Evadne drew her head down until it was on a level with her own. "Let
Christ teach you to love, dear," she whispered, "Then, 'charity will
cover the multitude of sins.'" She opened the book she had been reading
when her cousin entered and took from it a newspaper clipping. "Read
this," she said. "Aunt Marthe sent it in her last letter. If we follow
its teachings I think all the fret and worry will go out of our lives
for good."
And Marion read,--"To step out of self-life into Christ-life, to lie
still and let him lift you out of it, to fold your hands close and hide
your face upon the hem of his robe, to let him lay his cooling,
soothing, healing hands upon your soul, and draw all the hurry and fever
away, to realize that you are not a mighty messenger, an important
worker of his, full of care and responsibility, but only a little child
with a Father's gentle bidding to heed and fulfil, to lay your busy
plans and ambitions confidently in his hands, as the child brings its
broken toys at its mother's call; to serve him by waiting, to praise him
by saying 'Holy, holy, holy,' a single note of praise, as do the
seraphim of the heavens if that be his will, to cease to live in self
and for self and to live in him and for him, to love his honor more than
your own, to be a clear and facile medium for his life-tide to shine and
glow through--this is consecration and this is rest."
When, some hours later, Evadne went down-stairs to luncheon, she felt
strangely happy. Marion had said Louis must confess there was something
in Christianity when he looked at her. That was what she longed to
do--to prove to him the reality of the religion of Jesus. And that
afternoon she was going to give such a pleasure to Gretchen and little
Hans. It was beautiful to be able to give pleasure to people. She could
just fancy how Gretchen's eyes would glisten as she talked to her in her
mother tongue, while little Hans' shyness would vanish under the genial
influence of Pompey's sympathetic companionship, and he would clap his
hands with delight as Brutus and Caesar drew them under the arches of
evergreen beauty, bending low beneath their ermine robes, while the
silver bells broke the hush of silence which dwelt among the forest
halls with a subdued melody and then rang out joyously as they emerged
into the open, where the sun shone bright and clothed denuded twigs and
trees in the bewitching beauty of a silver thaw. It would always seem to
little Hans like a dream of fairyland and she would be remembered as his
fairy godmother. It was a pleasant role--that of a fairy godmother.
She started, for Louis was saying carelessly to the servant,--"Tell
Pompey to have the sleigh ready by half-past two, sharp."
"Why, Louis!" she spoke as if in a dream, "I am going to have the sleigh
this afternoon."
"That is unfortunate, coz," said Louis lightly, "as probably we are
going in different directions."
"I am going to the Park," stammered Evadne, "with little Hans and
Gretchen."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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