"What better can I do, than to the Place
Repairing, where he judged me, there confess
Humbly my Fault, and Pardon beg, with Tears
Of Sorrow unfeign'd, and Humiliation meek?"
. . . He met me at the very first Word. "I knew you would," he said; "I knew the kindest Thing was to send you to commune with your own Heart in your Chamber, and be still. 'Tis there we find the Holy Spirit and Holy Saviour in waiting for us; and in the House where they abide, as long as they abide in it, there is no Room for Satan to enter. But let this Morning's Work, Deb, be a Warning to you, not thus to transgress again. As long as we are in peaceful Communion among ourselves, there is a fine, invisible Cobweb, too clear for mortal Sight, spun from Mind to Mind, which the least Breath of Discord rudely breaks. You owe to your Mother a Daughter's Reverence; and if you behave like a Child, you must look to be punisht like a Child."
"I am not a mere Baby, neither," I said.
"No," he replied. "I see you can make Distinction between Teknia and Paidia; but a Baby is the more inoffensive and less responsible Agent of the two. If you are content to be a Baby in Grace, you must not contend for a Baby's Immunities. I have heard a Baby cry pretty loudly about a Pin."
This shut my Mouth close enough.
"You are now," he added gently, "nearly as old as your Mother was when I married her."
I said, "I fear I am not much like her."
He said nothing, only smiled. I made bold to pursue:—"What was she like?"
Again he was silent, at least for a Minute; and then, in quite a changed
Tone, with somewhat hurried in it, cried,—
"Like the fresh Sweetbriar and early May!
Like the fresh, cool, pure Air of opening Day . . .
Like the gay Lark, sprung from the glittering Dew . . .
An Angel! yet . . . a very Woman too!"