Chapter 42: All Alone

⁠​​​‌​​​​‌‌‌​​‌‌​‌​‌‌​​‌‌‌‌​​‌‌‌‌​​​​‌‌‌​​​‌‌‌‌‌​‌​​​​​‌‌​​​‌‌​​​⁠It was easy to promise self-abnegation when self was wrapped up in another, and heart and soul were purified by a sweet example; but when the helpful voice was silent, the daily lesson over, the beloved presence gone, and nothing remained but loneliness and grief, then Jo found her promise very hard to keep. How could she "comfort father and mother," when her own heart ached with a ceaseless longi