“It looks pleasant up there!” said she.
“Yes, with the morning sunshine on it.”
“I am sorry it happened that I could not go up with Nellie and the rest. I should have enjoyed it, and it would have been something always to remember.”
“Yes, it would have been something to remember,” said Dr Justin.
The sound of his voice had quite changed, and the look on his face also, Fidelia thought, as she glanced up at him.
“Have you ever been at the Summit?” said she; and then she remembered.
“Yes. Once I was on the Summit,” he answered gravely; and he did not remove his eyes from the mountain while it was in sight, nor did a word pass between them for some time after that. It was Dr Justin who spoke first, and his first words were about her friend Amos.
“I should like to take him West with me; and your friend Jabez Ainsworth as well. They are bound to go there first or last.”
“Oh, but you must not think of such a thing! His father would not like it. Amos is going to please his father now, he says, and go to college. Don’t speak of his going West, please.”
“Well, no; not just at present; but when these boys are ‘thoroughly furnished,’ as there is good hope they may be in time, the great West is the place for them, and for many more of their sort. They are needed there now, and will be needed still more in the future.”