“John!” Mr. Fleetwood called for the waiter, in a loud, imperative voice.
That was enough. Mrs. Weir’s alarm was complete, and she fled precipitately from the house.
A few days afterward Mr. Fleetwood visited the neighborhood in which she had lived, but found her house vacant, and “To Let” on the door.
The task before Miss Harper was no light one. It required more than a single victory over the evil spirits who had gained, through disorderly rites, power in the child’s mind, to dispossess them. Scarcely a day passed in which Madeline did not relapse into moody states or show a strangely perverse will. Patience, gentleness, loving-kindness, all were brought into exercise; and sometimes the contest would be long and painful. But always the angel proved stronger than the demon, and the tried spirit of the child arose, through divine aid, superior to its foes.
As weeks and months glided onward, the old tranquil states returned, and the gentlest and sweetest of all the children was restored to herself again,—stood clothed and in her right mind. Mrs. Dainty, from whose eyes the veil had fallen, now saw the character of Florence in its true light. There had been no intrusions upon her selfish pride, no humiliating concessions required. A quiet dignity and gentle reserve had marked the conduct of Miss Harper from the hour their new relation began. Instead of having to throw up barriers against the too familiar approaches of an unwelcome inmate, Mrs. Dainty soon found that she must court, if she would have, equal intercourse.
With an easy grace and unobtrusive self-possession, Miss Harper took her place as one of the family. Before a year had passed, even Mrs. Dainty had learned to confide in her discretion, to defer to her judgment in all things relating to the children, and to regard her as a true friend. Mr. Fleetwood looked on, a happier man than he had been for many years. No tenderer love for a daughter was ever born in a father’s heart than that which he felt for the child of his adoption. And he was very proud of her. As she gradually passed into the refined and intelligent circles that opened spontaneously to receive her, and there became an object of unconscious attraction, the old man looked on with a swelling heart, while admiration blended with love and pride. And yet he loved her best of all for the daily duties through which she passed with such an earnest self-devotion. He saw the children of his weak, vain, worldly-minded niece growing daily more and more like their guide, companion, and friend. He had loved them from the beginning for their childish innocence and affection, but love took now a deeper tone, and gathered strength and emotion from the beauty of goodness that daily blossomed in their lives, the sweet presage of fruit in sunny autumn.
Of Mrs. Jeckyl no more was seen or heard. She vanished like an evil spirit when the sun-rays of truth stream down through the rifted clouds of error. The shadow of her presence had left a blight on the earth; but warm sunshine and gentle dews made the soil fruitful again, and good seeds, planted by careful hands, soon shot up the tender blade and covered the desert place with greenness. Mrs. Weir came not again. The warning of consequences had thoroughly alarmed her, and Adele was permitted to remain under the wise, religious care of Mrs. Elder. Very deeply had her young life been disturbed by the disorderly influences to which she had been subjected in her mother’s house; and there were times when the evil spirits who had gained access to her mind found some of the old avenues unguarded, and flowed in with their sphere of error, invading even the outer citadel of natural and corporeal life. But Mrs. Elder knew wherein lay the power of exorcism. She knew that as she filled the mind of Adele full, as it were, of the precepts and narratives of the Divine Word which was “in the beginning,” which was “with God,” and which “was God,” she would succeed in casting out the spirits who sought to rule her, and set her freed soul upon the Rock of Eternal Ages. She did not labor in vain.
And so good triumphed. The Angel was stronger than the Demon. The human souls that came forth from God, with God-given freedom of will, were restored to the orderly life into which they were created, free, as reason developed, to select, unbiassed by the intrusion of disorderly spiritual spheres, the paths of life in which they would move through the world. Without such rational freedom, spiritual regeneration is impossible; and any thing that disturbs such freedom cannot have its origin in heaven. So we read the doctrine of life; and, so reading it, we teach.
THE END.
STEREOTYPED BY L. JOHNSON & CO.
PHILADELPHIA.