Children of clergy -- Fiction; Christian fiction; Fathers and daughters -- Fiction; Scotland -- Fiction
For the rest of the day they were left to do much as they pleased; only
every one kept good watch.
But in the joy of recovering her child, the mother seemed herself to have
gained a new and childlike spirit. The more than willingness with which she
hastened to do what, even in respect of her child, was requested of her, as
if she fully acknowledged the right of authority in those who had been her
best friends, was charming. Whether this would last when the novelty of the
new experience had worn off, whether jealousy would not then come in for
its share in the ordering of her conduct, remained to be shown; but in the
mean time the good in her was uppermost.
She was allowed to spend a whole fortnight in making friends with her
daughter, before a word was spoken about the future; the design of my
father being through the child to win the mother. Certain people considered
him not eager enough to convert the wicked: whatever apparent indifference
he showed in that direction arose from his utter belief in the guiding
of God, and his dread of outrunning his designs. He would _follow_ the
operations of the Spirit.
"Your forced hot-house fruits," he would say, "are often finer to look at
than those which have waited for God's wind and weather; but what are they
worth in respect of all for the sake of which fruit exists?"
Until an opportunity, then, was thrown in his way, he would hold back; but
when it was clear to him that he had to minister, then was he thoughtful,
watchful, instant, unswerving. You might have seen him during this time,
as the letters of Connie informed me, often standing for minutes together
watching the mother and daughter, and pondering in his heart concerning
them.
Every advantage being thus afforded her, not without the stirring of some
natural pangs in those who had hitherto mothered the child, the fortnight
had not passed, before, to all appearance, the unknown mother was with the
child the greatest favorite of all. And it was my father's expectation, for
he was a profound believer in blood, that the natural and generic instincts
of the child would be developed together; in other words, that as she grew
in what was common to humanity, she would grow likewise in what belonged to
her individual origin. This was not an altogether comforting expectation to
those of us who neither had so much faith as he, nor saw so hopefully the
good that lay in every evil.
One twilight, he overheard the following talk between them. When they came
near where he sat, Theodora, carried by her mother, and pulling at her neck
with her arms, was saying, "Tell me; tell me; tell me," in the tone of one
who would compel an answer to a question repeatedly asked in vain.
"What do you want me to tell you?" said her mother. "You know well enough.
Tell me your name."
In reply, she uttered a few words my father did not comprehend, and took to
be Zingaree. The child shook her petulantly and with violence, crying,--
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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