"
"I thought that was it," returned the other. Her firm, white hand slipped
under the trembling chin, and the girl's face was gently lifted until
Grace was forced to look straight into those deep gray eyes. "Tell me,
dear, why do you feel that you are a burden upon me?"
Silence for a moment; then--and there was a wondering gladness in the
girl's voice--"I--I don't know."
The nurse smiled, but there was a grave note in her voice as she said,
still holding the girl's face toward her own, "I'll tell you why. It is
because you have been hurt so deeply. This feeling is one of the scars
of your experience, dear. All your life you will need to fight that
feeling--the feeling that you are not wanted. And you must fight
it--fight it with all your might. You will never overcome it entirely,
for the scar of your hurt is there to stay. You will always suffer at
times from the old fear; but, if you will, you can conquer it so far
that it will not spoil your life. You must--for your own sake, and for
my sake, and for the sake of the wounded lives you are going to help
heal--help all the better because of your own hurt. Do you understand,
dear?"
The other nodded; she could not speak.
"You are going out into the world to find a place for yourself, of
course, for that is right," Hope continued. "And it will be best for you
to find a place here in Corinth, if possible. But it is not going to be
easy, Grace. It's going to be hard, very hard, and you will need to know
that, no matter what other people make you feel, you have a place in my
life, a place where you belong.
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