THE STEADFAST HEART
loves you, sir. That, and no other reason, is why she came back.”
She saw that he wanted to believe, but dared not believe.
“I am telling you the truth,” she said simply. “She did not know until you told her in this room.”
She watched the movement, the alteration, of Angus Burke’s face, and. Spartan as she was, she saw him dimly through a mist. She saw a transformation, a marvelous transformation from stony grief, from heartbroken determination, to wonder, belief, joy…. She saw a face that had appeared to her at first to be dull, phlegmatic, incapable of emotions, become endowed with life, with mobility, with a wonderful sweetness and expressiveness. She witnessed the miracle of Angus Burke emerging from himself, shaking off the weight of things that had been, shaking them off forever, and coming finally, gloriously, into his own. All these things she saw, and, at last, she saw gleaming in his eyes a great relief, a joy, a hunger—a welling up from a heart which had lain cold, weighted, bitter…. She saw him start toward the door….
“I’ll call her in,” said great-aunt Margaret, and she went out of the room.
Angus stood hesitating now; afraid now, du-
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