At the Time AppointedBarbour, A. Maynard (Anna Maynard)
General
At the Time Appointed
Barbour, A. Maynard (Anna Maynard)
Detective and mystery stories
"That," continued Mr. Britton, "was given me years ago by a beloved
friend of mine--a priest, now an archbishop--in return for a few
services rendered some of his people. I keep it for the lessons it
taught me in the years of my sorrow, and whenever my burden seems
greater than I can bear, I come back here and look at that, and beside
the suffering which it symbolizes my own is dwarfed to insignificance."
A long silence followed; then, as they lay down in the darkness, Darrell
said, in subdued tones,--
"I have never heard you say, and it never before occurred to me to ask,
what was your religion."
"I don't know that I have any particular religion," Mr. Britton
answered, slowly; "I have no formulated creed. I am a child of God and a
disciple of Jesus, the Christ. Like Him, I am the child of a King, a son
of the highest Royalty, yet a servant to my fellow-men; that is all."
The following morning Mr. Britton awakened Darrell at an early hour.
"Forgive me for disturbing your slumbers, but I want you to see the
sunrise from these heights; I think you will feel repaid. You could not
see it at the camp, you were so hemmed in by higher mountains."
Darrell rose and, having dressed hastily, stepped out into the gray
twilight of the early dawn. A faint flush tinged the eastern sky, which
deepened to a roseate hue, growing moment by moment brighter and more
vivid. Chain after chain of mountains, slumbering dark and grim against
the horizon, suddenly awoke, blushing and smiling in the rosy light.
Then, as rays of living flame shot upward, mingling with the crimson
waves and changing them to molten gold, the snowy caps of the higher
peaks were transformed to jewelled crowns. There was a moment of
transcendent beauty, then, in a burst of glory, the sun appeared.
"That is a sight I shall never forget, and one I shall try to see
often," Darrell said, as they retraced their steps to the cabin.
"You will never find it twice the same," Mr. Britton answered; "Nature
varies her gifts so that to her true lovers they will not pall."
After breakfast they again strolled out into the sunlight, Mr. Britton
seating himself upon a projecting ledge of granite, while Darrell threw
himself down upon the mountain grass, his head resting within his
clasped hands.
"What an ideal spot for my work!" he exclaimed.
Mr. Britton smiled. "I fear you would never accomplish much with me
here. I must return to the city soon, or you will degenerate into a
confirmed idler."
"I have often thought," said Darrell, reflectively, "that when I have
completed this work I would like to attempt a novel. It seems as though
there is plenty of material out here for a strong one. Think of the
lives one comes in contact with almost daily--stranger than fiction,
every one!"
"Your own, for instance," Mr. Britton suggested.
"Yours also," Darrell replied, in low tones; "the story of your life, if
rightly told, would do more to uplift men's souls than nine-tenths of
the sermons."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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