To be greeted by her, and to receive her
hand, and one sweet glance of her large goodwill, was enough to make an
old man feel that he must have been good at some time, and a young man
hope that he should be so by-and-by; though the tendency was generally
contented with the hope.
CHAPTER XXXIII
FAREWELL, DANIEL
Thoughtful for others as she always was, this lovely and loveable young
woman went alone, on the morning of the day that was so sorrowful for
her, to bear a little share of an elder lady's sorrow, and comfort her
with hopes, or at any rate with kindness. They had shed tears together
when the bad news arrived, and again when a twelvemonth had weakened
feeble hope; and now that another year had well-nigh killed it in old
hearts too conversant with the cruelties of the world, a little talk, a
tender look, a gentle repetition of things that had been said at least a
hundred times before, might enter by some subtle passage to the cells of
comfort. Who knows how the welted vine leaf, when we give it shade
and moisture, crisps its curves again, and breathes new bloom upon
its veinage? And who can tell how the flagging heart, beneath the cool
mantle of time, revives, shapes itself into keen sympathies again, and
spreads itself congenially to the altered light?
Without thinking about it, but only desiring to do a little good,
if possible, Faith took the private way through her father's grounds
leading to the rectory, eastward of the village.
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