Grandmother Elsie Read online

  CHAPTER IX.

  "Man proposes, but God disposes."

  Donald left Ion the next morning, going away sadly and alone, yet tryingto be truly thankful that his friend's injuries, though severe, were notpermanent, and that he left him where he would have the best of medicaltreatment and nursing.

  "Don't be uneasy about the captain," Mr. Dinsmore said in parting; "I canassure you that Arthur is a skilful physician and surgeon, and we haveseveral negro women who thoroughly understand nursing. Beside my wife,Elsie and I will oversee them and do all in our power for the comfort andrestoration of the invalid."

  "Thank you, cousin. I am sure nothing will be left undone that skill andkindness can do," Donald said, shaking with warmth the hand Mr. Dinsmoreheld out to him. "Raymond is one in a thousand. I've known him for years,and he has been a good and valuable friend to me. I wish it were possiblefor me to stay and wait on him myself; but army men are not their ownmasters, you know. He'll be wanting to get back to his ship before he'sable. Don't let him."

  "Not if I can prevent it," was Mr. Dinsmore's laughing rejoinder. "By theway, should not some word be sent to his wife?"

  "Wife! She has been dead some two years, I think. I asked him if there wasany relative he would wish informed of his condition, and he said no; hisparents were not living, he had neither brother nor sister, and hischildren were too young to be troubled about it."

  "Poor fellow!" ejaculated Mr. Dinsmore, thinking of his own happierlot--the sweet wife and daughter at Ion, the other daughter and son,father, sisters, grandchildren and nephews who would flock about him intender solicitude, were he laid low by sickness or accident.

  Leaving Donald in the city, he drove back to Ion full of sympathy for hisinjured guest and admiration for his courage and fortitude; for he hadmade no moan or complaint, though evidently suffering great pain and muchsolicitude on account of the long prospective detention from officialduty.

  The doctor's verdict was, a week or more in bed, probably six weeks beforethe ankle could be used.

  "You must get me up much sooner than that, doctor, if it be a possiblething," Captain Raymond said most emphatically.

  "I can only promise to do my best," was Arthur's response. "Nature musthave time for her work of recuperation."

  Elsie met her father in the entrance hall on his return. "Ah, papa," shesaid, looking up smilingly into his face, "I think you will have torescind your order."

  "In regard to what?" he asked, stopping to lay a hand lightly on hershoulder, while he smoothed her hair caressingly with the other.

  "The week of entire rest you bade me take."

  "No; there is to be no recall of that order."

  "But our poor injured guest, father? injured in the noble effort to savethe life of another!"

  "He shall have every care and attention without any assistance from you;or Rose either; at least for the present."

  "But, dear papa, to have you worn out and made ill would be worse thananything else."

  "That does not follow as an inevitable consequence, and you may safelytrust me to take excellent care of number one," he said, with playful lookand tone.

  "Ah, papa, there is not the least use in your trying to make me believethere is any selfishness in you!"

  "No, I presume not; you have always been persistently blind to my manyimperfections. Well, daughter, you need not be troubled lest I shouldwaste too much strength on the poor captain. I do not imagine him to be anexacting person, and we have enough efficient nurses among the servants todo all the work that is needful. My part will be, I think, principally tocheer him, keep up his spirits, and see that he is provided witheverything that can contribute to comfort of mind and body. I must leaveyou now and go to him. I advise a drive for you and your mamma as soon asyou can make ready for it; the air is delightfully clear and bracing."

  "Thank you, papa; the advice shall be followed immediately so far as I amconcerned, and the order carefully obeyed," she answered, as he moved ondown the hall.

  The smile with which the captain greeted Mr. Dinsmore's entrance into theroom where he lay in pain and despondency was a rather melancholy one.

  "My dear sir, I feel for you!" Mr. Dinsmore said, seating himself by thebedside, "but you are a brave man and a Christian, and can endure hardnessas a good soldier of Jesus Christ!"

  There was a flash of joy in the sufferer's eyes as he turned them upon thespeaker, "That, sir, is the most comforting and sustaining thing youcould have said to me! Through what suffering was the Captain of oursalvation made perfect! And shall I shrink from enduring a little in Hisservice? Ah no! And when I reflect that I might have been killed, and mydear children left fatherless, I feel that I have room for nothing butthankfulness that it is as well with me as it is."

  "And that some good will be brought out of this trial we cannot doubt,"Mr. Dinsmore said; "for 'we know that all things work together for good tothem that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose.'"

  "Yes; and 'I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are notworthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.' 'Weglory in tribulation also, knowing that tribulation worketh patience, andpatience experience, and experience hope, and hope maketh not ashamed;because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghostwhich is given unto us.'"

