‘“To meet the glad with cheerful smiles,
And to wipe the weeping eyes.”’
Was the ‘sorrow’ here spoken of, the delicate health of ‘her Laura?’ If the sister in India was ageing fast, the sister in England was failing fast. Parted as they had been during sixteen long years, the loving sympathy between them was as fresh and ardent as ever. A dread had long oppressed Mrs. Hamilton that ‘her Char.’ would soon be called away. But though the summons to the elder sister was indeed not far distant, that to the younger sister was to arrive first.
CHAPTER XIX
A.D. 1892
LIGHT AT EVENTIDE
The Evening of Miss Tucker’s life was passing fast away. Sixteen years of her long Indian campaign were over. Only two years remained. But the end of her Evening was to be Day, not Night. For nearly forty years she had looked forward with joy to the great change; for more than twenty she had longed with an impassioned craving for a sight, Face to face, of that dear Lord and Master whom she loved. And though she did not know it, the time was drawing very near. Could she have known it, the passing troubles of these months would have seemed easy to bear, in the light of coming glory. Barely two more years of toil and weariness,—and then—the Home-going!
One more heavy sorrow had to come first; one more sharp blow upon the golden staff of her Will. Many a blow had fallen since she wrote her little book, The Giant-Killer; many dear ones had been called away by death. And now the summons was going forth for the dearest of all; the sister-friend, who from very infancy had been one with herself. No shadow had ever fallen on their love one for another. Before the close of 1892 the shadow of death was to fall across it, leaving Charlotte Tucker more lonely in heart than she had ever been before. But the shadow was to fall for a very little while. Only a few months of separation; and then the sisters would be together again.
‘“Stay thy hand!”’ Fides exclaimed, in the story by A. L. O. E., as blow after blow fell on the golden staff. ‘“It can bear no more!”’