One word

Joshua Wendell died last night. he died alone in that big house on the hill. The last of the Wendell family is dead. Now Wendell House is empty, except perhaps for the ghost of the music and laughter that once filled its rooms.
Joshua Wendell. For fifty years he lived alone in that big, once beautiful house. All alone. He closed the rooms, he left the garden to grow wild, he sent people away. Why? why should a man choose to shut his doors lo life?.
Joshua Wendell was a proud man. Very few people remember the story. There was a girl that he loved. They quarrelled. A stupid quarrel. Terrible things were said. She was young, angry and also very proud. She married his best friend just to hurt him. The day they were married, Joshua Wendell closed the front door of his house. from that day, nobody went in and he never left it.
I said that very few people remembered the story. I remember it. I lived with it for fifty years, day and night. I was the girl he loved. I was the woman who made him so unhappy.
But Joshua Wendell´s unhappiness was nothing compared to my own. Because I know that he sat alone in that house, waiting. Waiting for one word. One word from me. That word was "Sorry". I couldn´t say it. I was too proud.