They had three days -- ONLY three days -- of happiness , and then the blow fell . The crew and the passengers of the Fanny refused to let Captain Dunbar take his wife with him . They told him he must leave her behind . And all his prayers were of no avail . They say he stood on the deck of the Fanny and pleaded with the men while the tears ran down his face ; but they would not yield , and he had to leave Margaret behind . Oh , what a parting it was ! '' There was heartbreak in the Story Girl 's voice and tears came into our eyes . There , in the green bower of Uncle Stephen 's Walk , we cried over the pathos of a parting whose anguish had been stilled for many years . `` When it was all over , Margaret 's father and mother forgave her , and she went back home to wait -- to WAIT . Oh , it is so dreadful just to WAIT , and do nothing else . Margaret waited for nearly a year . How long it must have seemed to her ! And at last there came a letter -- but not from Alan . Alan was DEAD . He had died in California and had been buried there . While Margaret had been thinking of him and longing for him and praying for him he had been lying in his lonely , faraway grave . '' Cecily sprang up , shaking with sobs . `` Oh , do n't -- do n't go on , '' she implored . `` I CA N'T bear any more . '' `` There is no more , '' said the Story Girl .
`` That was the end of it -- the end of everything for XXXXX .
Alan CA California Cecily Dunbar Margaret Stephen days year years