From the hour his favourite son had left his home, Dr. Warner became a changed man, and for a while even his loved studies lost their attraction. In vain Austin tried to interest him as of old, bringing many of his difficult problems to him to solve, and in all his varied studies seeking his help. Aid was always given, but the pleasure in so doing which he had once so keenly experienced was gone. And as time went on, both Priscilla and Austin grieved to see that even reading seemed an effort to him, and he would sit for hours with his hand covering his eyes, as if lost in thought.
Poor Priscilla! None can tell how she suffered as she witnessed his grief, and reflected that much of this bitter sorrow was, in part at least, caused by her wrong-doing.
Miss Vernon, to whom she now often turned for counsel, comforted her as best she could. But it was in Mrs. M'Ivor's motherly arms that Prissy sobbed out her grief, and it was Gabrielle's kind words and loving ways that cheered and brightened her path. Whilst the hourly increasing love which little Ruth showed to her was a source of untold pleasure.
And through those long months of trial, those who loved her most could see that the kingdom of God, which "cometh not always with observation, but which is within us," was indeed possessing more and more fully the heart of the talented girl.
[CHAPTER XI.]
HOME WORK.
"The trivial round, the common task,
Will furnish all we ought to ask—
Room to deny ourselves, a road
To bring us daily nearer God."
THREE years had passed since Lewis Warner had left the Grove, and as yet, no news had been received of him.
When one morning in autumn, Austin, now a fine-looking young man of eighteen years, stood in his sister's boudoir.
"Prissy," he said, "I want to know if you have forgotten your mathematics and entirely given up your study of astronomy?"