THE DAY OF TRIAL AND DELIVERANCE.
AFTER a night of broken, uneasy sleep, poor Percy awoke at daybreak with a terrible consciousness that something dreadful was about to happen. The curtains of his window had been left unclosed, and the light had doubtlessly awoke him. His first feeling was one of anger and impatience at the carelessness of Deborah, which had thus shortened his only time of forgetfulness; but Percy repressed the angry emotion, and, raising himself a little on his bed, gazed forth on the scene before him.
It was not on the tanner's yard that he looked, though he knew that it lay beneath. The height of this room raised him above the sights and the sounds that annoyed him below. A wide, beautiful prospect lay before him: green meadows, surrounded by hedgerows, where cattle quietly pastured; fields of corn gently bending to the breeze of morn, and lovely wooded hills in the distance, yet lovelier from the white mist resting above them. The blue sky was dotted with rosy clouds, golden streaks illumined the east, where bright widening rays streamed up the sky, harbingers of the sun about to rise. Nature preached her sweet lesson to the heart of Percy.
"Oh! Faith should raise my soul," thought he, "above the sorrows and fears of this passing life! How fair a prospect lies before me, weak and unworthy as I am! The trials of earth will soon be exchanged for the endless glories of heaven; the Word of Truth, like those rays in the east, tell of the coming of the Sun of Righteousness, the Saviour whom, not seeing, yet I love! Lord! Strengthen, comfort, bless Thy child—I would lie still in Thy merciful hands—do unto me even as Thou wilt!" The heavy eyes of the sufferer closed, and gentle sleep came to him again.
It was not a sleep undisturbed by dreams; pain and fear seemed to haunt him still! He dreamt that, like Anne Ascue, he was stretched upon the rack, called to glorify God in the fires! Familiar objects mixed strangely in the scene—in the stern executioner, he recognised his surgeon, even the rack took the shape of the low couch upon which he had suffered so long. "Confess—retract!" rung in his ears, a feeling of terror oppressed his spirit, he struggled, he cried out in an agony of fear. When suddenly a light seemed to stream upon him from above—he raised his eyes and beheld a bright angel form, with white glittering wings folded behind him; a wreath of many-coloured beams encircled his brow, shedding additional lustre on the heavenly countenance, radiant with the glories of immortality! The deep calm gaze of those eyes that had never been dimmed by mortal sorrow or fear infused secret rapture and strength in the soul. With one hand the angel held forth a palm, with the other he pointed upwards to the skies! Percy awoke from that strange dream, praise on his lips, and peace in his heart.
Percy's uncle came to see him before leaving the house, and was struck by finding his nephew less depressed than usual.
"Percy, you are bearing up bravely," said he, in a kinder manner than was usual with him. "I shall make a point of being back before two—keep a good heart, my boy!"
A warmer glow of gratitude than he had ever felt before towards his uncle arose in the bosom of Percy. Deborah seemed to lay the table for breakfast with a more kindly air, and brought him the foot-rest without being asked. Even these trifles gave a feeling of solace to the sufferer; for the love of God shed abroad in our hearts sweetens all our relations with our fellow-creatures.
Hour passed after hour in that quiet house; and though tried by a feeling of sickening expectation, and rehearsing a hundred times in his mind the terrible scene of the operation—with his Bible in his hand, Percy was not wretched. His uncle returned earlier than he had expected; and long before two o'clock had struck, Willy Gore entered the room. Nor did he enter alone—with his mild blue eye and his silvery hair, Uncle Presgrave was close behind him.
"How kind, how very kind you are, to gather round me thus!" cried Percy. "One never feels the value of friends so much as in times of sickness and trial."