Children of the Whirlwind
And then the voice that had tried to keep itself brisk and even,
quavered with a sudden sob. “For Heaven's sake, dear children--don't be
fools!”
And with that she was gone.
For an instant Larry continued to gaze at Maggie's slender, trembling
figure. But something approaching a miracle--a very human miracle--had
just happened. All those doubts, fears, indecisions, unexpressed
desires, agonies of self-abasement, which might have delayed their
understanding and happiness for weeks and months, had been swept into
nothingness by the incisive kindliness of Miss Sherwood. In one minute
she had said all they might have said in months; there was nothing more
to say. There was nothing left of the past to discuss. Before them was
only the fact of that immediate moment, and the future.
Tremblingly, silently, Larry crossed to that trembling, silent figure
in white. She did not retreat. Tremblingly he took her hands and looked
down into her dark eyes. They were now flowing tears, but they met his
squarely, holding back nothing. The look in her eyes answered all he
desired to know just then, for he gathered her tight into his arms.
Wordlessly, but with a sharp, convulsive sob, she threw her arms about
his neck--and thus embracing, shaken with sharp sobs, they stood while
the minutes passed, not a single word having been spoken. And so it was
that these two, both children of the storm, at last came together....
Presently Joe Ellison chanced to step unsuspectingly into the room.
Seeing what he did, he silently tiptoed out. There was a garden chair
just outside his door. Into this he sank and let his thin face fall into
his hands. His figure shook and hot tears burned through his fingers.
For his heart told him that his great dream was at last come true.