"Somebody," he would say gently, "must help and heal and neighbor with
these people."
As there was no answer that could be made to this the Yankee
father-in-law said nothing. But the very last time he was in India he
looked sharply at his daughter and then said wearily and bitterly:
"Sinner and saint--we men are all alike. We each in our own way kill
the women we love. Cynthia is dying for a sight of Green Valley and
Green Valley folks."
At that Cynthia's husband cried out. But Joshua Churchill did not stay
to argue. He went away and never came back. He wanted of course to go
back to Green Valley. But he could not bear to live alone in the big
house where he had once been so happy. So he went instead into exile.
And now he was dying in California.
As for Cynthia's husband, he discovered when it was too late to do any
good that while he had been saving the souls and the children of alien
women and men he had let the woman who was dearer to him than life die
slowly and unnoticed. Saints have always done that and they always
will.
Joshua Churchill meant to stay alive long enough to explain the
shortcomings of both saints and sinners to the boy who was the last of
the Churchills. He had half a mind to exact a promise from the boy.
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