Eunice Part 29

"Do go," said Mr Wainright; "and, if he is a friend of yours, ask him to stay to eat his Thanksgiving dinner with us. He will have something to be thankful for when he sees you, I should say."

"Of course--ask him to stay. And don't be long about it, for dinner is ready."

So Fidelia went in quickly, with both hands stretched out in eager welcome to the friend whom she had not seen for so many years.

"Can it be Jabez?" she said softly, pausing before she came near.

"I need not ask if it can be Fidelia. You haven't changed, except to grow a little like your sister."

"Ah, my Eunice!"

Was it the dear name that brought the tears to Fidelia's eyes, and the memory of so many sad and happy days? She could not hide them except by turning her face away, for Jabez held her hands firmly in his, and her smiles came quickly as she looked up at him.

"You are a happy woman, Fidelia. Your face tells me that before a word is spoken."

"Happy! Yes; and so glad to see you. How can it have happened that we have never met all these long years--never once since you left Halsey?"

"I have only been once in Halsey since I left it, and then you were on the other side of the sea, where I have been since."

They ought to have had much to say to each other after so long a time, but there was not much said for awhile. Fidelia looked on the face and listened to the voice at once so strange and so familiar, saying to herself how changed he was--and yet he seemed the same. He was a large man now, dark and strong, not at all in these respects like the slender sallow boy who had loitered about the garden in Halsey. But it was Jabez all the same. He was very grave and silent for a time, and walked up and down the room once or twice, pausing at the window which looked out upon the street, as though he had something to consider or to conquer before he could either listen or speak. After a little he came and sat down beside her.

"Well, Fidelia, you are a happy woman. You have lived through your troubles, and have come safely to the other side, thank G.o.d!"

"But, Jabez, it does not seem like trouble to look back upon it now.

Only think of my Eunice safe and blessed all these years. Why, I have not shed a tear for a long time--in sorrow!"

She might well add the word, for there were tears in her eyes and on her cheeks while she spoke; but there were smiles on her face as well, which made Jabez say--

"I thank G.o.d that you are happy now."

There was no time for more. The door opened and Mrs Wainright entered, followed by her husband. She did not need an introduction.

"I am glad to see you, Mr Ainsworth, and sorry to interrupt you so soon, but dinner is ready, and there will be time to visit afterwards."

Then she introduced her husband, whose welcome, though quiet, was sufficiently cordial. Then he said:

"I hope you have no other Thanksgiving dinner in view, for I think ours is to be a good one; and we are very happy to see you."

"I supposed that I was to spend Thanksgiving in Halsey, but a mistake as to connection, and then a breakdown on the road, left me here for the day. I shall be glad to give thanks with you, and with--Fidelia."

"I am sorry for your grandmother," said Fidelia.

"You need not be sorry. My visit was to be a surprise to them. It must wait till next summer now. I am going West again."

"Well, we will go to dinner now," said Mr Wainright, offering his arm to his wife. "Miss Marsh, you must show Mr Ainsworth the way."

"Miss Marsh?" said Jabez, turning astonished eyes upon her, as the others pa.s.sed out at the door.

"Why, who did you suppose me to be?" said Fidelia, laughing.

"I--I don't know. I asked the door-keeper at the church who was the singer to-day, and he said it was Mrs Wainright. But I am very glad he was mistaken."

"I sang to-day--"

"You cannot imagine how strange it was--how wonderful. I had been thinking about you all the morning--never supposing that you were within hundreds of miles of me--and I heard your voice, Fidelia," he added, taking both her hands in his. "It is Thanksgiving Day indeed with me to-day."

"And with me too," it was on Fidelia's lips to say, but she only said it in her heart. The joy that shone in her friend's eyes kept her silent, though why it should do so she could hardly have told.

They went very soberly into the dining-room, where a few friends besides the family were a.s.sembled. Fidelia sat between the two girls as usual, and Lucy whispered that her friend was the stranger who walked up the aisle, and that it must have been to to see where the voice came from, as Lena had said.

And Lena said: "How tall he is, and how strong! He is not the least like the lanky boy about whom you used to tell us funny stories."

Fidelia laughed and said softly, "Yes, he has changed--almost as much as the little girls to whom the stories were told. It is a long time ago, you must remember."

Mr Wainright was not mistaken. The dinner was a very good one, and pa.s.sed off, as all Mrs Wainright's dinners did, quite successfully. So did the evening with music and pleasant talk, and all else that was required for success. But it is not to be supposed that all this was quite satisfactory to Fidelia and her friend.

"There were so many things I wanted to hear about," said Mr Ainsworth.

"And I too," said Fidelia.

"I shall see you in the morning before I leave, if possible," said he.

He came in the morning, and he stayed all day.

He could, by travelling all night, get to M--in time to meet an engagement on Monday. He should have had to do so if he had gone to Halsey.

He had something to tell and much to hear. He had, he thought, a right to say that he had been fairly successful as a student. He had had to help himself, and had done so in various ways, but not more than was right, or than had been good for him. His last two years had been spent in Germany. He had gone there in charge of two lads, sons of a German merchant in the West. Of course he had availed himself of the opportunity to go on with his own studies at the university, and now he was going West to find his work.

It was a very poor sort of work in the opinion of Mr Wainright, who, coming in at the moment, heard him say that the next few months were to be spent in travelling through some of the newer states in the service of one of the great missionary societies, with a view to the encouragement and aid of weak Churches, and the establishment of new ones, in the small settlements springing up everywhere.

"It will be hard work," said Mrs Wainright. "And do you really suppose it will pay? Don't you think that all that sort of thing might be safely left to the people themselves?"

"It seems to be the work laid out for me just now," said Jabez, not caring to get into any discussion of the question.

"You might do far better work in an older community. It is the majority of the dwellers in our great cities which need most the civilising--or, if you like it better, the Christianising--influence which strong and good men can exercise in a community. It is from our great cities that power for good or for evil is sent out over all the land, in ways of which I need not tell you. If you have the will and the power to work for your fellow-men, it is not to these remote and spa.r.s.ely-settled parts of the country that you should go. You are needed more where crowds would gather to hear you."

But Mr Ainsworth shook his head.

"I have the will to work, and I trust, by G.o.d's grace, to have also the power. But I think I am best fitted for such work as is needed out in our newer settlements. It will be hard work, perhaps, but it will be work, direct and simple, for the good of men and the glory of G.o.d. I don't think I am so made and fashioned as to be likely to be very useful among such men as fill our great cities."

"There are all sorts of men in our great cities; and you can hardly tell what sort of work you are good for yet, till you try."

"And as to the importance of my work out there--it would be a good work, wouldn't it, to help to educate and influence some of the boys who come from country places to make the business men and the professional men of the great cities? Yes, and our senators and the governors of our states. You must know several country boys who have come to that."

"I know several certainly; and you may be right. We have a great country out there, which is getting filled up in a wonderful way with all sorts of people. G.o.d knows, some strong influence for good is needed among them."

"Yes, that is our hope--G.o.d knows," said Mr Ainsworth gravely.

This was the beginning of a long conversation, during which each man surprised the other, and each learned something from the other which bore fruit in the life of both in after years.