The Red Cloud chief., 1892-08-05
CHAPTER XIX.

A year passed away. Aaron and Jane
had married, and were living in a cot
tagc near the mill. Both had often
written to remind Olive of her prom
ised visit; but the visit was not paid
yet, and the happy pair said to each
other that IL was strange to find Olive
still clinging to London. No doubt il
seemed strange to them, absorbed in
their own simple bliss, that she should
know peace among crowds. Nor could
they realize that balm sometimes grows
in the very path where the thorns have
TORI our feet. We do not always find
healing afar:
From the spcre OF our sorrow"
/. April had come again; and the old Sa-
koy c~hurchyard seemed to gather all
the freshness and sweetness OF spring
within its narrow boundary. To Olive,
the place was n sacred poem, breaking
into the prose Of busy life. The grass
was green and soft under the trees;
there was a twittcring of birds among
the budding boughs, and round those
ancient walls that were sternly watch
ing over their garden ground. Stcrnly,
and yet kindly, for the girl used to
think that the old chapel had been n
silent witness Of the strife and suffer
ing of centuries, and must, therefore,
have n mysterious sympathy with the
children of this generation.
She had come. as she had often done
before, TO sit in the churchyard on n
Saturday afternoon and enjoy its green
ness and quictncss. The birds seemed
TO be singing to her to-day, and n voice
answered them IN her heart. She re-
mcmbcrcd how she had once come here
like n sick child. tired and worn with
pain. and the influence Of the place had
calmed her spirit. She loved every
blade Of grass. every ragged stone in
the gray walls.
And then she began to think OF the
chaplain, and of his influence over her
life. She recalled the very moment when
she had looked up and seen him stand
ing by her side. What was the secret
of that personal power of his? II came
partly from his intense sympathy with
every phase of humanity, n sympathy
clear and pure as n stream OF living
water. Like the stream, his mind could
adapt itself to any channel, and could
run as brightly in a narrow course as
in a broad one, Then, too, there was
the grace of perfect breeding, and the
never-failing consideration OF others.
Surely his was n OF ''the few voices
which God has toned, and its sweetness
had stillcd the tumult Of many n heart
as well as her own.
Seaward Aylstone came quietly in Mt
the gate and snt down on the bench by
her side, There was n flush in her
cheeks, n sudden light in her eyes, and
a something in the o n OF her voice,
which would have convinced any locker
on that Stewards presence was not I'M
welcome. But there were no lockers
on; the chaplain had the rare faculty OF
keeping out of the way when he was
not wanted; and as to the birds they
had seen too many sweethearts TO give
my attention to a solitary pair, Olive
had beer feeling for some time that the
relation between the painter and her.
self was entirely apart from all com
non a~cquaintances and friendships.
Yet he had never spoken Of anything
deeper than friendship. lie had been
waiting until the right moment had
come; until he was quite sure that the
last lingering ache Of the old pain was
gone.
The ~autocrat Of the breakfast table
says of his love, lit was IN talking OF
life that we came most nearly TO-
gether;" AVID whenever Olive and Ayl.
stone met they were sure TO talk OF
life. They both wanted to be doing
and living, and helping others to do and
live. There was SO much 70 be done;so
macy plans nuu to be carried out' Sea-
ward was concerning himself about the
future Of the little children who sat to
him us models, ana Olive listened to his
I aeas and suggested others,