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Page 21
"I mean something different from usual; wouldn't you like to lie down
and die, Elsli?"
"Why, no; I don't think I should like to die. I never thought of that.
What makes you think of it?"
"I suppose you don't know what it will be like. Clarissa told me all
about it, and we have talked it over a great many times together. I
never talk to mamma about it, because she always begins to cry. But I
will tell you, and then you will be glad too to think about going to
heaven. I'll tell you the pretty song that Clarissa taught me. Would you
like to hear it now?"
Elsli would have been glad to hear the song, but at that moment Mrs.
Stanhope entered the room. She was much surprised to see the two little
girls already on such good terms, and still more so when Nora said:--
"Mamma dear, there is really no hurry about the silk and the pencils,
nor about the eggs either; I don't care for any of them just now; it
will do as well by and by. I'd rather have Elsli stay here with me."
Her mother was well pleased, and answered,--
"Certainly; Elsli can stay with you now; it will be time enough for the
errands when she comes in the afternoon."
The two children were equally delighted; Nora at the prospect of
pleasant intercourse to enliven her weary hours, and Elsli at the
thought of sitting in peace and quiet by this friendly new acquaintance.
As Mrs. Stanhope sat down with them, nothing more could be said about
the Song of Paradise, and Nora must put off till another time her
account of all that Clarissa had told her about the happiness of the
heavenly life. So at first there was silence between them, but then she
asked Elsli about her life at home, and Elsli told about her little
brothers and the baby, and then about Fani; and once started upon that
topic she hardly knew where to stop. She told how kind he was to her,
and how clever at his lessons, how he helped her with her exercises, and
she did not know how she could live without him. If she was ever so
tired and miserable, it always rested her and made her happy to have
Fani come home; for he was so full of hope and courage that it seemed as
if her burdens were lifted off, and she felt as gay as he did, while he
described the delightful things that they would do and see together some
day.
Mrs. Stanhope listened with pleasure to the soft-voiced child whose blue
eyes grew more and more tender as she talked on about her brother. As
for Nora, she did not lose a word of it all, and evidently lived it over
in imagination with the deepest interest, and when her mother said:--
"Now, Elsli, it is time for you to go; we shall expect you back at four
o'clock," Nora added:--
"And tell your mother that you will not be at home till eight; you will
have supper here."
With a happy heart the little maiden went off to school, and as soon as
school was over, she darted off, not even stopping to speak to Emma,
lest she should be detained. As she was hurrying along the path towards
Oak-ridge, she heard some one calling to her,--
"Wait, wait, I say; why don't you stop when I tell you to?" It was
Feklitus who was running after her:--
"I can't stop, I shall be late," called Elsli over her shoulder, and ran
on; Feklitus followed for a while, very angry, and sending fearful
threats after her; but he grew soon out of breath, and when he stopped
to catch his breath and cough, he saw that she was quite beyond the
reach of even his voice, and that farther chase was useless.
As for Elsli, she never drew a long breath till she had reached the
house at Oak-ridge. Nora had been watching for her from the window, and
she called out eagerly:--
"Come in, Elsli; come here and rest; you shouldn't run so hard." She
found Nora alone, and Nora told her, with great satisfaction, that her
mother had gone out for a walk at her request, and that they were to be
left together for the whole evening.
"So now," she added, "I shall have a chance to tell you a great deal
that you have never thought about; that is, how delightful it will be
when we leave earth and go to heaven. Oh! oh!" she continued, growing
more and more excited as she went on, "who can tell how beautiful it
will be? Far more lovely than anything we have ever seen; and there will
be no sick people there, and no one is tired there; everybody is happy,
and there is a river with flowers growing along its banks, and--but
wait; I will tell you Clarissa's song, and then you'll know about it."
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