only the smiling face and dry eyes. You remember the words of the gifted poetess,--
'Go weep with those who weep, you say, Ye fools! I bid you pa.s.s them by, Go, weep with those whose hearts have bled What time their eyes were dry.'
But I must go. Have you not a word of congratulation for me, Reginald?”
”Why?” was the amazed reply; ”and for what?”
”Oh,” said Dr. Heinz, somewhat taken aback, ”do you not know that I am engaged to be married to Gertrude Warden?”
”You are?” was the reply, with a look of amazement that Dr. Heinz could not fail to notice; ”well, I rather think you are a lucky fellow.
But”--and a look of deep sorrow crossed his face as he spoke--”I do believe you are worthy of her. Tell her I said so. And would you mind saying good-bye to her and her sister from me, as I may not be able to see them before starting for America, which I shall probably do in a week; and should you again see the Mrs. Willoughby you have been speaking of, and whom I know well, please tell her I could not get to say farewell to her, as my going off is a sudden idea. Good-bye, Dr.
Heinz. May you and Miss Gertrude Warden be as happy as you both deserve to be;” and without another word he turned away.
Dr. Heinz looked after him for a moment, then shook his head somewhat sadly, saying to himself, ”There goes a fine fellow, if only he had learned of Him 'who pleased not himself.' Reginald is a spoiled character, by reason of self-pleasing. I must ask Gertrude how he comes to know Mrs. Willoughby, and why he is going off so suddenly to America, although I may have my suspicions as to the reason for his so doing.”
CHAPTER XIV.
THE OLD NURSE.