Janet's Love and Service

by Margaret M. Robertson

“But, whether or not,” said she, cheerfully, “I shall ay be glad and thankful for the quiet time we have had together. There are few who can say of those they love, that they wish nothing changed in their life or their lot; but I do say that of all your father’s bairns. No’ but that there may be some crook in the lot of one or other of you, that I canna see, and maybe some that I can see; but when the face is set in the right airt (direction) all winds waft onward, and that, I trust, is true of you all. And, Rosie, my dear, it takes a steady hand to carry a full cup, as I have told you, many a time; and mind, my bairn, ‘Except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it,’ and, ‘the foundation of God standeth sure.’ Miss Graeme, my dear, ‘They that wait on the Lord shall renew their strength,’ as you have learnt yourself long syne. God bless you both, and farewell.”

They had a very quiet and happy winter. They had to make the acquaintance of their new sister, and a very pleasant duty it proved, Harry had at one time indulged some insane hopes of having his little Amy safe in his own keeping before the snow came, but it was soon made plain to him by Mrs Roxbury, that this was not for a single moment to be thought of. Her daughter was very young, and she must be permitted at least one season to see something of society before her marriage. She was satisfied with the prospect of having the young merchant for a son-in-law; he had established a reputation of the most desirable kind among the reliable men of the city, and he was, besides, a gentleman, and she had other daughters growing up. Still it was right that Amy should have time and opportunity to be quite sure of herself, before the irrevocable step was taken. If Mrs Roxbury could have had her way about it, she should have had this opportunity before her engagement had been made, or, at least, before it had been openly acknowledged, but, as that could not be, there must be no haste about the wedding.

And so the pretty Amy was hurried from one gay scene to another, and was an acknowledged beauty and belle, in both civic and military circles, and seemed to enjoy it all very well. As for Harry, he sometimes went with her, and sometimes stayed at home, and fretted and chafed at the state of affairs in a way that even his sisters considered unreasonable, though they by no means approved of the trial to which Amy’s constancy was exposed. But they were not afraid for her. Every visit she made them—and many quiet mornings she passed with them—they became more assured of her sweetness and goodness, and of her affection for their brother, and so they thought Harry unreasonable in his impatience, and told him so, sometimes.

“A little vexation and suspense will do Harry no harm,” said Arthur. “Events were following one another quite too smoothly in his experience. In he walks among us one day, and announces his engagement to Miss Roxbury, as triumphantly as you please, without a word of warning, and now he frets and fumes because he cannot have his own way in every particular. A little suspense will do him good.”

Which was very hard-hearted on Arthur’s part, as his wife told him.

“And, besides, it is not suspense that is troubling Harry,” said Rose. “He knows quite well how it is to end. It is only a momentary vexation. And I don’t say, myself, it will do Harry any harm to have his masculine self-complacency disturbed a little, by just the bare possibility of disappointment. One values what it costs one some trouble to have and to hold.”

“Rose, you are as bad as Arthur,” said Fanny.

“Am I? Oh! I do not mean that Harry doesn’t value little Amy enough; but he is unreasonable and foolish, and it looks as if he were afraid to trust her among all those fine people who admire her so much.”

“It is you who are foolish, now, Rose,” said her sister. “Harry may be unreasonable, but it is not on that account; and Amy is a jewel too precious not to be guarded. No wonder that he grudges so much of her time, and so many of her thoughts to indifferent people. But it will soon be over now.”

“Who knows? ‘There’s many a slip ’twixt the cup and the lip,’ you know,” said Arthur. “Who knows but Harry may be the victim among us? Our matrimonial adventures have been monotonously prosperous, hitherto. Witness Rosie’s success. It would make a little variety to have an interruption.”