Part 10 (2/2)
”And so this is little Pollie,” the sweet voice said, as, after speaking cheerfully to the widow and the others who were in the room, she stood beside the sick child. ”Well, Pollie, I have come to see you at last, and in return for the beautiful violets you gave me a year ago, I will, with our merciful Father's blessing us, put some roses on your white cheeks.”
My story is told!
In a pretty lodge close to the gates of a magnificent park live Pollie and her dear long-suffering mother, but now as happy as it is possible for mortals to be. The widow continues her needlework, not as formerly, ”to keep the wolf from the door,” but merely for their beloved lady, or what is required for the house. Pollie, whose cheeks are now truly rosy, goes every day to school, and when at home helps her mother, so that in time she will become quite a useful girl to their kind and generous benefactress.
But who are those two neat young girls who are coming down the path towards the lodge, looking so bright and cheerful? Surely one is Lizzie Stevens, and the other Sally Grimes? Yes, indeed, and the housekeeper says she ”never had two better servants, so willing and steady,” than our two young friends. So Sally's ambition is realised; she is a servant, and a good one too, for trusty Sally never did anything by halves.
And Mrs. Flanagan?
If you will walk across the meadow by that narrow raised path, you will see a cosy cottage adjoining the dairy. There is Mrs. Flanagan, with sleeves tucked up above her elbows, busily making b.u.t.ter; it reminds her of the years long ago, when she used to do the dairy-work at the farm, and had never known a care. But she is happy even now, for outside the window is Nora, cheerful and contented, feeding the poultry, who gather round her, clucking noisily, while some white pigeons have flown down from the dove-cot, and one has alighted on her shoulder, and Nora's merry laugh is as music to the mother's ear.
There is some one scouring milk-pans in the yard, but whose features are almost hidden by a large black bonnet; who is it? The face turns towards us, and we see Sally Grimes' mother!
So we leave all our old friends, peaceful and happy, doing their duty faithfully to the n.o.ble lady, who, though surrounded by all the world holds dear--riches--yet had sympathy for the poor ones of the earth, and pity for their sorrows.
She had resided many years abroad, but on returning to England and re-forming her establishment, had chosen these honest hard-working friends of ours to serve her. She learned from others how they had striven to live, and how they had each endeavoured to do their Heavenly Master's work as He had appointed; patient under privations, and tender to others, doing as they would be done by.
And thus suns.h.i.+ne had come to brighten the hitherto dreary paths of their struggling lives, though even in their darkest hours our humble friends had never forgotten that
”Behind a frowning providence He hides a smiling face.”
And how gratefully did they now lift up their hearts to Him who ”careth for us!” And when Mrs. Flanagan and Mrs. Grimes met at Mrs. Turner's, as they very often did when their work was done, they would contrast their present happy lot with those sad days of the past.
”And yet,” as Mrs. Turner once said, ”had it not been for our troubles we should never have known each other, for it was those very sorrows that knit us together.”
”Ay, ay,” interrupted Mrs. Grimes, ”for your Pollie somehow made my gal hate the streets, else she might a run there till now, and never a been the rale good scholar she be.”
”Ah, Pollie be a comfort to you,” observed the other old friend; ”and how she do grow, to be sure! Well, well, bless her heart, she won't have to rough it, my dear--leastways I hope not,--nor be led to go wrong like my poor Nora; still she'll have her sorrows, like the rest on us.”
Yes, that was true; she would have her share of the trials that fall to the lot of all, and so would trusty Sally; but happily they knew where to take their cares, and He who had led them to this peaceful home would be with them still. And thus we leave them--living their lives in peaceful content, grateful for the memories given, and trusting in Him always.
And all this happiness had been brought about by--a simple Bunch of Violets!
<script>