I knew that she was not there; yet I was disappointed and
annoyed when I heard merry laughter within. I looked in, for the door
was open; in the corner where my mother used to sit, there was a
mangle, and two women busily at work; others were ironing at a large
table; and when they cried out to me, `What do you want?' and laughed
at me, I turned away in disgust, and went to a neighbouring cottage,
the inmates of which had been very intimate with my mother. I found the
wife at home, but she did not know me; and I told her who I was. She
had attended my mother during her illness, till the day of her death;
and she told me all I wished to know. It was some little relief to my
mind to hear that my poor mother could not have lived, as she had an
incurable cancer; but at the same time the woman told me that I was
ever in her thoughts, and that my name was the last word on her lips.
She also said that Mr. Masterman had been very kind to my mother, and
that she had wanted nothing. I then asked her to show me where my
mother had been buried. She put on her bonnet, and led me to the grave,
and then, at my request, she left me. I seated myself down by the mound
of turf which covered her, and long and bitterly did I weep her loss
and pray for forgiveness.
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