The rector and the squire were in their slippers, on each side of the ample hearth, and they had each, also, a long, clean, clay pipe in their mouth. The serenity of their faces, and their air of thorough comfort was a delightful picture to Phyllis. She placed herself close to her uncle, with her head resting on his shoulder. The two men were talking in easy, far-apart sentences of "t.i.thes," and, as the subject did not interest her, she let her eyes wander about the old room, noting its oaken walls, richly carved and almost black with age, and its heavy oaken furniture, the whole brightened up with many-colored rugs, and the gleaming silver and crystal on the high sideboard, and the gay geraniums and roses in the deep bay windows. The table, covered with snowy damask, seemed a kind of domestic altar, and Phyllis thought she had never seen Elizabeth look so grandly fair and home-like as she did that hour, moving about in the light of the fire and candles.
She did not wonder that Richard heard nothing of the conversation, and that his whole attention was given to his promised wife.
The squire got the delicacies he wanted, and really it appeared as if his advice was very good medicine. Happiness, hope, and a sense of grat.i.tude was in each heart. The old room grew wonderfully cozy and bright; the faces that gathered round the table and the fire were full of love, and sweet, reasonable contentment. When supper was over Richard and Elizabeth went quietly into the great entrance hall, where there was always a little fire burning. They had their own hopes and joys, in which no heart, however near and dear, could intermeddle, and this was fully recognized. Phyllis only gave them a bright smile as they withdrew. The squire ignored their absence; Antony was at Eltham; for an hour the two little groups were as happy as mortals may be.
The rector had another pipe after supper, and still talked fitfully about "t.i.thes." It seemed to be a subject which fitted in comfortably to the pauses in a long pipe. But when he had finished his "thimbleful"
of tobacco, and shaken out its ashes carefully, he looked at Phyllis with a face full of renewed interest, and said,
"Squire, do you know that your niece thinks John Wesley was a High-Churchman?"
"What I meant, sir, was this: Wesley had very decided views in favor of the Episcopacy. He would suffer none to lay unconsecrated hands upon the sacraments; and in personal temperament, I think he was as ascetic as any monk."
"Do you think, then, that if he had lived before the Reformation he might have founded an order of extreme rigor, say, like La Trappe?"
"No, indeed, sir! He might have founded an order, and it would, doubtless, have been a rigorous one; but it would not have been one shut up behind walls. It would have been a preaching order, severely disciplined, perhaps, but burning with all the zeal of the Redemptionist Fathers on a mission."
The squire patted the little hand, which was upon his knee, and proudly asked,
"Now, then, parson, what does ta say to that?"
"I say it would be a very good description of "the people called Methodists" when they began their crusade in England."
"It is always a good description of them when they have missionary work to do. We have had brave soldiers among the Fontaines, and wise statesmen, also; but braver than all, wiser than all, was my grandfather Fontaine, who went into the wilderness of Tennessee an apostle of Methodism, with the Bible in his heart and his life in his hand. If I was a man, I would do as Richard always does, lift my hat whenever his name is mentioned."
"Such ministers are, indeed, spiritual heroes, Miss Fontaine; men, of whom the world is not worthy."
"Ah, do not say that! It was worthy of Christ. It is worthy of them.
They are not extinct. They are still preaching--on the savannas of the southwest--on all the border-lands of civilization--among the savages of the Pacific isles, and the barbarians of Asia and Africa; voices crying in the wilderness, "G.o.d so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son" for its salvation. A Methodist preacher is necessarily an evangelist. Did you ever happen to read, or to hear Wesley"s "charge" to his preachers?"
"No, I never heard it, Miss Fontaine."
"If ta knows it, Phyllis, dearie, let him hev it. I"se warrant it"ll fit his office very well."
"Yes, I know it; I have heard it many a time from my grandfather"s lips. In his old age, when he was addressing young preachers, he never said any thing else to them. "Observe," charged Wesley, "it is not your business to preach so many times, or to take care of this or that society, but to save as many souls as you can.""
"Now, then, that"s enough. Phyllis, dearie, lift t" candle and both o" you come wi" me; I"ve got summat to say mysen happen."
He had that happy look on his face which people wear who are conscious of having the power to give a pleasant surprise. He led them to a large room above those in the east wing which were specially his own. It was a handsome bedroom, but evidently one that was rarely used.
"Look "ee here, now;" and he lifted the candle toward a picture over the fire place. "Who do you mak" that out to be?"
"John Wesley," said Phyllis.
"For sure; it"s John Wesley, and in this room he slept at intervals for thirty years. My great grandfather, Squire Gregory Hallam, was a Methodist--one o" t" first o" them--and so you see, Phyllis, my la.s.s, you hev come varry naturally by your way o" thinking."
