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Page 76
"Every day more and more like your mother, Miss Ad�le", said he, as,
after returning her salutation, he held her at arm's length and
surveyed her from head to foot.
"Papa and mamma will be home soon", said Ad�le. "They went to dine at
Mr. Holbrook's. It is time for their return".
"All right, my dear. And how are you all?"
The young lady led him to a large, cushioned arm-chair.
"How did you leave mamma Norton, Jenny, and Fanny?"
"All quite well. And they sent love;" replied the missionary.
"How is Gray Eagle?"
"Ah! Gray Eagle is good for many a trot round the parish yet".
"I have not forgotten how he shot over the hills with me, last summer.
He began his scamper, the moment I was fairly seated on his back. I
hope he has sobered down a little since then", said Ad�le.
"Yes, I remember. Gray Eagle knew well enough that the little sprite
he carried, liked a scamper as well as himself. The animal is quite
well, I thank you, and is on good behavior. So are your other
acquaintances, Cherry, the cow, and Hodge, the cat".
"I am glad to hear it. I had a charming visit at Rockdale last
summer. Johnny and Gabrielle are wild to go there. But mamma and I,
and all of us, were so disappointed because you would not consent to
Fanny and Jenny coming to spend the winter with us. Mamma says she
does not quite understand yet why you objected".
"Ah! well, my dear, I'll make it all right with your mamma. The fact
is, I wish to get a few rational ideas into the heads of those
precious little ladies before they are launched out into city life.
Just a little ballast to keep them from capsizing in a gale".
"Mamma says they are both very much like you", said Ad�le, archly.
"True, my dear. That makes it all the more necessary to look after
them carefully".
After a few moments of chat, Ad�le left the room to give orders for
hastening supper.
During her absence, Mr. Norton, with his eyes fixed upon the glowing
grate, fell into a fit of musing. Look at him a moment, while he sits
thus, occupied with the memories of the past. Twenty years have passed
since he was introduced to the attention of the reader, a missionary
to a remote and benighted region. He is now sixty years old, and very
few have passed through greater toil and hardships than he has
endured, in asserting the claims of the Redeemer to the gratitude and
love of the race. Yet his health and vigor of mind are scarcely
impaired, and his zeal continues unabated.
Beginning his journey early each spring and returning to his family
late every autumn, he had spent sixteen successive summers in
Miramichi, engaged in self-imposed labors. Each winter, he wrought at
his anvil, and thus helped to maintain an honest independence.
Four years previous, a parish having become vacant, in the town where
he resided, it was urged upon his acceptance, by the unanimous voice
of the people. By his efforts, a great change had been wrought in the
field of his past labors and a supply of suitable religious teachers
having been provided there, he accepted the invitation as a call of
Divine Providence, and had ministered to the spiritual wants of the
people of Rockdale since.
Business called him occasionally to the city of P. His visits there
were always regarded by the Lansdownes as especial favors. The two
families had frequently interchanged visits and had grown into habits
of the closest intimacy.
Having been in the city several hours and dispatched the affairs which
drew him thither, he had now come to look in upon his friends for the
night, expecting to hasten away at day dawn.
There was something in his situation this evening, thus housed in
warmth, light, and comfort, protected from the darkness and the storm
without, and ministered unto by a lovely young maiden, that reminded
him of a like scene, that had occurred, twenty years ago. He vividly
recalled the evening, when, after a day of toil and travel on the
banks of the distant Miramichi, he reached the house of Dubois, and
how while the tempest raged without he was cheered by the light and
warmth within, and was ministered unto by another youthful maiden, in
form and feature so like her, who had just left him, that he could
almost imagine them the same. A glance around the apartment, however,
dispelled the momentary fancy. Its rich and beautiful adornments
afforded a striking contrast to the appointments of that humble room.
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