“I don’t know, I’m in a strange way—very happy, yet very restless.”
“I have seen souls before at their noon; hast thou not observed how the air seems to tremble sometimes at midday? This is not fear but fullness.”
“Oh, my shepherd, I’m not at noon yet, only dawn. I’ve only begun my work.”
“Has our missionary Cupid other couples at odds to reunite?”
“Perhaps so; but whether God calls me to such work or not, this much I know, He has put a burden on me.”
“Will Miriamne confide it to me—or has the lover dethroned the priest?”
“There now, never say that again! None on earth can dethrone in my heart my constant friend and guide; yea under God, my savior! Had there been no Father Adolphus there would have been no lover; at least no Christian Cornelius, as my heart’s lord.”
“I fear Miriamne in her generous desire to cheer a tired old man flatters.”
“No; not flattery, but just award. As the ancient captives on their return to their own Israel gave their wealth to provide crowns for their priests, so do I to-day offer the finest gold of my heart to the man who piloted me with purity, patience, and wisdom, along and over perilous ways, to happiness beyond all words to express.”
The old missionary’s face expressed the wondrous comfort he felt in the words of his convert.