Hamish, whom
you are caressing, was the true culprit; I, whom you despise, am
innocent." Words such as these might have hovered on Arthur's lips; he
had nearly spoken them, but for the strangely imploring look cast to
him from the tearful eyes of Constance, who read his struggle. Arthur
remembered One who had endured temptation far greater than this; Who is
ever ready to grant the same strength to those who need it. A few
moments, and the struggle and temptation passed, and he had not yielded
to it.
"Children, I do not like these partings. They always sadden my heart.
They make me long for that life where partings shall be no more. Oh, my
dear ones, do you all strive on to attain to that blessed life! Think
what would be our woeful grief--if such can assail us there; if memory
of the past may be allowed us--should we find any one of our dear ones
absent--of you who now stand around me! I speak to you all--not more to
one than to another--absent through his own fault, his own sin, his own
carelessness! Oh, children! you cannot tell my love for you--my anxious
care!--lest any of you should lose this inconceivable blessing. Work
on; strive on; and if we never meet again here--"
"Oh, papa, papa," wildly sobbed Annabel, "we shall meet again! You will
come back well."
"I trust we shall! I do trust I may! God is ever merciful and good. All
I would say is, that my life is uncertain; that, if it be His will not
to spare me, I shall have but preceded you to that better land.
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