For
the one question, "What can be amiss wi' Jamie?" had returned upon her,
haunting and harrying her heart; and with it had come the idea, though
vague and formless, that their goodwill to the wandering outcast might
perhaps do something to make up for whatever ill thing Jamie might have
done. At last, instead of entering the parlour after them, she turned away
to the kitchen, and made haste to get ready their supper.
Isy sank back in the wide sofa, lost in relief; and the minister, when he
saw her look of conscious refuge and repose, said to himself--
"She is feeling as we shall all feel when first we know nothing near us but
the Love itself that was before all worlds!--when there is no doubt more,
and no questioning more!"
But the heart of the farmer was full of the old uncontent, the old longing
after the heart of his boy, that had never learned to cry "_Father!_"
But soon they sat down to their meal. While they ate, hardly any one spoke,
and no one missed the speech or was aware of the silence, until the
bereaved Isobel thought of her child, and burst into tears.
Pages:
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176