Work and pray, fear God and keep His commandments, love your
neighbor, and meddle not with those who are given to change,--these were
his cardinal points, from which he brought to bear on their consciences
much powerful doctrine and purifying precept. He was a man of high
courage and robust faith, who practised what he preached, and bore that
cheerful countenance which is a sign of a heart in prosperity.
After service Colonel and Mrs. Stokes walked home with Mr. Fairfax and
Bessie, lunched at Abbotsmead, and lounged about the garden afterward.
This was an institution. Sunday is long in country houses, and good
neighbors help one another to get rid of it. The Stokes's boys came in
the afternoon, to Bessie's great joy; they made a noisy playground of
the garden, and behaved just like Jack and Tom and Willie Carnegie,
kicking up their heels and laughing at nothing.
"There are no more gooseberries," cried their mother, catching the
younger of the two, a bluff copy of herself, and offering him to Bessie
to kiss. Bessie kissed him heartily. "You are fond of children, I can
see," said her new friend.
"I like a houseful! Oh, when have I had a nice kiss at a boy's hard,
round cheeks? Not for years! years! I have five little brothers and two
sisters at home."
Mrs. Stokes regarded Bessie with a touched surprise, but she asked no
questions; she knew her story in a general inaccurate way. The boy gazed
in her face with a pretty lovingness, rubbed his nose suddenly against
hers, wrestled himself out of her embrace, and ran away.
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