Very sweet grew the life at 'The Willows' and Mrs. Everidge and Evadne
and Miss Diana found their hands full of happy work.
Unavella still reigned supreme in her kitchen. "'Tain't a great sight
harder to cook for a dozen than six," she had remarked sententiously,
when the plan was unfolded to her, "it's only a matter uv quantity, the
quality's jest the same. Ef Miss Di-an's a'goin ter start in ter be a
she Atlas an' carry the world on her shoulders, she'll find I'm
warranted ter wash an' not shrink in the rinsin'. I'm not a'goin ter be
left behind, without I hev changed my name."
Dyce kept the rooms in spotless order and waited upon the guests.
"Dear friend," said Evadne one morning, as she watched her putting
loving touches to the dining table, "you take as much trouble as if you
expected Jesus Christ to be here!"
"So I does, Miss 'Vadney," she answered simply, "I never feels
comfortable 'cept when dere's a place fer de Lord," and Evadne answered,
"Dear Dyce, you make me feel ashamed!"
Many and varied were the guests who partook of their hospitality. The
famine which no material wealth can alleviate is not confined to the
dwellings of the poor. Hearts starve beneath coverings of velvet and
loneliness often rides in a carriage. Many were the patients whom the
world counted "well to do" that John Randolph sent to Evadne to be
comforted. There was nothing to make them suspect that the keen
intuition of the young physician had read their secret. 'The Willows'
was simply a charming retreat where he sent them to try his favorite
tonics of sunlight and oxygen; they never dreamed they were to be the
recipients of favors which would not be rendered in the bill.
It was a beautiful fellowship in which they were banded together, for
the Hawthornes had returned and were learning to find their pleasure in
doing their Father's will. Dick True was in the brotherhood also, and
never came home for his vacations without bringing with him "some fellow
who needed a taste of love," and the overgrown boys would glory in their
strength as they lifted Miss Diana from the carriage after a delightful
drive, and learn a strange gentleness as they were unconsciously
trained in the little deeds of chivalry which bespeak a true man.
Soon after Evadne's dream had materialized John Randolph had sent her a
dainty little equipage to help on the work.
"You are too kind!" she cried, as she thanked him, "too generous!"
"Can we be that?" he asked, "when we are giving to a King? It is a
theory of mine that a drive in the country with the right companion is
better than exordiums. These poor souls have never learned to see
'sermons in stones, books in the running brooks, and God in everything.'
You must give me the pleasure of a little share in your beautiful work,
my friend."
"A little share!" echoed Evadne. "Is it possible that you do not know,
Doctor Randolph, how much of it belongs to you!"
The beauty of the life was that the guests were taken into the heart of
the living and felt themselves a part of the home. They never preached,
these wise, tender women, but the beautiful incidental teachings sank
deep into hearts that would have been closed fast against sermons. There
was no stereotyped effort to do them good, they simply lived as Christ
did, and the world-tired souls looked on and marveled, and rejoiced in
the sunlight of the present and the afterglow which made the memory of
their visit a delight.
"'Do not leave the sky out of your landscape,'" said Aunt Marthe in her
cheery way, as Mrs. Dolours was wailing over her troubles. That was
all--for the time,--Mrs. Everidge believed in homeopathy--but it set her
hearer thinking, and thought found expression in questioning, until she
was led to the feet of the great Teacher and learned to roll her burden
of trouble upon him who came to bear the burdens of the world.
"'We are not to be anxious about living but about living well,'" said
Miss Diana to a young man who prided himself upon being a philosopher
"that is a maxim of Plato's but we can only carry it out by the help of
the Lord, my boy." And he listened to Evadne's merry laugh as she pelted
Hans with cherries while Gretchen dreamed of the Fatherland under the
trees by the brook, and wondered whether after all the men who had made
it their aim to stifle every natural inclination, had learned the true
secret of living as well as these happy souls who laid their cares down
at the feet of their Father, and gave their lives into Christ's keeping
day by day.
