'And, my
dear,' she said, 'if there should be a slackening of correspondence,
do not take it as unkindness, but as a token that my poor child is
recovering her tone. Do not discontinue writing to her, but be
guarded, and perhaps less rapid, in replying.'
It was for her friendship that poor Emily wept so bitterly--the
first friendship that had been an enthusiasm to her; looking at it
as a cruel injustice that Griff's misdoing should separate them.
The prediction that all might be lived down and forgotten was too
vague and distant to be much consolation; indeed, we were too young
to take it in.
We had it all over again in a somewhat grotesque form when, at
another turn in the wood, we came upon Martyn and Anne, loaded with
treasures from their robbers' cave, some of which were bestowed in
my chair, the others carried off between Anne and her not very
willing nursery-maid.
Anne kissed us all round, and augured cheerfully that she should lay
up a store of shells and rocks by the seaside to make 'a perfect
Robinson Crusoe cavern,' she said, 'and then Clarence can come and
be the Spaniards and the savages. But that won't be till next
summer,' she added, shaking her head. 'I shall get Ellen to tell
Emily what shells I find, and then she can tell Martyn; for mamma
says girls never write to boys unless they are their brothers! And
now Martyn will never be my brother,' she added ruefully.
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