Delivered from Afar, Or, Hopes Realized in Dakota (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1885. Excerpt: ... CHAPTER XVII. Fanny Foundit's long visit--The blizzard--Harry sprains his ankle--Grace Constant's night meditation--She decides to accept Peter Bigman--A beautiful morning after a storm. IT was nearly the middle of December, and still Mrs. Xoble and Minnie were sick, with but little signs of improvement. The long watching had begun to tell heavily upon Grace Constant; not so much physically as mentally, for the conflict was still going on in her mind, whether she would accept or reject Peter Bigman's offer. Sometimes her womanhood arose in rebellion at the thought, but when she looked upon the sufferers, her heart sank within her. One morning when Harry and she happened to be just outside the door, Harry, looking upon her with a great tenderness in his eyes and an unusual gentleness in his manner, said to her: "Grace, I am so sorry that you are having such a hard time nursing and working. I wish I could make it easier in some way for you." "Why, Harry, I need no more help than you give me, and I am getting along very well," in a reproachful tone, "one would almost think I had been complaining." "Ah, Grace, you would never complain; you would die in your tracks first." "Now, Harry, don't abuse me." "I wish I could get one of your own sex to assist you." "But there is no one but Fanny Foundit, and she is so off-hand and loud in her manner that she annoys auntie; so I do not encourage her to come here much, although she has several times offered to come and do all she could." "You are putting us all under a great debt of gratitude to you, Grace, by your devotion." "Do not speak to me in that way, Harry," with a little flash of temper. "It makes me feel as if I was not one of the family." "Forgive me, Grace," he said, looking long and tenderly into her dark-b...