"You just seem to live in the present," wealthy Mrs. Greyson said with a
sigh, as she folded her jeweled fingers over her rich brocade, "I don't
see how you do it! Life is one long presentiment with me. I am filled
with such horrible forebodings. I tell Doctor Randolph, it is a sort of
moral nightmare."
"Some of your griefs you have cured,
And the sharpest you still have survived,
But what torments of pain you endured,
From evils that never arrived!"
Evadne quoted the words from a book of old French poems she had found in
the library. Then she asked gently, "Why should you worry about the
future, dear Mrs. Greyson, when it is such a waste of time? Don't you
believe our Father loves his children?
"A waste of time." That was a new way of looking at it! Mrs. Greyson had
always prided herself upon being thrifty, and, if God loved, would he
let any real harm happen? She knew she would shield her children. How
blind she had been!
"Ah, but you have never known sorrow!" and Mrs. Morner drew her sable
draperies around her with a sigh. "Just look at your face! Not a shadow
upon it and hardly a wrinkle. You are one of the favored ones with whom
life has been all sunshine."
Mrs. Everidge laughed brightly. She had never pined to pose as a martyr
before the world.
"God has been wondrous kind to me," she said, "but there is a cure for
all sorrow, dear friend, in his love. The great Physician is the only
one who has a medicament for that disease. It is not forgetfulness, you
know--he does not deal in narcotics--but he lays his pierced hand upon
our bleeding hearts and stills their pain. Our memory is as fresh as
ever, but it is memory with the sting taken out."
"Ah, but you cannot understand--how should you? You have always had
everything you wanted, and you have never lost anything or longed for
what has been denied you!" and a toilworn woman, whose life seemed one
long battle with disappointment, looked enviously at Miss Diana, over
whose peaceful face life's twilight was falling in tender colors.
"Not quite everything I wanted, dear," said Miss Diana softly, "but I
have come to know that God himself is sufficient for all our needs."
"Our dear Miss Diana has learned that 'we must sit in the sunshine if we
would reflect the rainbow,'" said Aunt Marthe in her low tones. "It is a
good rule, 'for every look we take at self, to take ten looks at Jesus.'
She lives in the light of his smile."
Then through the open window they heard Evadne singing,
"Oh, the little birds sang east, and the little birds sang west,
And I smiled to think God's greatness flowed around our incompleteness,
Round our restlessness, his rest."
And the weary soul folded its tired wings, all wounded with vain
beatings against the prison bars of circumstance, and was hushed into a
great stillness against the heart of its Father.
* * * * *
John Randolph sought Evadne in the familiar porch which had grown to be
to him the sweetest spot on earth.
"You are always busy," he said with a smile, as he lifted the garment
she was making for the little waif who was to have her first taste of
heaven at 'The Willows.' Satan has no chance to find an occupation for
you."
"But, oh, Doctor Randolph, what a drop in the bucket all our doing
seems, when we think of the need of the world!"
"Yet without the drops the bucket would be empty, dear friend. God never
expects the impossible from us, you know. I think Christ's highest
commendation will always be, 'She hath done what she could.' It is when
we neglect the doing that he is wounded."
After a pause he spoke again. "With your permission I am going to send
you a new patient." There was no trace of the struggle through which he
had passed. This brave soul had learned to do the right and leave the
rest with God.
Evadne laughed. "Still they come! Is it man, woman or child. Doctor
Randolph?"
"Your cousin Louis." His voice was very still.
"Poor Louis! Is it more serious then? He has been looking wretchedly for
months."
John Randolph examined her face critically. Could she call him "poor
Louis" if she loved?
"His present trouble is nervous strain, aggravated by the unaccustomed
confinement, and some mental excitement under which he is laboring. He
must have a long rest, with a complete change of environment. If anyone
can lift the cloud which seems to be hanging over him, I think it is
you."
Evadne shook her head sadly. "The only one who can help Louis is Jesus
Christ," she said.