"We are just as sure of it as though we were there this minute! Girls, don"t you know how nice we thought it would be to be together at Chautauqua for two whole weeks? Now think of being together, there, for a million years!" But the thought which filled Flossy"s heart with a sweet song of melody, and wreathed her face in glad smiles, was such an overwhelming one to Marion, so immense with power and possibility, that it seemed to her to take her very breath; she turned abruptly from the rest and walked to the Teasel"s side to still the throbbing of her heart.
Meantime the boat had been filling with pa.s.sengers, and now she was getting under way. Still the hush continued; the people stood closely around the railing, on the Chautauqua side, and looked lovingly back at the fair point of land that lay before them in glowing moonlight.
Presently a leading voice began to sing:
"There"s a land that is fairer than day, And by faith we can see it afar; For the Father waits over the way To prepare us a dwelling-place there.
We shall meet in the sweet by and by, On that beautiful sh.o.r.e in the sweet by and by, We shall meet on that beautiful sh.o.r.e."
Before the chorus was reached, every voice that could sing at all must have taken up the strain. Marion, for the first time in years gave a hint of the full compa.s.s of her powers, making Ruth turn suddenly towards her, with a brightening face, for she saw how the singing and the playing could fit into each other, and do good service.
On and on stole the vessel through the silver water. The courteous captain came around quietly for his tickets, and to one and another with whose faces he had grown familiar he said: "We shall miss you; the Col. Phillips has been proud of carrying you all safely back and forth."
One said to him in return: "I hope, captain, we shall all land at last safe in the harbor." And the captain bowed his answer in silence. It would have been hard to speak words just then.
But ever and anon that leading voice took up words of song.
Still the song that best seemed to suit all hearts was that tender "By and by," and as the lights along the Chautauqua sh.o.r.e grew dim it rose again in swelling volume:
"We shall meet, we shall sing, we shall reign, In the land where the saved never die; We shall rest free from sorrow and pain, Safe at home in the sweet by and by."
Then the refrain, repeated and re-repeated, until, as the last lingering note of it died away, the boat touched at the wharf, and looking back, they saw that the Chautauqua lights were out, and silence and darkness had Fairpoint.
"Good-bye," Marion said, and she bowed towards the distant sh.o.r.e; she was smiling, but her lips were quivering.
"We shall meet in the sweet by and by," Flossy quoted, but her voice trembled.
"There is a chance to do grand work first, that the final meeting may be infinitely larger, because of us."
This the leading voice in the singing said, as he held out his hand to say good-bye. And as they took it some of the girls noticed for the first time that it was Mr. Roberts; as for Flossy, she had known it all the time.
"We are going to try to do some of the work, Mr. Roberts," Eurie said; "I have found the road to Bethany since I saw you, the _real_ road, and we are going to try and keep it well trodden."
He was shaking hands with Flossy, as Eurie spoke, and he still held her hand while he answered: "Good news! There is plenty of work to do. It is well that Chautauqua has gathered in new reapers. I am coming to your city, next winter; I shall want to help you. Good-bye."