"Of course," they cried together, each repeating portions of it again and again in the spirit of atonement.
"I suppose," said Mrs. Vardell, "that the mind undergoes a kind of relaxation after a delicious tension such as we experienced to-day."
I marvelled greatly at this relentless sweetness.
"I knew it was in the New Testament," said Josie triumphantly—and we silently accorded her the praise that was her due.
But I inwardly bethought myself of those silent granite lips in the frozen North, unthawed by tender speeches, yet each one the reservoir of my texts and sermons, as unforgotten as they were unsung.
XXV
ST. CUTHBERT'S SECOND CALL
My reluctant farewells had been said, my gracious entertainers had grown dim upon the wharf; and the Atlantic was greeting our ship with boisterous welcome. For the Atlantic is far travelled and loves to surprise those Southern shores with the waves of Northern waters.