Part 9 (1/2)
”Each one in this world, young or old, has his sorrows to bear; his temptations to resist; his victories to gain; and to each one it seems sometimes as if everything was darkness and desolation; the blackness of night surrounds them on every side; darkness! darkness everywhere! no light, no hope, no guide. Look up, my friends! look up! not to the darkness; but above it, beyond it, to where Christ stands, ready, ay, more than ready. He comes to meet you, his eyes beaming with compa.s.sionate love, his hands outstretched. Grasp those hands, hold fast and firm; they, and they alone, can lead you through storm and darkness, through sorrow and fear; until kneeling at last in perfect peace and happiness you shall behold the face of your Father in heaven.”
Then followed the Lord's Prayer; but Marion could not take her eyes from that holy face. It seemed to her as if every word had been uttered for her alone; as if the speaker had looked down into the secrets of her heart and had tried to give her comfort and consolation.
And this was partly true. As Mr. B. leaned forward and cast his eyes over the congregation they fell upon the face of that young girl, looking up at him with a longing, wistful, tearful glance that startled him. For many years he had been settled over a fas.h.i.+onable society in New York, where he often felt that the words he uttered were but as ”seed sown by the wayside” or ”on stony ground;” but there was no mistaking the earnestness of that face, over which was spread an expression which it pained him to see in one so young; for he knew that her trials, whatever they were, were but just begun, and thinking of the years of struggling that would probably come to her, his heart yearned over her in deepest sympathy. With the thought of her uppermost in his mind he gave out the closing hymn; two verses only. Marion had heard them often before, but their depth and meaning never came to her so fully as now:--
”Give to the winds thy fears; Hope and be undismayed; G.o.d hears thy sighs, and counts thy tears; He shall lift up thy head.
”Through waves, through clouds and storms, He gently clears thy way; Wait thou his time, so shall the night Soon end in glorious day.”
As the last notes of the choir died away, and Marion bowed her head to receive the benediction, she felt strengthened and encouraged; and a peace such as she had not known for months fell upon her heart.
As she pa.s.sed out of church she avoided meeting any one whom she knew, and hurried out of hearing of the remarks of various members of the congregation, who were commenting on the sermon in very much the same manner as if it had been a theatrical performance.
Such expressions as, ”Very fine sermon, wasn't it?--hit some of us pretty hard;” or ”What a charming voice and manner! why, he really quite touched me!” made by different persons in a flippant, off-hand tone, jarred upon her ears, and she was thankful to leave them all behind.
As she was about to cross the street, preparatory to turning off into the road which led to school, she stopped to allow a carriage to pa.s.s; as it reached her a gentleman leaned towards her, and looking up she met the eyes of the minister bent down upon her with an expression of the deepest interest.
She never saw that face again; but the remembrance of it went with her through her whole life.
CHAPTER IX.
THE LETTER-BAG.
Monday morning Marion sent a long letter to her mother, in which she gave a full account of her interview with Aunt Bettie; sent the address, and gave as accurate a description as she was able of Miss Jemima Dobbs herself.
She waited anxiously for some days for an answer to her letter, and could hardly keep the thought of Aunt Bettie out of her head. Friday afternoon, when the postman came, she was the first to get to the door and take the bag from him. As she went with it into the library, the girls all crowded round her in eager expectation, while she stifled her own impatience and slowly unstrapped the bag, looking provokingly unconcerned, and quite regardless of the smiling, eager faces that were bent over her.
”O Marion!” exclaimed Sarah Brown, ”don't you see I'm dying to know if there's a letter for me? Do hurry up.”
”She doesn't expect a letter herself, so she doesn't care how long she keeps us waiting,” sullenly remarked Mattie Denton; ”she likes to torment us.”
”You're mistaken there, Mattie,” replied Marion, with a teasing twinkle in her eyes, ”for I do expect a letter; but I like 'linked sweetness, long drawn out,' you know. Hands off, girls!” as she slowly opened the mouth of the bag, and two or three arms were stretched out for the letters that filled it to the top; ”hands off, I'm postman to-day, and I won't have my rights interfered with. Let me see,--number one; that's for Julia Thayer. Julia! where are you? Here, Fan, run upstairs and take it to her. Number two, Grace Minton. Here, Grace, virtue recognized and patience rewarded; you held your tongue, and see how well I've served you;” and Marion rattled on a string of nonsense as she took out the letters and handed them to their various owners.
”Two letters and a pamphlet for Miss Stiefbach; one for Miss Christine; and whose is this great, fat one, I wonder, with a foreign stamp? Rachel Drayton, I do declare!” and she was about to add, ”I'm glad she's got it;” but her habit of always treating Rachel with supreme indifference was too strong upon her, and she only remarked, ”Here, who will take this letter up to Miss Drayton's room?”
Georgie Graham came forward and offered her services. ”I am going upstairs,” she said; ”I'll take it up to her.”
Marion handed it to her without speaking, but elevated her eyebrows in a very expressive way; but at that moment Rachel herself came into the room, and Georgie stepped forward and gave her the letter, saying in her sweetest tones:--
”Ah, Rachel! are you here? Here is a letter for you, and I could not resist giving myself the pleasure of delivering it.”
Rachel took the letter with a delighted smile, and, thanking Georgie, ran upstairs that she might read it undisturbed; in the surprise and pleasure of receiving it she did not notice Georgie's unusually affable manner, or the astonished glances and expressive looks which pa.s.sed between the other girls.
Marion mentally remarked, ”The two millions are taking effect; Georgie has begun to toady already.”
”Well, Marion, haven't you got a letter for me?” asked little Rose May, who had stood patiently by Marion's side, saying nothing, but looking longingly into the bag, the bottom of which was fast becoming visible.
”You poor little thing, how good you have been!” and Marion bent down and kissed the expectant, little face. ”I'll look over these in a jiffy, and we'll see if there isn't one for you. Susie Brastow, May Fowler, _Marion Berkley_, and--yes, here is yours, Rose,--Miss Rose May in great black letters.”
”Oh, it's from father! I'm so glad!” and Rose seated herself on the floor in the bow-window, and was soon oblivious to everything but the contents of her letter.