God bless us all, and keep our Phillis
safe from harm! Amen.' Old John's impromptu prayer was all we had
that night.
'Our Phillis,' as he called her, grew better day by day from that
time. Not quickly; I sometimes grew desponding, and feared that
she would never be what she had been before; no more she has, in
*some ways.
I seized an early opportunity to tell the minister about Timothy
Cooper's unsolicited watch on the bridge during the long Summer's
day.
'God forgive me!' said the minister. 'I have been too proud in my
own conceit. The first steps I take out of this house shall be to
Cooper's cottage.'
I need hardly say Timothy was reinstated in his place on the
farm; and I have often since admired the patience with which his
master tried to teach him how to do the easy work which was
henceforward carefully adjusted to his capacity. Phillis was
carried down-stairs, and lay for hour after hour quite silent on
the great sofa, drawn up under the windows of the house-place.
She seemed always the same, gentle, quiet, and sad. Her energy
did not return with her bodily strength. It was sometimes pitiful
to see her parents' vain endeavours to rouse her to interest.
Pages:
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183