“Not at all wonderful, John. No man can be liked by every one. God himself does not please all; nay as men are, I think it may stand with divinity to say He cannot.”
“He will like to see you, sir. He told me himself, that nearly all the Texan colonies brought not only their religion, but their preachers with them. He said it was these Protestant preachers who had fanned and kept alive the spirit of resistance to Spanish tyranny and to Roman priest-craft.”
“I have not a doubt of it, John. You cannot have a free faith in an enslaved country. They knew that the way of the Lord must be prepared.
“‘Their free-bred souls
Went not with priests to school,
To trim the tippet and the stole,
And pray by printed rule.
“‘And they would cast the eager word
From their hearts fiery core,
Smoking and red, as God had stirred
The Hebrew men of yore.’”
During the next two weeks many similar conversations made the hours to all three hearts something far more than time chopped up into minutes. There was scarcely a barren moment, and faith and hope and love grew in them rapidly toward higher skies and wider horizons. Then General Houston was so much relieved that he insisted on going back to His post, and John returned to Texas with him.
But with the pleasant memories of this short, stirring visit, and frequent letters from John and Richard, the summer passed rapidly to Phyllis. Her strength was nearly restored, and she went singing about the house full of joy and of loving-kindness to all living things. The youngest servant on the place caught her spirit, and the flowers and sunshine and warmth all seemed a part of that ampler life and happiness which had come to her.
Richard returned in the fall. He had remained a little later than he intended in order to be present at Antony’s marriage. “A very splendid affair, indeed,” he said; “but I doubt if Lady Evelyn’s heart was in it.” It was rather provoking to Phyllis that Richard had taken entirely a masculine view of the ceremony, and had quite neglected to notice all the small details which are so important in a woman’s estimate. He could not describe a single dress. “It seemed as if every one wore white, and made a vast display of jewelry. Pshaw! Phyllis, one wedding is just like another.”
“Not at all, Richard. Who married them?”
“There was a Bishop, a dean; and a couple of clergymen present. I imagine the knot was very securely tied.”
“Was the squire present?”