Christian fiction; Neighborhoods -- Scotland -- Fiction
“That is true. But why should we? God does not care to do the same
thing over again. When it is once done, it is done, and he goes on doing
something new. For, to all eternity, he never will have done showing
himself by new, fresh things. It would be a loss to do the same thing
again.”
“But that just brings me to my second trouble. The thing is lost. I
forget it. Do what I can, I cannot remember sunsets. I try to fix them
fast in my memory, that I may recall them when I want them; but just as
they fade out of the sky, all into blue or gray, so they fade out of my
mind and leave it as if they had never been there--except perhaps two
or three. Now, though I did not see this one, yet, after you have talked
about it, I shall never forget _it_.”
“It is not, and never will be, as if they had never been. They have
their influence, and leave that far deeper than your memory--in your
very being, Connie. But I have more to say about it, although it is
only an idea, hardly an assurance. Our brain is necessarily an imperfect
instrument. For its right work, perhaps it is needful that it should
forget in part. But there are grounds for believing that nothing is ever
really forgotten. I think that, when we have a higher existence than we
have now, when we are clothed with that spiritual body of which St. Paul
speaks, you will be able to recall any sunset you have ever seen with an
intensity proportioned to the degree of regard and attention you gave
it when it was present to you. But here comes Wynnie to see how you
are.--I’ve been making some tea for you, Wynnie, my love.”
“O, thank you, papa--I shall be so glad of some tea!” said Wynnie, the
paleness of whose face showed the red rims of her eyes the more plainly.
She had had what girls call a good cry, and was clearly the better for
it.
The same moment my wife came in. “Why didn’t you send for me, Harry, to
get your tea?” she said.
“I did not deserve any, seeing I had disregarded proper times and
seasons. But I knew you must be busy.”
“I have been superintending the arrangement of bedrooms, and the
unpacking, and twenty different things,” said Ethelwyn. “We shall be so
comfortable! It is such a curious house! Have you had a nice walk?”
“Mamma, I never had such a walk in my life,” returned Wynnie. “You would
think the shore had been built for the sake of the show--just for a
platform to see sunsets from. And the sea! Only the cliffs will be
rather dangerous for the children.”
“I have just been telling Connie about the sunset. She could see
something of the colours on the water, but not much more.”
“O, Connie, it will be so delightful to get you out here! Everything is
so big! There is such room everywhere! But it must be awfully windy in
winter,” said Wynnie, whose nature was always a little prospective, if
not apprehensive.
But I must not keep my reader longer upon mere family chat.
CHAPTER XIV.
MORE ABOUT KILKHAVEN.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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