“The only person for whom I feel sorry in the midst of all this rejoicing,” observed Edith, “is your poor brother, Mr. Gritton. He will miss you so sadly, when all alone in that dreary house at Wildwaste.”
“I suspect that he will not be long alone,” said Isa.
“What!—is it true then?” asked Edith quickly, glancing up into the face of her companion; “but surely, surely it must grieve you to think of having Cora Madden as a sister!”
“Some months ago it would have grieved me inexpressibly,” replied Isa gravely. “I should have deemed such a connection a heavy misfortune; but Cora is changed, so much changed, since her illness.”
“I hear that the small-pox has left deep traces—”
“Yes, on her character,” interrupted Isa. “Cora is much softened, I hope humbled; there is so much less of asperity in her manner, of sarcasm in her tone. Is it not strange, Edith, that she of whom I once spoke so harshly when you and I stood here conversing together, should seem now to turn towards me with the affection of a sister?”
“You have indeed been a sister to her, dear Isa; often have I wondered at your courage in braving infection, and your unselfishness in enduring quarantine, and all for one whom you dis——whom you could not love. But yours was the courage, the self-devotion of faith, and God guarded you from the danger.”
“God has indeed crowned me with loving-kindness and tender mercies!” exclaimed Isa, whose quick eye had caught sight at that moment of a well-known form advancing up the avenue. All her cares and fears, all her difficulties and trials, had now been exchanged for exceeding joy; every cloud in her sky, like those round the sun, had become a golden mansion of light.
Shall earth be called only “a vale of tears,” and all its hopes be compared to a withering leaf? Is happiness below but a fading vision? Not so; for even here the Almighty can throw sunshine around His children, and sweeten their cup with drops from that fountain of bliss whose full stream shall refresh their spirits above! But for whom is such happiness prepared? Not for the fearful and unbelieving, not for the selfish and self-willed, but for those who, like Gideon, have obeyed God’s word and chosen His service, and rendered faithful obedience to Him whose mercy hath redeemed them. The Christian must not look for the victory without the struggle, nor hope for peace while the smallest sin retains dominion within the soul; it is on the night of conflict that dawns the morn of success; to God’s faithful warriors, faint, yet pursuing, was given the triumph of faith over Midian!
