FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   65   66   67   68   69   70   71   72   73   74   75   76   77   78   79   80   81   82   83   84   85   86   87   88   89  
90   91   92   93   94   95   96   97   98   99   >>  
"My dear,"--she always spoke to me now as if I had been her son--"this `waif,' as people would call him, has clearly been sent to me as a comfort in the midst of all but overwhelming sorrow; and I believe, too, that I have been sent to draw the dear boy to Jesus. You should hear what long and pleasant talks we have about Him, and the Bible, and the `better land' sometimes." "Indeed! I am glad to hear you say so, granny, and also surprised, because, although I believe the boy to be well disposed, I have seldom been able to get him to open his lips to me on religious subjects." "Ah! but he opens his dear lips to me, doctor, and reads to me many a long chapter out of the blessed Word!" "Reads! Can he read?" "Ay can he!--not so badly, considering that I only began to teach him two or three months ago. But he knew his letters when we began, and could spell out a few words. He's very quick, you see, and a dear boy!" Soon afterwards we made this arrangement with Robin more convenient for all parties, by bringing Mrs Willis over to a better lodging in one of the small back streets not far from the doctor's new residence. I now began to devote much of my time to the study of chemistry, not only because it suited Dr McTougall that I should do so, but because I had conceived a great liking for that science, and entertained some thoughts of devoting myself to it almost exclusively. In the various experiments connected therewith I was most ably, and, I may add, delightedly, assisted by Robin Slidder. I was also greatly amused by, and induced to philosophise not a little on the peculiar cast of the boy's mind. The pleasure obviously afforded to him by the uncertainty as to results in experiments was very great. The probability of a miscarriage created in him intense interest--I will not say hope! The ignorance of what was coming kept him in a constant flutter of subdued excitement, and the astounding results (even sometimes to myself) of some of my combinations, kept him in a perpetual simmer of expectation. But after long observation, I have come to the deliberate conclusion that nothing whatever gave Robin such ineffable joy as an explosion! A crash, a burst, a general reduction of anything to instantaneous and elemental ruin, was so dear to him that I verily believe he would have taken his chance, and stood by, if I had proposed to blow the roof off Dr McTougall's mansion. Nay, I almost think that if that
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   65   66   67   68   69   70   71   72   73   74   75   76   77   78   79   80   81   82   83   84   85   86   87   88   89  
90   91   92   93   94   95   96   97   98   99   >>  



Top keywords:

doctor

 

McTougall

 

results

 
experiments
 
suited
 

philosophise

 
uncertainty
 

pleasure

 

afforded

 

peculiar


liking
 

connected

 

therewith

 

science

 

thoughts

 
exclusively
 

entertained

 

conceived

 

assisted

 
Slidder

greatly

 
amused
 

delightedly

 

devoting

 

induced

 

combinations

 

general

 
reduction
 

instantaneous

 

ineffable


explosion

 

elemental

 

mansion

 

proposed

 

verily

 

chance

 

coming

 

ignorance

 

constant

 

flutter


subdued

 

miscarriage

 

created

 

intense

 

interest

 

excitement

 
astounding
 

deliberate

 

conclusion

 

observation