And a pleasant six weeks' visit she had, as she afterwards told her aunt. Spring buds were opening, and light spring breezes, and soft, though often flitting sunshine, brought joy to the bright young heart of the healthy girl, and returning vigour to Clara's still delicate frame. Never before had the cousins so much enjoyed being together; and much pleasant girlish talk was interchanged. But though Nora at first said little to her cousin as regarded the change she had experienced since they last met, Clara was not long in discovering the quiet light in Nora's eyes—the look of rest, so different from the unsatisfied one which at times she had worn in the days gone by. All testified to "a heart at peace with God."
And, moreover, Nora preached by her life; the unselfish spirit, the kind, loving words, the deep reverence for God's Word and for his holy day, all told from what source the peace and joy came. And somehow—as Clara told her father in one of his hurried visits, to see how the two girls were getting on—although Nora never sermonized her, or brought forth her own opinions, still she was never ashamed to speak of the love of Jesus, and to claim him as her own friend.
As she spoke these words, Mr. Ross bent over her and said, "Thank God, we may all claim Jesus as our Friend, if we will take him as our Saviour. I've been long in finding it out; but I have found it, my child, though at the eleventh hour. Seek you him, my child, while you are still young, and the same joy and peace which Nora has got will be yours also."
Clara's tears fell fast as her father spoke, for, indeed, for months past she had been weary and dissatisfied with her profitless life, and a longing after higher things had filled her heart; but she had feared the opposition she would meet with from all her home relations, and so had stifled the Spirit of God, and tried to drown the voice of conscience in a ceaseless round of so-called pleasure.
And now, to find that her own father had been feeling much as she had done, but, not content with convictions of sin, had found the rest and the peace she longed to possess. That night proved the turning-point in the life of Clara Ross; and as she and her cousin sat together, after Mr. Ross had returned home, the barrier of shyness between them on sacred things fell, and Clara learned for the first time the way in which Nora had been brought to decision in religious matters, and heard all about the field-meeting, and the servant of God whose words had set her free from Satan's chains.
Nature had spread her fairest, freshest mantle of tender green over hill and dale, ere the cousins left the Bridge of Allan. The last evening they spent together there, was one neither of them ever forgot, one that rose often in memory's eye when seas rolled between the friends.
Long they lingered, gazing out of the window on the fair scene before them. The sun was beginning to set when first they took their seats on the couch placed near the window. Light fleecy clouds, varied with crimson and purple glory, were floating about on the horizon, as if accompanying the sun to his resting-place; and after he had slowly sunk behind the hills, they glowed even more brilliantly with his beams, seeming now to be set in a background of molten gold, till the eye fell beneath the exceeding beauty of the sight. But gradually the tints paled, and at last changed into a soft gray, with only the faintest blush of rosy hue, paling and paling till the shades of evening crept over all, and a crescent moon cast its silvery beams on the scene.
Words exchanged that night were long remembered by the cousins; and as, ere they parted, their voices rose together in prayer to their Father in heaven, asking for grace to help in each time of need, in her heart Nora thanked God that he led her to the quiet resting-place, and gave to her the high honour of helping onward in the heavenly path a child of his who was groping till then in the darkness, seeking light, but finding none.
And Clara returned to her home, strong as of yore in body, to begin a new life of usefulness, to prove a comfort to her father, and a light, however feeble, to all who were in the home. From her heart now she could thank God for the long weeks of trying illness through which she had passed, when, withdrawn from the gay world's influence, she had had time to be still and to hear his voice, and been enabled by his grace to exchange the tinsel of a frivolous life for the true riches which she had formerly despised, but which she now esteemed as far better than gold and above rubies.
Nora wrote to her brother Ronald that Clara Ross had now begun the warfare of life under the royal banner.