Chapter 25 - Page 2

used t' pleasure 'n comfort,' he said. 'Come kind o'
hard, at fast, but ye mus' try t' stan' it. If we're goin' t' hev sech flin
in Heaven as Deacon Hospur tells on we oughter begin t' practice
er we'll be 'shamed uv ourselves.'

The worst was over. Elizabeth began to laugh.

At length a strain of song came out of the distance.

'Maxwelton's braes are bonnie where early falls the dew.'

'It's Hope and Uncle Eb,' said David while I went for the lantern.
'Wonder what's kep' 'em s' late.'

When the lamps were lit the old house seemed suddenly to have
got a sense of what had been done. The familiar creak of the
stairway as I went to bed had an appeal and a protest. The rude
chromo of the voluptuous lady, with red lips and the name of
Spring, that had always hung in my chamber had a mournful,
accusing look. The stain upon her cheek that had come one day
from a little leak in the roof looked now like the path of a tear
drop. And when the wind came up in the night and I heard the
creaking of Lone Pine it spoke of the doom of that house and
its own that was not far distant.

We rented a new home in town, that week, and were soon settled
in it. Hope went away to resume her studies the same day I began
work in college.