Part 60 (2/2)

In a few days he was up and about again. ”You want toning up,” the doctor said to him. ”There is really nothing the matter with you except that you are run down. Take more exercise, get a sea bath two or three times a week, and be careful what you eat.”

Rufus told Mrs. Tuke and Captain Tom Hendy what the doctor had prescribed, and proceeded at once to carry out his orders. But no one knew the thought that was in his mind. Some day he would not return from his short swim in the sea, and then he would be at rest. It would be very easy, and almost as natural as dying at home in bed.

The weather was brilliantly fine. The yellow corn was falling before the sickle in all directions, the sea danced and s.h.i.+mmered in the suns.h.i.+ne, the flowers drooped in the windless heat. To all appearances Rufus was recovering his health and spirits. He told Mrs. Tuke that he enjoyed his morning bath. His appet.i.te seemed better than it had been for weeks past, and once or twice she heard him humming a hymn tune after he had gone upstairs to bed.

”I'm glad I stood by him,” Mrs. Tuke reflected, with a smile of self-satisfaction, ”for I believe he is coming back to the fold again.”

One evening Rufus sat up very late. He had gone through his papers again to see that everything was in order, and now he sat staring at the clock on the mantelpiece, and listening to its solemn and regular tick.

”To-morrow will be just as good as next week,” he said to himself. ”As it must come, better it should come quickly. I could have done it this morning easily enough, and I don't think it will be at all painful. So let it be then,” he added, rising to his feet. ”The next time I go into the sea I do not return,” and he put the lights out, and climbed slowly and silently to his bedroom.

Before undressing he knelt down and prayed. He asked for strength and pardon, and a just and merciful judgment.

He felt like a child when he rose from his knees, and a few minutes after he laid his head on the pillow he was fast asleep.

CHAPTER x.x.xIII

WAS IT PROVIDENCE?

When Rufus awoke next morning, the wind was blowing half a gale, and the rain was coming down in torrents.

”This puts an end to my morning bath,” he said to himself, with a faint sigh. ”I can have no excuse for going into the sea on a day like this,”

and he sighed again.

He was not quite sure that he welcomed the respite.

”Since it must be,” he kept saying to himself, ”the sooner the better.”

Mrs. Tuke greeted him with a sorrowful face. ”What a pity the weather's broke before all the harvest is got in,” she said.

”It does seem a pity,” he answered, quietly.

”The ways of Providence is past finding out,” she replied; ”though no doubt it's for some good end.”

”Do you really think that Providence regulates the weather, Mrs. Tuke?”

he questioned, with a smile.

”Why, of course I do,” she answered, in a tone of reproach. ”Providence over-rules everything, and not a sparrow falls to the ground without the notice of His eye,” and she walked out of the room without waiting for him to answer.

Mrs. Tuke's theology was a puzzle to him still, but all the time he sat at breakfast the word ”Providence” kept echoing through the chambers of his brain. What was Providence? How far did G.o.d interfere with the operation of His own laws? Did He sometimes reach out a controlling hand? Did He cause events to work together for a special end?

That day at the mine seemed one of the longest he had known. The wind moaned through every crevice of door and window, the rain came down unceasingly.

Evening came, but there was no chance of a swim in the sea. He would have to wait until the morrow or the day following. Whatever he did, he would have to avoid awaking suspicion.

Several times during the night he awoke and listened. The wind was still swis.h.i.+ng through the trees, and the patter of rain could be distinctly heard against the window.

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