Carson by appointment, to be charged with a
letter for Mary, imploring her to see him, which Sally was to back
with all her powers of persuasion. After parting from him she
determined, as it was not so very late, to go at once to Mary's, and
deliver the message and letter.
She found Mary in great sorrow. She had just heard of George
Wilson's sudden death: her old friend, her father's friend, Jem's
father--all his claims came rushing upon her. Though not guarded
from unnecessary sight or sound of death, as the children of the
rich are, yet it had so often been brought home to her this last
three or four months. It was so terrible thus to see friend after
friend depart. Her father, too, who had dreaded Jane Wilson's death
the evening before he set off. And she, the weakly, was left
behind, while the strong man was taken. At any rate the sorrow her
father had so feared for him was spared. Such were the thoughts
which came over her.
She could not go to comfort the bereaved, even if comfort were in
her power to give; for she had resolved to avoid Jem; and she felt
that this of all others was not the occasion on which she could keep
up a studiously cold manner.
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