“Oh, mother! mother! speak no more of dying! You will surely get better now!” said Evan, looking up, while his thin pale face assumed a momentary glow of pleasure. “Try now to get better! I never could work as well, if you were not waiting to see me come home! We shall be so happy now!”

“Yes! I am happy!” said Mrs. Mackay, solemnly looking towards heaven, with an expression that could not be mistaken. “The last cord is cut that bound me to the earth; and may you, Sir, find hereafter the blessings that are promised to those who visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction.”

[173]
]CHAPTER XII.
THE YOUNG MIDSHIPMAN.

When hands are link’d that dread to part,

And heart is met by throbbing heart;

Oh! bitter, bitter is the smart

Of them that bid farewell.

Heber.

Next Monday morning, at an early hour, Frank had again found his way with great difficulty to the house of Widow Mackay, where he spent all his pocket money on two fine scarlet geraniums. If they had been nettles or cabbages, he would have felt the same pleasure in buying them; and his eyes sparkled with animation when he entered uncle David’s room, carrying them in his hand, and saying, “I was so glad to have some money! I could spare it quite well. There is no greater pleasure in being rich than to help such poor people as Evan Mackay and his poor sick mother!”

“Yes, Frank, I often wonder that any enjoyment of wealth can be considered equal to the exercise of kind feelings, for surely the most delightful sensation in this world is, to deserve and receive the grateful affection of those around us,” replied Major Graham. “What a wretched being Robinson Crusoe was on the desert island alone, though he found chests of gold, and yet many people are as unblessed in the midst of society, who selfishly hoard [174] ]fortunes for themselves, unmindful of the many around who ought to be gratefully receiving their daily benefits.”