Leslie had gone away in anger , afterwards he had written , but Margaret Lloyd , still in the grasp of her pride and resentment , had sent a harsh answer . No more letters came ; Leslie Gray never returned ; and one day Margaret wakened to the realization that she had put love out of her life for ever . She knew it would never be hers again ; and from that moment her feet were turned from youth to walk down the valley of shadow to a lonely , eccentric age . Many years later she heard of Leslie 's marriage ; then came news of his death , after a life that had not fulfilled his dreams for him . Nothing more she had heard or known -- nothing to this day , when she had seen his daughter pass her by unseeing in the beech hollow . `` His daughter ! And she might have been MY daughter , '' murmured the Old Lady . `` Oh , if I could only know her and love her -- and perhaps win her love in return ! But I can not . I could not have Leslie Gray 's daughter know how poor I am -- how low I have been brought . I could not bear that . And to think she is living so near me , the darling -- just up the lane and over the hill . I can see her go by every day -- I can have that dear pleasure , at least . But oh , if I could only do something for her -- give her some little pleasure ! It would be such a delight . '' When the Old Lady happened to go into her spare room that evening , she saw from it a light shining through a gap in the trees on the hill . She knew that it shone from the Spencers ' spare room . So it was Sylvia 's light . The Old Lady stood in the darkness and watched it until it went out -- watched it with a great sweetness breathing in her heart , such as risen from old rose-leaves when they are stirred . She fancied Sylvia moving about her room , brushing and braiding her long , glistening hair -- laying aside her little trinkets and girlish adornments -- making her simple preparations for sleep .
When the light went out the Old XXXXX pictured a slight white figure kneeling by the window in the soft starshine , and the Old Lady knelt down then and there and said her own prayers in fellowship .
Gray Lady Lloyd Margaret Spencers Sylvia adornments day evening rose-leaves