Heaven bless thee, shrewd
loyal heart, a gentleman of God's making, not unrecognized either by
many of men's making.
The other chaperone was a lady of God's making, too; one who might
have been a St. Theresa, had she been born there and then; but as it
was, had been fated to become only the Wesleyan abbess of the town,
and, like Deborah, 'a mother in Israel.' With her tall, slim,
queenly figure, massive forehead, glittering eyes, features beaming
with tenderness and enthusiasm, and yet overcast with a peculiar
expression of self-consciousness and restraint, well known to those
who have studied the physiognomies of 'saints,' she seemed to want
only the dress of some monastic order to make her the ideal of a
mediaeval abbess, watching with a half-pitying, half-complacent
smile, the gambols of a group of innocent young worldlings. I saw
Claude gazing at her full of admiration and surprise, which latter
was certainly not decreased when, as soon as all had settled
themselves comfortably on board, and the cutter was slipping quietly
away under the magnificent deer-park cliffs, the Lady Abbess, pulling
out her Wesleyan hymn-book, gave out the Morning Hymn, apparently as
a matter of course.
Pages:
297
298
299
300
301
302
303
304
305
306
307
308
309
310
311
312
313
314
315
316
317
318
319
320
321