portant in the household, and
necessarily always living with his father and mother, he took constant
part in their conversation, and was far more learned in things than in
books. In the place where they were settled, trustworthy boy society
was unattainable, and they had felt their little son, in danger of
being spoilt and made forward from his very goodness and
brightness--wrote Meta, 'If you find him a forward imp, recollect it is
my fault for having depended so much on him.'

His escort was a specimen of the work Norman had done, not actual
mission-work, but preparation and inspiriting of those who went forth
on the actual task. He was a simple-minded, single-hearted man, one of
the first pupils in Norman's college, and the one who had most fully
imbibed his spirit. He had been for some years a clergyman, and
latterly had each winter joined the mission voyage among the Melanesian
Isles, returning to their homes the lads brought for the summer for
education to the mission college in New Zealand, and spending some time
at a station upon one or other of the islands. He had come back from
the last voyage much out of health, and had been for weeks nursed by
Meta, until a long rest having been declared necessary, he had been
sent to England as the only place where he would not be tempted to
work, and was to visit his only remaining relation, a sister, who had
married an officer and was in Ireland. He was burning to go back again,
and eagerly explained--sagely corroborated by the testimony of the tiny
archdeacon--that his illness was to be laid to the blame of his own
imprudence, not to the climate; and he dwelt upon the delights of the
yearly voyage among the lovely islands, beautiful beyond imagination,
fenced in by coral breakwaters, within which the limpid water displayed
exquisite sea-flowers, shells, and fishes of magical gorgeousness of
hue; of the brilliant white beach, fringing the glorious vegetation,
cocoa-nut, bread-fruit, banana, and banyan, growing on the sloping
sides of volcanic rocks; of mysterious red-glowing volcano lights seen
far out at sea at night, of glades opening to show high-roofed huts
covered with mats: of canoes decorated with the shining white shells
resembling a poached egg; of natives clustering round, eager and
excited, seldom otherwise than friendly; though in hitherto unvisited
places, or in those where the wanton outrages of sandal-wood traders
had excited distrust, caution was neces