It goes without saying that the woman who did and dared so much for her in time of trouble, is remembered by Mrs. Kirkland with intense and reverent affection. But it is important to add that she regards her lamented and devoted friend as an ideal missionary, whose wisdom and efficiency were as great as her affectionate devotion. Moreover, Mrs. Kirkland likes to think that she is not the only woman missionary on the Congo who endeavours to prosecute her work according to the plans and methods of one whose life was a model and whose memory is an inspiration.
CHAPTER XV
LAST FURLOUGH
In the middle of September, 1906, Mr. and Mrs. Lewis were busy at Kibokolo making plans for future work, and entertaining no thought of immediate return to England. Mr. Lewis had been ill, but was well again, and was on the point of starting for a local journey. Mrs. Lewis was expecting the arrival of Nlekai, to aid her in finishing and correcting a translation of the second part of “The Pilgrim’s Progress.” Yet, on November 9th, they were in the English Channel, aboard the ss. Bruxellesville, and Mr. Lewis wrote as follows to Mr. Wilson:—
“You will be surprised to hear that Mrs. Lewis and I are nearing England. When the last Antwerp mails left Congo we had no intention of returning so soon. Our letters had scarcely been posted when I went down with bilious fever, the second attack within a month; and as I have been suffering from repeated attacks since January, we decided to leave at once. We were able to take this step when Mr. Hooper returned to Zombo from Mabaya, without seriously crippling the work at Kibokolo. He arrived ten days before we left. At Matadi I saw Dr. Sims, who said that I had been suffering from continued fever for some time, and, to my astonishment, that I was in fever at the time of his examination. I think I am getting rid of it. Indeed, after a week at sea I felt comparatively well, and am now myself again. My wife is much run down and tired. We hope to reach Southampton to-morrow (Saturday) morning, and to proceed at once to London. We shall call to see you on Monday morning.”
This call was duly made, and later in the same week there ensued the necessary interview with Dr. Habershon, the physician of the B.M.S. Dr. Habershon reported that the illness which had sent Mr. Lewis home was “subsiding,” but felt moved by his study of both their cases to make representations to the Committee concerning the advisability of shortening the term of residence on the Congo between furloughs.
Late in December Mrs. Lewis was called upon to endure a great sorrow. Childless herself, her sister’s children had ever been dear to her, and became dearer as the years passed, and intercourse and mutual kindness strengthened the ties of nature and of spiritual affinity. Moreover, one of them, Eva, was called to the discipline of pain, lingering, long drawn out.
Not more than a year or two after that radiant holiday at Penmaenmawr, referred to in a previous chapter, Eva Percival, a beautiful and winsome girl, suffered from the first slight assaults of a mysterious nervous malady which defied the treatment and even baffled the diagnosis of the best physicians of the day. For ten years, with fluctuations and intervals of hopeful improvement, her trouble grew upon her, until at last, after much anguish, endured with the patience and the sweetness of a saint, it quenched her life.
When Mr. and Mrs. Lewis arrived in this country Eva’s case was grave, and her aunt was continually with her. Shortly before Christmas, Mr. Lewis was sent to Edinburgh to make close personal inquiry concerning the critical illness of the Rev. George Cameron, and to convey the sympathy of the Committee. It was felt that his presence and the loving messages which he bore might be elements of help to one who lay in extreme weakness. But while Mr. Lewis was in Edinburgh there occurred a sudden change for the worse in the case of his niece, Eva, scarcely less dear to him than to his wife. He was called back to London by telegram, and she died the next day.
In the presence of such facts the mystery of pain is so exigent that it compels us to assume a simple solution. The spiritual force expended, and the spiritual peace acquired, in the brave endurance of such affliction must have their mission and their future. God is not a prodigal Father Who wastes His substance in random ordinances; and what is there, in all the sum of His known belongings, more precious than such a soul as that of Eva Percival?