The rector was examining the face with great interest. "It is a wonderful countenance," he said; "take a look at it, Miss Fontaine, and see if it does not bear out what I accidentally said about La Trappe."
"No, indeed, it does not! I allow that it is the face of a refined, thorough-bred ecclesiastic. He was the son of the Church."
"Yes; he came, indeed, from the tribe of Levi."
"It is a fine, cla.s.sical, clearly-chiseled face--the face of a scholar and a gentleman."
"A little of the fanatic in it--admit that. I have seen pictures of grand inquisitors, by Velasquez, which resemble it."
"You must not say such things, my dear rector. Look again. I admit that it is a clever face, and I have seen it compared to that of Richelieu and Loyola, as uniting the calm iron will and acute eye of the one with the inventive genius and habitual devotion of the other; but I see more than this, there is the permeation of that serenity which comes from an a.s.surance of the love of G.o.d."
"G.o.d love thee, Phyllis! Thou"lt be makkin" a Methodist o" me, whether I will or no. I hed no idea afore there was a" that in t" picture.
I wont stay here any longer. Thanks be! It"s sleeping-time, missee."
"I should like to sleep in this room, squire."
"Why, then, rector, thou shall. A bit o" fire and some aired bed-clothes is a" it wants. Thou"s sure to sleep well in it, and thou"lt hev t" sunrise to wake thee up."
And Phyllis thought, when she saw him in the morning, that he had kept some of the sunshine in his face. He was walking up and down the terrace softly humming a tune to himself, and watching the pigeons promenade with little, timid, rapid steps, making their necks change like opals with every movement. The roofs and lintels and the soft earth was still wet, but the sun shone gloriously, and the clear air was full of a thousand scents.
"How beautiful all is, and how happy you look," and Phyllis put her hand in the rector"s, and let him lead her to the end of the terrace, where she could see the green country flooded with sunshine.
"Did you sleep well in Wesley"s chamber?"
"I slept very well; and this morning the pleasantest thing happened.
Upon a little table I saw a Bible lying, and I read the morning lesson, which was a very happy one; then I lifted another book upon the stand.
It was "The Pilgrim"s Progress;" and this was the pa.s.sage I lighted upon: "The Pilgrim they laid in a large upper chamber facing the sunrising. The name of the chamber was Peace." There was a pencil-mark against the pa.s.sage, and I fancy John Wesley put it there. It was a little thing, but it has made me very happy."
"I can understand."
"G.o.d bless you, child! I am sure you can."
CHAPTER III.
"He shall call upon me, and I will answer him: I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him, and honor him." Psa. xci, 15.
"Alas for hourly change! Alas for all The loves that from his hand proud Youth lets fall, Even as the beads of a told rosary!"
That very day Richard received a letter from Bishop Elliott. He was going to the Holy Land and wished Richard to join him in Rome, and then accompany him to Palestine. Richard preferred to remain at Hallam, but both Elizabeth and Phyllis thought he ought to respond to the Bishop"s desire. He was an aged man among strangers, and, apart from inclination, it seemed to be a duty to accede to his request. So rather reluctantly Richard left Hallam, half-inclined to complain that Elizabeth was not sorry enough to part with him. In truth she was conscious of feeling that it would be pleasant to be a little while alone with the great joy that had come to her; to consider it quietly, to brood over it, and to ask some questions of her soul which it must answer very truthfully.
People of self-contained natures weary even of happiness, if happiness makes a constant demand upon them. She loved Richard with the first love of her heart, she loved him very truly and fondly, but she was also very happy through the long summer days sitting alone, or with Phyllis, and sewing pure, loving thoughts into wonderful pieces of fine linen and cambric and embroidery. Sometimes Phyllis helped her, and they talked together in a sweet confidence of the lovers so dear to them, and made little plans for the future full of true unselfishness.
In the cool of the day they walked through the garden and the park to see Martha; though every day it became a more perplexing and painful duty. The poor woman, as time went by, grew silent and even stern.
She heeded not any words of pity, she kept apart from the world, and from all her neighbors, and with heart unwaveringly fixed upon G.o.d, waited with a grand and pathetic patience the answer to her prayers.
For some reason which her soul approved she remained in the little chapel with her pet.i.tion, and the preacher going in one day, unexpectedly, found her prostrate before the communion table, pleading as mothers only can plead. He knelt down beside her, and took her hand, and prayed with her and for her.
Quite exhausted, she sat down beside him afterward and said, amid heart-breaking sobs, "It isn"t Ben"s life I"m asking, sir. G.o.d gave him, and he"s a fair right to tak" him, when and how he will. I hev given up asking for t" dear lad"s life. But O if he"d n.o.bbut clear his good name o" the shameful deed! I know he"s innocent, and G.o.d knows it; but even if they hang Ben first, I"ll give my Maker no peace till he brings the guilty to justice, and sets t" innocent in t" leet o"
his countenance."