apa grown very bald and archidiaconal; there
was Ethel's great achievement of influence, Dr. Spencer, beautiful in
his white hair; there were the vicar and the late and present
head-masters. The pleasure excited by all these gifts far exceeded the
anticipations of their donors, it seemed as if they had fallen on the
very moment when they would convey a sense of home, welcome, and
restoration. He did not say much, but looked up with liquid lustrous
eyes, and earnest 'thank you's,' and caressingly handled and examined
the treasures over and over again, as they lay round him on Dickie's
couch. 'I suppose,' said the child to him, 'it is like Job, when all
his friends came to see him, and every one gave him a piece of money.'

'He could hardly have enjoyed it more,' murmured Leonard, feeling the
restful capacity of happiness in the new possession of the child's
ardent love, and of the kind looks of all around, above all, of the one
presence that still gave him his chief sense of sunshine. The boyish
and romantic touch of passion had, as Ethel had long seen, been burnt
and seared away, and yet there was something left, something that, as
on this evening she felt, made his voice softer, his eye more
deferential, to her than to any one else. Perhaps she had once been
his guiding star; and if in the wild tempests of the night he had
learnt instead to direct his course by the "Brightest and best of the
sons of the morning," still the star would be prized and distinguished,
as the first and most honoured among inferior constellations.

CHAPTER XXIX

Till now the dark was worn, and overhead
The lights of sunset and of sunrise mixed.--TENNYSON

At New York, Tom wrote a short letter to announce his safe arrival, and
then pushed on by railway into Indiana. Winter had completely set in;
and when he at length arrived at Winiamac, he found that a sleigh was a
far readier mode of conveyance to Massissauga than the wagons used in
summer. His drive, through the white cathedral-like arcades of forest,
hung with transparent icicles, and with the deep blue sky above,
becoming orange towards the west, was enjoyable; and even Massissauga
itself, when its skeleton trees were like their neighbours, embellished
by the pure snowy covering, looked less forlorn than when their death
contrasted with the exuberant life around. He stopped at the hotel,
left his baggage there, and after undergoing a catechism on his
personal affair