Page:Salem - a tale of the seventeenth century (IA taleseventeenth00derbrich).pdf/272

 own hand upon the cold hand which rested on the table; it did not move to meet the proffered clasp.

"Oh, grandmother! dear grandmother!" burst from the girl's lips in sudden penitence; "forgive me—oh, do forgive me! I have been too unmindful of your love and care; can you forgive me? I have been very wrong."

Not a word, not a motion betrayed that she had been heard; and, wild with terror, she threw herself in quick, penitent tears at her grandmother's feet, and sobbed out her prayer to be forgiven.

Ah! it was her childhood's story over again. The doting grandmother could not hold out against the beloved penitent, and the loving arms unclosed to her once more. Again Alice was taken back in love and forgiveness, and again she wept out her passionate rebellion upon that true and faithful heart.

Ah, happy for them both that the reconciliation was not deferred until it was too late—that they "suffered not the sun to go down upon their wrath;" that with tender, loving words and fond embraces and murmured blessings they parted for the night.