Page:The Life of Mary Baker Eddy (Wilbur).djvu/177

Rh retired to live the life of a hermit in Saco, Maine. In 1873 Mrs. Patterson secured a decree of divorce from him in the courts of Salem, Massachusetts. Directly after visiting his wife for the last time he went once more to the Tiltons. Mark Baker was dead; he had passed away the preceding autumn. Mrs. Tilton heard the dentist’s confession in silence. She had nothing to offer by way of advice for the patching up of difficulties. She saw they had reached a climax. But her practical mind made one suggestion as the amende honorable for the husband, that he should settle some sum, however meager, on Mary and not leave her utterly destitute. To this the doctor agreed and a sum was fixed upon to be paid twice a year. This was continued a few years, until Mrs. Patterson refused longer to accept it.

When the doctor had taken his departure, Abigail wrote to her sister to come home. “We will build a house for you next to our own and settle an income upon you,” she said. “You shall have suitable surroundings and not be annoyed by the friction of life in another home than your own. We can be together very much, and you can pursue your writing. There is only one thing I ask of you, Mary, that you give up these ideas which have lately occupied you, that you attend our church and give over your theory of divine healing.”

To this Mary Baker had but one reply, “I must do the work God has called me to.” But Abigail did not believe her sister. She decided to let her alone for a time. She felt sure that the grip of poverty, the silence of her family, the desertion of