Directly in front of the pew that I occupied sat two ladies and a
gentleman, regular attendants likewise; the elderly lady was very lame,
and required assistance both in getting in and out of the carriage, and
the gentleman, I thought, seemed rather indifferent about her comfort,
for he was not as tender and delicate in his attentions as he should
have been. Almost the whole trouble of assisting her fell on the young
lady, who, I presumed, was her daughter. I had a very great desire to
offer my services, but my shyness of strangers prevented me, although
every succeeding week I saw that the poor invalid was less and less able
to help herself. Standing very near them one day, I found that it was
utterly impossible for the young lady to get her aged relative in the
carriage without help, so I stepped hastily forward just as the old lady
was falling from the step, and in time to catch her in my arms. I lifted
her gently in the carriage, seated her comfortably in it, sprung out
again, and offered my hand to the young lady. It was the impulse of a
moment. The door closed, and the carriage was soon out of sight.
But what a tumult and confusion I was in; what strange feelings
overpowered me. There had been magic in the touch of the hand. There had
been magic in the glance of her eye, as she turned to thank me. A dreamy
softness came over me, and diffused itself through my very soul. I could
not imagine why it was that so slight an incident should have affected
me so deeply; but I thought of nothing, dreamed of nothing, but the
touch of that hand and the glance of that beautiful eye. It was in vain
that I took up my pen or my book, in the evening; in a few seconds, my
hand dropped and my eye rested on vacancy.
With more than usual care I attended to my dress on the following
Sunday, and I was there at the church door sooner than necessary,
waiting for the carriage. It did not arrive, and I was compelled to
enter and take my seat, as the clergyman had commenced the service. You
may imagine my feelings when I saw the lady sitting quietly in her pew,
by the side of the old gentleman: they had walked to church, having left
the invalid at home; and they had passed me while I was gazing up the
road for the carriage. When leaving the church I inquired whether the
lady had been prevented from coming to church from indisposition; and a
voice, the sweetest and the gentlest that ever fell on human ear,
answered my question. I was so startled, both by my own temerity, in
thus venturing to address her, and by the uncommon softness of her
voice, that I did not hear the import of the words; but the loveliness
of the tones remained imprinted on my memory for ever. No music, since,
has ever made the like impression.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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