Kansas agitator. [volume] (Garnett, Kan.) 1890-1905, 1897-06-04
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CHAPTER .-(CoNTINUED.)
Pearl paused here to take breath.
"And it's all true" said Tom.
Every word of it,, said Pearl.
Hush Toni"
to turn toward me, and we gazed at
each other in silence for few mo-
ments. Pearl turned white and red,
and Tom sat nursing his knee, watch
ing us both very inteptly. Presently
Pearl came to my side.
Are you angry with me still?" she
asked.
Angry. my child" said, very
slowly. What have I to be angry
about?"
Tears came into her eyes. "You will
kiss me, then, Daddy Beecroft!"
She laid her face close to mine. and
put her arms about my neck.
"You will soon get well now she
whispered
81 have been ill long time, have I
not, my Pearl?"
"a long, long time. And you will
come among us again? Say you WILL
''Mayhap, my child; but not yet.
When l am strong enough"
we'll soon make you strong, Tom
and I. You must thank Tom. He
built this place. and he has been with
ne every day. We have all been so
sorry for you. You haven't any more
wicked thoughts, have your"
Let me think, dear child. Things
are not clear to me yet"
1 strove to recall what had taken
place, and gradually during my con-
valescenee my memory returned, and
with it the dark, morbid thoughts that
had been almost fatal to me. l battled
hard against them. 1 knew my dan
ger, and knew also that | was not
strong enough, unaided, to gain the
victory. ! looked about for help, and
4 found, it at my side in the pure spirit
of a child. Pearl saved me from my
self. She nursed me with such gentle
ness and tender love, that my heart
would have been stone indeed had 1t
resisted her sweet influence. She must
have had an instinct of my peril, for
she left me only for an hour each day,
and she slept beneath the same roof
And one night she wooed me to pray
or and we said "Our Father" together
Then 1t was that my heart became
truly contrite, and as l believed my
pillow of leaves with grateful tears,
felt that l had learned the lesson of
humbleness and submission to Him
whose mercy endureth forever.
Understand me. l believed my wife
to have been false to me; but she was
dead. and, with better feelings stir
ring within me, dared not lay her sin
against all my kind. This was the re-
suit of no goodness in myself; l was
ready enough to condemn, but child's
pure heart and simple spirit had soft
ened and chastened me. had not yet
seen any of my companions, with the
exception of Pearl and Tom Wren.
Words which l had repeatedly dropped
in my delirium had been construed by
my nurse into fixed determination not
to meet them; and even now, notwith-
standing my promise to Pearl, the re-
luctance to rejoin them was very
strong. Pearl urged me gently.
81 want you to help me so much!"
Help you, dear child! In what
'Ray?"
~ keep a school," she answered with
"A merry laugh. Think of that! You
remember when you gave the paper to
Mr.. Bowden he could not read, and
none of the others could but you and
ne. Now some of them know their
letters quite nicely"
I gazed in delight and amazement at
her flushed, bright face.
"How do you teach them, dear
child?"
81 have. only two books. On that
dreadful night mother put them in an
oil-skin bag round my neck. Here
they are"
She placed the books in my hands.
One was a torn primer, the other a
.child's copy of Cinderella
.'You were reading Cinderella to
'Tom," l said.
eyes, Daddy Beecroft," she replied,
with another merry laugh; "and, do
you know, he goes all about the forests
looking for pumpkins! He says he
will be. sure to find some. and that one
shall be turned into ship, and another
into money, and others into other
,things-all for me, Daddy. Tom is
very good; next to you, love him
hest. You will come, won't your"
LET me have my own time, my
.Hoar" said: 81 will come one day.
but have still some rebelliOus
thoughts to conquer. Is the signal
fire still burning, Pearl?"
Eyes; but we have never seen a
ship"
A