“You may not—but what then, there’s another day.”
“But to-morrow will be Christmas Eve!” here his voice began to tremble.
“Never mind, my lad, come with me, and if I find you a good boy, I will try to help you on the way.” And reaching forth, he grasped the unresisting hand of Arthur.
It was long since the poor boy had heard words of kindness, and there was something in the warm grasp of that hard hand, and in the tones of that coarse voice which recalled the visions of the past, and the tears silently coursed each other down his cheeks, as he involuntarily clung closer to the side of his companion.
When the cottager arrived at his neat home, there burned a bright, cheerful blaze, around which his wife and children waited his return. He presented Arthur, saying, “Here, Mary, I have brought you a little traveler to spend the night, who is on his way to P—— to see his sister, and has walked all the way from L—— this cold day.”
“Poor boy!” said she, rising, and taking his cold hands within her own, then brushing his dark locks from his pale brow, and glancing at her own hearty, cheerful-faced little ones, (who had clustered around to get a sly peep at the stranger,) she murmured, “Poor boy, a mere child, to be going so far! Have you no mother?”
Poor Arthur could bear no more; at the name of mother, he bent his head, and sobbed aloud.
Pressing him to her heart, while the tears streamed down her own benevolent face, she said, hushingly, “There, there now, never mind! God takes care of the orphan!” while her good husband, who had taken the youngest child upon his knee, brushed his sleeve across his eyes, saying, “There, there, never mind; don’t cry, and to-morrow Johnny shall take you a good bit of your journey on the old mare.”
The good couple had so won on Arthur’s heart, that ere supper was over he had told them his simple tale; and they felt a still deeper interest when they found in him the companion of their eldest son, who had been in Mr. Buckler’s store for several years. And as he knelt with them ere he retired to rest, and heard them ask God to bless and protect him, a feeling of happiness crept over his soul, such as he had never felt since that fearful night on which he had sought bread for his dying mother.
[Conclusion in our next.