The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Old Helmet, Volume II, by Susan Warner

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Title: The Old Helmet, Volume II

Author: Susan Warner

Release Date: October 7, 2008 [EBook #26830]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE OLD HELMET, VOLUME II ***

Produced by Daniel Fromont

[Transcriber's note: Susan Warner (1819-1885), _The Old Helmet_ (1864),
Tauchnitz edition 1864, volume 2]

THE OLD HELMET.

BY

THE AUTHOR OF "WIDE, WIDE WORLD."

AUTHORIZED EDITION.

IN TWO VOLUMES

VOL. II.

LEIPZIG

BERNHARD TAUCHNITZ

1864.

THE OLD HELMET.

CHAPTER I.

IN THE SPRING.

"Let no one ask me how it came to pass;
It seems that I am happy, that to me
A livelier emerald twinkles in the grass,
A purer sapphire melts into the sea."

Eleanor could not stay away from the Wednesday meetings at Mrs.
Powlis's house. In vain she had thought she would; she determined she
would; when the day came round she found herself drawn with a kind of
fascination towards the place. She went; and after that second time
never questioned at all about it. She went every week.

It was with no relief to her mental troubles however. She was sometimes
touched and moved; often. At other times she felt dull and hopeless.
Yet it soothed her to go; and she came away generally feeling
inspirited with hope by something she had heard, or feeling at least
the comfort that she had taken a step in the right direction. It did
not seem to bring her much more comfort. Eleanor did not see how she
could be a Christian while her heart was so hard and so full of its own
will. She found it perverse, even now, when she was wishing so much to
be different. What hope for her?

It was a great help, that during all this time Mrs. Caxton left her
unquestioned and uncounselled. She made no remarks about Eleanor's
going to class-meeting; she took it as a perfectly natural thing; never
asked her anything about it or about her liking it. A contrary course
would have greatly embarrassed Eleanor's action; as it was she felt
perfectly free; unwatched, and at ease.

The spring was flushing in