Tender-hearted and kindly in feeling to all humanity, she felt a
sickening sense of sorrow and fear at the thought that there existed
such a secret enemy for her anywhere in the world.
She went out upon the street, and for the first time in her life she
experienced a sense of suspicion and distrust toward the people she
met; for the first time in her life, she realised that the world was
not all kind and ready to give her back the honest friendship and the
sweet good-will which filled her heart for all her kind. Strive as
she would, she could not cast off the depression caused by this vile
letter. It was her first experience of this cowardly and despicable
phase of human malice, and she felt wounded in soul as by a poisoned
arrow shot in the dark. And then, suddenly, there came to her the
memory of her mother's words--"If unhappiness ever comes to you, read
this letter."
Surely this was the time she needed to read that letter. That it
contained some secret of her mother's life she felt sure, and she was
equally sure that it contained nothing that would cause her to blush
for that beloved mother.
"Whatever the manuscript may have to reveal to me," she said, "it is
time that I should know." She took the package from the hiding
place, and broke the seal. Slowly she read it to the end, as if
anxious to make no error in understanding every phase of the long
story it related.
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