"You have helped me--you could help me in a way that probably you will never understand.

Won't you sit down?
I will put my letters away, and we will talk." She began to collect the litter before her, laying the letters together one by one with reverent care.
"Can I help ?" asked Dinah timidly.
But she shook her head.

"No, child, your hands must not touch them.

They are the ashes of my life." An open box stood on the table.

She drew it to her, and laid the letters within it.