"
The little man is quite admirable in the sturdiness of his faith, in the
power of his belief, that is the one supreme ideal always before him, and
I shook hands with him.
"But I fear he is very ill now. A boy just told me they had to carry him
from his boat, when he returned this morning."
"I'll go with you now to Frenchy's," said Helen.
"Are you not afraid?" asked the little parson.
"Are you?" she asked, just a little rudely, I fear.
"With me it is a matter of duty and love, you know," he replied.
"With me also," she said, with head bent down. Then she looked up again.
"I don't think you have any better right to expose yourself than I," she
said, with spirit. "You have children of your own, and a wife to think
of. Your life is a full one, rounded out and devoted to a work that is
very great. Mine is only beginning; nothing has come from it yet; I have
done nothing. It all lies before me and I won't stand aloof as if I were
outside of laboring humanity, while there is sickness to be fought. I'm
going with you."
She came to me.
"I hope you don't think I'm very bad, Daddy?" she said. "I'm sorry to
give you so much trouble, but something tells me I must go. I just have
to!"
I looked at her, as she walked rapidly away with the parson, and then sat
down on the steamer chair that had been brought up again, and for the
first time I felt that age was creeping up on me. It looks as if all of
us, ill or hale, poor or rich, are but the playthings of nature, bits of
flotsam on the ocean of human passions.
Pages:
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215
216
217
218
219
220
221
222
223
224