[CHAPTER XIV.]
A FAMILY GATHERING.
"We shall meet in the Eden above,
In that beautiful land of the bleat;
All our trials and pains will be o'er
When we enter that mansion of rest."
FOURTEEN years have passed since our first glimpse of Benvourd House and its inmates. The month of September has come round again, when once more we take a look there. The house is full of visitors—so full, that Mr. Macleod says there must surely be three beds in every room; but his wife denies that fact, though she confesses that every little garret room is filled, and she is not sure that every one has a full complement of pillows. But, in answer to that, all declare themselves well satisfied; and the scanty accommodation only brings forth merry remarks from the youngsters of the party.
Time has, indeed, brought changes in the circle since first we saw them. There are silver threads not a few mingled with the dark hairs of both Mr. and Mrs. Macleod; and even Charlie, who was only a toddling two-year-old child when we first heard of him, is a fine manly-looking stripling of more than sixteen years old, the very idol of the three little girls and twin-brothers, who look up to him with great respect as their big man-brother. Well may the Macleods look with thankfulness at their six healthy, happy children; and if a tear dims their eyes as they think of the loved daughter so early taken to glory, it is but for a moment, for the child's short life had not been lived in vain, and the Lord had made her death a means of softening some hard hearts, and drawing the parents' affections more and more heavenward.
"The Lord hath been mindful of us, and he will bless us," was the unspoken utterance of both the owners of Benvourd House, as they looked round the assembled group.
Ronald, Eric, and Nora were there, though in altered circumstances from the time we first saw them. Beside Ronald, now a partner in his cousin's mercantile house in London, stood his fair wife, the Clara Ross of earlier years. They have only been married a few months, and this is their first trip since then to the Highlands. A quiet, happy light shines in Clara's eyes; and of her it can truly be said, she is a helpmeet for her husband. Hand in hand they are fighting beneath the royal banner of the great King; hand in hand they are engaged in the noble crusade which so many, thank God, are now waging against the powers of darkness in the overcrowded London streets; and from amongst many poor ones there, who through their instrumentality have been rescued from destruction, there are those who call them blessed.
Husband and wife have strolled out together, leaving a group of merry youngsters behind them. Ronald was the first to speak. "How well Nora looks, does she not, even with the thoughts of to-morrow's ceremony and the sad parting from so many whom she dearly loves. She wears a look of calm heart-joy; and the more I see of him, the more I feel that Eustace Ashley is the very husband for her, though one would fain have kept her in our own country. Still, when we think of the greatness of the work she is called upon to share as a missionary's wife, we dare not murmur; and every day it is becoming plainer that China, with its teeming millions, is a mighty field for mission work. Yes, as uncle said to me this morning, 'We must give her up willingly to the Lord's work, for he loveth a cheerful giver.'"
"And Eric, too, Clara, what a fine man he has turned out—first-rate at business, I hear! Indeed, Ashley told me yesterday that he knows the head of the firm in China where Eric is, and that he speaks confidently of ere long taking him in as a junior partner. If it be so, we may say his fortune, as regards this world, is made. And he is a true Christian, quiet, but real. We little thought, when he first went to Edinburgh to your father's house, Clara, that it was to be there he would awake to a personal knowledge of Christ!"
"And was it so, Ronald?" said Clara, in a surprised tone.