The Cable by Marion Ames Taggart

It was settled that Cis was to return to Beaconhite. Mr. Lancaster had / gone back, and immediately there came a brief, warm, characteristic / letter from Miss Braithwaite to Cis.

"You are to come home on any terms you choose, my dear," she wrote, / "as long as you come; there are no terms to my wanting you. If you / will establish yourself in this house for good and all it will be / transformed. My library is large, but not large enough to fill the / vacancy in my life. Summer is coming, and I shall not be able to keep a / fire on the hearth much of the time; can't you see how the library will / need your hair in it? I need your radiance, my child; you are a most / vivifying person, Cicely Adair! Other fires than that on my hearth are / burning low; I grow chilled. Anselm tells me that you are coming, yet / hesitate on the heels of the resolve lest you may not make good -- isn't / that the way to put it? Let me judge. You know how fully I speak my / mind; I suppose no one ever is doubtful of my meanings! Then, when I / say that coming to live with me will fulfil several of the corporal / works of mercy -- feeding the hungry, comforting the sorrowful, visiting / the sick -- of mind, at least -- it is strictly true. I am impatiently / waiting for you; come as soon as you can, please. And be sure that I / am not only lovingly, but gratefully, Your grumpy old friend, Miriam / Braithwaite."