She told Reverend Mother nothing of the story,
but said that she was ending her engagement with Prince Giovanni Della
Robbia. "It is not because I don't love him," she explained, "but
because I love him so dearly I want to do what is best for his whole
life. I know that I shall love him always. I can no more forget him than
I can forget that I have a heart which must go on beating while I live.
But if you don't think a love like this--expecting, hoping for no
return--too worldly, oh, Reverend Mother, will you let me come back to
you and take the vows after all? I feel the convent is the only home for
me; and I believe I am capable of higher, nobler aims because of what I
have been taught by a great love. I yearn to be with you now, I am so
homesick! I will go through any penance, even if it be years long, if at
the end you will accept me for your daughter. I beg of you to write at
once, and say if you will have me again. If your answer be yes, I will
start immediately. I can hardly wait."
As she folded the letter she remembered how Hannaford had told the story
of Galatea, likening her to the statue which had been given life without
knowledge of the world. It was almost as if his voice spoke to her now,
in this room he had loved, answering when she asked what became of
Galatea in the end. "She went back to be a statue." "That is what I
shall do," Mary said. "I shall go back into the marble."
* * * * * * *
All night long the mistral blew; and "out of the fall of lonely seas and
the wind's sorrow," the lullaby Hannaford had desired for his ashes was
sung under the rock where, already, his urn was enshrined.
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