y
houseroofs of Pattaquasset, Faith lighted her fire in the sitting-room,
and her lamp on the table; and after what in the first place was often
a good while with her Bible, she bent herself to the deep earnest
absorbed pressing into the studies she was pursuing with Mr. Linden--or
such of them as the morning had time for. Faith could not lengthen the
day at the other end; to prevent the sun was her only chance; and day
after day and week after week, through the short days of February, she
had done solid work and a deal of it before anybody in the house saw
her face in the kitchen or at breakfast. They saw it then as bright as
ever. Mr. Linden only knew that his scholar made very swift and smooth
progress. He would have known more, for Faith would have shewn the
effects of her early hours of work in her looks and life the rest of
the day, but happiness is strong; and a mind absolutely at peace with
God and the world has a great rest! Friction is said to be one of the
notable hindering powers in the world of matter--it is equally true,
perhaps, of the world of spirit. Without it, in either sphere, how
softly and with how little wear and tear, everything moves! And Faith's
life knew none.

CHAPTER XI.

It was near the end of February,--rather late in the afternoon of a by
no means balmy day, in the course of which Dr. Harrison had arrived to
look after his repairs. But the workmen had stopped work and gone home
to supper, and the doctor and his late dinner sat together. Luxuriously
enough, on the doctor's part, for the dinner was good and well cooked,
the bottles of wine irreproachable (as wine) in their silver stands,
the little group of different coloured glasses shining in the
firelight. The doctor's fingerbowl and napkin stood at hand, (at this
stage of the proceeding) his half-pared apple was clearly worth the
trouble, and he himself--between the fire and his easy-chair--might be
said to be "in the lap of comfort." Comfort rarely did much for him but
take him on her lap, however--he seldom stayed there; and on the
present occasion the doctor's eyes were very wide open and his thoughts
at work. It might be presumed that neither process was cut short, when
the old black man opened the door and announced Mr. Linden.

But if Mr. Linden could have seen the doctor's face just before, he
might have supposed that his entrance had produced rather a sedative
effect. For the brow smoothed itself down, the eye took it