“How is that?” I asked; “is this new family connected with the Tyrrells?”
“Oh yes; Aunt Prudence has told me all about it. Mr. Fenton, the gentleman who has bought the property, is the grandson of Emily Tyrrell that was, and he has lived in Alabama a great many years. It seems he is a strong Union man; and when this rebellion broke out, he got into trouble, and has been all this time trying to get away; and now the family have come, but he stays behind to try and save some more of his money. Mrs. Fenton is very sick, and has been for a great while; but there is a grown-up daughter and another young lady, a niece, who is said to be an heiress, and a son, who I rather think is in the rebel army, though there isn’t much said about it.”
“Are the family coming immediately?” I inquired, for Miss Letty’s account had awakened my interest in these refugees from rebel tyranny.
“They are expected every day, but I’m sure the house is any thing but ready for them. When I heard about the poor sick lady, I felt like taking right hold and putting things to rights; but it would not have been taken kindly by Aunt Prudence, so I held my tongue. Mrs. Ryder and Mabel were there, seeing to the furniture and pictures, for it seems that when Mr. Ryder went south for his health, three years ago, he got acquainted with this family, and that is the way they found out that the house was for sale and got it. There was quite a company of Beach Hill people there, and among the rest Robert Lester, the fine-looking young lawyer. I don’t often take a fancy to young men—you needn’t smile, Nellie—but I do like that young man wonderfully. There’s something so noble about him; and yet he’s as gentle as a woman.”
I assented cordially to Miss Letty’s praise of the young lawyer, for he had been a favorite of mine from his first appearance in our town. He was alone in the world, having no relatives but one sister, who was at a boarding-school at some distance from Woodbury. His legal knowledge and splendid powers as a speaker made him a marked man in the community, and he was rising rapidly in his profession, while his private character, so pure and manly, won the esteem and friendship of all.
Unlike too many young men, Mr. Lester had not been ashamed to avow himself a Christian by a public profession of his faith in Jesus; and young as he was, Mr. Ryder had found him an efficient helper in every good word and work, while even infidels and scoffers were compelled to admire his consistency and firmness of principle.
When the war broke out, and with thousands of others the young men of our village sprang to arms, we expected Robert Lester would be one of the first to go, for all knew his patriotic devotion to the cause of liberty; but to our surprise he did not enlist, though he looked sad enough when the first company marched away, carrying with them our best wishes and prayers for their success. He was not a man whom one would like to question about his reasons for any course of conduct, so we waited to hear what he would say, but he said nothing.
The second company went, and still no word from him, though his efforts to promote the good cause were laborious and incessant. There was some mystery about it, for when urged to accept the command of a company, he replied hastily,
“Do not ask it. I would give ten of the best years of my life to be able to say yes, but I cannot go. I can help to send others, however, and that I am doing with all my heart.”
In fact his purse was always open, and as his fortune was large, the streams of his benevolence flowed in various channels, making glad many a heart which the war had made desolate.