"Who would have thought," he said to himself, "she could have become
such a woman? No wonder I could not find a girl to suit me when she
has been my ideal."
You see, he was trying to persuade himself he had thought of her ever
since that term of school; and it may be, unknown to himself, those
eyes had held him. At any rate, he says they did; and when, time after
time, they drew him back to Stillman's, he at last made Rachel believe
it, and with the little key of promise she delivered him from Doubting
Castle.
Let us take one more look, two years later, at the Stillman homestead.
There is a family gathering, and all the girls are present--Martha
and Margaret, with their sturdy boys and rosy girls; Rachel, with her
baby; and Susy, a gay young aunt, flits to and fro, playing with and
teasing the little ones. Elizabeth, with unwonted brightness in her
eyes, looks on, enjoying the merriment.
"Doesn't it seem odd," whispers Margaret, "that Lizzie's minister
should come back after all these years."
"Yes," answers Rachel, in the same low tone. "I am so glad. She seems
so happy."
The husbands are all present in the evening, and the old house is full
of light and gayety. Rachel slips upstairs to put baby to bed; and as
she sits in the room where so many miserable hours of her childhood
were spent, her tears fall, thinking of herself and the dear, patient
mother, who had suffered and died; and the old bitterness rises in her
heart.
Pages:
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215
216
217
218
219
220
221
222
223
224