uld never come back at all, or if he do, should have to come over
sharp stones and through thorny paths."
"`So He bringeth them unto their desired haven,'" was Mr Keith's gentle
answer.
"I know!" she said, with a sigh. "I suppose I ought to pray and wait.
Father does, I am sure. But it is hard work!"
Mr Keith did not answer for a moment; and when he did, it was by
another bit of the Bible. At least I think it was the Bible, for it
sounded like it, but I should not know where to find it.
"`Wait on the Lord; be of good courage, and He shall strengthen thine
heart; wait, I say, on the Lord.'"
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Castleton, April the sixth.
Mr Keith left us so early this morning that there was not time for
anything except breakfast and good-bye. I feel quite sorry to lose him,
and wish I had a brother like him. (Not like Angus--dear me, no!) Why
could we four girls not have had one brother?
About half an hour after Mr Keith was gone, the Scots gentleman with
whom we were to travel--Mr Cameron--came in. He is a man of about
fifty, bald-headed and rosy-faced, pleasant and chatty enough, only I do
not quite always understand him. By six o'clock we were all packed into
his chaise, and a few minutes later we set forth from the inn door. The
streets of Carlisle felt like home; but as we left them behind, and came
gradually out into the open country, it dawned upon me that now, indeed,
I was going out into the great world.
We sleep here to-night, where Flora and I have a little bit of a
bed-chamber next door to a larger one where Mr Cameron and Angus are.
On Monday we expect to reach Abbotscliff. I am too tired to write more.
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Abbotscliff Manse, April the ninth.
I really could not go on any sooner. We reached the manse--what an odd
name for a vicarage!--about four o'clock yesterday afternoon. The
church (which Flora calls the kirk) and the manse, with a few other
houses, stand on a little rising ground, and the rest of the village
lies below.
But before I begin to talk about the manse, I want to write down a
conversation which took place on Monday morning as we journeyed, in
which Mr Cameron told us some curious things that I do not wish to
forget. We were driving through such a pretty little
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