[CHAPTER V.]
IT was understood that he was going when he said "Good-bye" to Elsie at the gate and to Katie at the door of the cottage. He was off to Norway on a fishing expedition, and September would be far on before his return.
How differently Elsie now thought of Norway from what she had done before! A few hours ago the distance had seemed so terrible, and a month so long; now, while every one else laments Mr. Gilmour's absence, and wonders how much of the parochial machinery will be kept running and free from entanglement while he is away, Elsie rejoices at it, or thinks she does.
The master of Rathlands returned to the Park in due course. Uncle Edward—an old friend of the late Mr. Mitchelson, and acquainted with the present one—was amongst the first to call and welcome him back. Under such circumstances the families slid rapidly into intimacy, and there was much going to and fro between the Park and the Priory.
Uncle Edward did not forget to talk to Mr. Mitchelson of his absent favourite, and carefully informed that gentleman of the many schemes for the well-being of the poor and neglected ones of the parish which the young clergyman had already inaugurated.
Mr. Mitchelson listened with deep interest to all these details, then said—
"When I hear what one young man has accomplished, and in so short a time, I take shame to myself when I think of all I might have done in as many years. True, I had a sorrow of no ordinary kind, but after the first smart of the wound was over, I might have found some comfort, and imparted much, if I had set myself to use the means God has given me for the benefit of those who had heavy trials without such alleviations as, in God's goodness, I have been permitted to enjoy."
"It is through the influence of such a man as you describe in Mr. Gilmour that I have been aroused to a sense of my own responsibility, and induced to return here and endeavour, in God's strength, to do my duty in the place to which He has called me."
"You have done well, Mitchelson," said Uncle Edward. "The past may—nay, must be—irreparable. The present is ours to work in, the future to hope for and prepare for. I can only wish you God-speed, and if an old man's head can help a young one's hand, mine, such as it is, may be counted upon."
As the masters of the Park and the Priory became more closely associated, it was quite natural that the rector should make a third in their consultations, and Mr. Gilmour's various helpers in the work of the parish were drawn into the same circle.