Ch. 13 - Waking Up

EVERY thing did "go beautifully" for a time; so much so, that
Christie began to think she really had "got religion." A delightful
peace pervaded her soul, a new interest made the dullest task
agreeable, and life grew so inexpressibly sweet that she felt as if
she could forgive all her enemies, love her friends more than ever,
and do any thing great, good, or glorious.

She had known such moods before, but they had never lasted long, and
were not so intense as this; therefore, she was sure some blessed
power had come to uphold and cheer her. She sang like a lark as she
swept and dusted; thought high and happy thoughts among the pots and
kettles, and, when she sat sewing, smiled unconsciously as if some
deep satisfaction made sunshine from within. Heart and soul seemed
to wake up and rejoice as naturally and beautifully as flowers in
the spring. A soft brightness shone in her eyes, a fuller tone
sounded in her voice, and her face grew young and blooming with the
happiness that transfigures all it touches.

"Christie 's growing handsome," David would say to his mother, as if
she was a flower in which he took pride.

"Thee is a good gardener, Davy," the old lady would reply, and when
he was busy would watch him with a tender sort of anxiety, as if to
discover a like change in him.

But no alteration appeared, except more cheerfulness and less
silence; for now there was no need to hide his real self, and all
the social virtues in him came out delightfully after their long
solitude.

In her present uplifted state, Christie could no more help regarding
David as a martyr and admiring him for it, than she could help
mixing sentiment with her sympathy. By the light of the late
confessions, his life and character looked very different to her
now. His apparent contentment was resignation; his cheerfulness, a
manly contempt for complaint; his reserve, the modest reticence of
one who, having done a hard duty well, desires no praise for it.
Like all enthusiastic persons, Christie had a hearty admiration for
self-sacrifice and self-control; and, while she learned to see
David's virtues, she also exaggerated them, and could not do enough
to show the daily increasing esteem and respect she felt for him,
and to atone for the injustice she once did him.

She grubbed in the garden and green-house, and learned hard
botanical names that she might be able to talk intelligently upon
subjects that interested her comrade. Then, as autumn ended
out-of-door work, she tried to make home more comfortable and
attractive than ever.

David's room was her especial care; for now to her there was
something pathetic in the place and its poor furnishing. He had