'"
"Go to chapel; it is nearer. And take Mrs. Bunny with you," said Mr.
Carnegie.
"No, sir. Mrs. Wiley has been very kind in calling and taking notice
since I have been laid up, and one good turn deserves another. I shall
attend church in future, though the doctrine's so shocking that if folks
pondered it the lunatic asylums wouldn't hold 'em all. I'll never
believe as the Lord meant us to be threatened with judgment to come, and
hell, and all that, till one's afraid to lie down in one's bed. He'd not
have let there be an end of us if we didn't get so mortal tired o'
living."
"Living is a weariness that men and women bear with unanimous patience,
Mrs. Christie--aches and pains included."
"So it may be, sir. We are fearfully and wonderfully made. A week ago I
could not have thought the pleasure it would be to-day to see the sun,
and the pretty things in flower, and my boy going out with his
color-box. And not as much physic have you given me, Mr. Carnegie, as
would lie on a penny-piece."
Bessie Fairfax laughed as they rode on, and said, "Nobody changes. I
should be tempted to give Mrs. Christie something horribly nasty for her
ingratitude."
"Nobody changes," echoed the doctor. "She will be at her drugs again
before the month is out."
A little beyond the wheelwright's, Mr. Carnegie pulled up at a spot by
the wayside where an itinerant tinker sat in the shade with his brazier
hot, doing a good stroke of work on the village kettles and pots: "Eh,
Gampling, here you are again! They bade me at home look out for you and
tell you to call.
Pages:
443
444
445
446
447
448
449
450
451
452
453
454
455
456
457
458
459
460
461
462
463
464
465
466
467