  "What a wonderful book the Bible is!" remarked Mr. Dinsmore meditatively;"what stores of comfort and encouragement it contains for all in whateverstate or condition! 'The law of thy mouth is better unto me than thousandsof gold and silver.'"

  "Yes; how true it is, Mr. Dinsmore, that 'it is not in man that walketh todirect his steps'! I had so fully resolved to return to-day to my vessel,and now when may I hope to see her? Not in less than six weeks, the doctortells me."

  "A weary while it must seem in prospect. But we will do all we can to makeit short in passing and prevent you from regretting the necessity oftarrying with us for so much longer time than you had intended," Mr.Dinsmore answered in a cheery tone.

  "Your great kindness is laying me under lasting obligations, Mr.Dinsmore," the captain responded, with glistening eyes, "obligations whichI shall never, I fear, have an opportunity to repay."

  "My dear sir, I am truly thankful to have it in my power to do what can bedone to alleviate your sufferings and restore the health and vigor you sonobly sacrificed for another. Beside, what Christian can recall theMaster's assurance that He will consider any kindness done to any followerof His as done to Himself, and not rejoice in the opportunity to be ofservice to a fellow-disciple, be it man, woman, or child?"

  "Yes, And the King shall answer and say unto them, 'Verily I say unto you,inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, yehave done it unto me.'"

  "Ah, captain, don't talk of obligation to one who has a recompense such asthat in view!" Mr. Dinsmore said, a smile on his lip, a glad light in hiseye.

  The captain stretched out his hand and grasped that of his host. "Whatcause for gratitude that I have fallen into the care of those who canappreciate and act from such motives!" he exclaimed with emotion.

  "You are the hero of the hour, my friend," Mr. Dinsmore remarked after ashort silence. "I wish you could have seen the faces of my wife, daughter,and granddaughter when they heard of the noble, unselfish, and courageousdeed which was the cause of your sore injuries."

  "Don't mention it!" exclaimed the captain, a manly flush suffusing hisface; "who could stand by and see a fellow-creature perish without so muchas stretching out a helping hand?"

  In the weeks that followed Captain Raymond won golden opinions from thosewith whom he sojourned, showing himself as capable of the courage ofendurance as of that more ordinary kind that incites to deeds of daring;he was always patient and cheerful, and sufficiently at leisure fromhimself and his own troubles to show a keen interest in those about him.

  After the first week he was able to take possession of an invalid-chair,which was then wheeled into the room where t
he family were wont to gatherfor the free and unconstrained enjoyment of each other's society.

  They made him one of themselves, and he found it a rare treat to be amongthem thus day after day, getting such an insight into their domestic lifeand true characters as years of ordinary intercourse would not have givenhim. He learned to love them all--the kind, cheerful, unselfish olderpeople; the sweet-faced, gentle, tender mother; the fair and lovelymaiden, lovely in mind and person; the brave, frank, open-hearted lads,and the dear, innocent little ones.

  He studied them all furtively and with increasing interest, growing moreand more reconciled the while to his involuntary detention among them.

  Oftentimes they were all there, but occasionally one of the grandparentsor the mother would be away at Roselands for a day or two, taking turns inministering to Mrs. Conly, and comforting and cheering her feeble oldfather.

  "You have no idea, my dear sir," the captain one day remarked to his host,"how delightful it is to a man who has passed most of his life onshipboard, away from women and children, to be taken into such a familycircle as this! I think you who live in it a highly favored man, sir!"

  "I quite agree with you," Mr. Dinsmore said "I think we are anexceptionally happy family, though not exempt from the trials incident tolife in this world of sin and sorrow."

  "Your daughter is an admirable mother," the captain went on, "so gentleand affectionate, and yet so firm; her children show by their behaviorthat their training has been very nearly ii not quite faultless. And inseeing so much of them I realize as never before the hardship of theconstant separation from my own which my profession entails, as I askmyself, 'If I were with them thus day after day, should I find them asobedient, docile, and intelligent as these little ones? Will my Max be asfine a lad as Harold or Herbert? Can I hope to see Lulu and Gracie growingup into such lovely maidenhood as that of Miss Violet?"

  "I sincerely hope you may be so blessed, captain," Mr. Dinsmore said, "butmuch will depend upon the training to which they are subjected. There istruth in the old proverb, 'Just as the twig is bent the tree's inclined.'"

  "Yes, sir; and a higher authority says, 'Train up a child in the way heshould go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.' But mydifficulty is that I can neither train them myself, nor see that the workis rightly done by others."

  "That is sad, indeed," Mr. Dinsmore replied with sincere sympathy. "But,my dear sir, is there not strong consolation in the thought that you canpray for them, and that 'the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous manavaileth much'?"

  "There is indeed, sir!" the captain said with emotion. "And also in thepromise, 'I will establish my covenant between me and thee, and thy seedafter thee in their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be a Godunto thee, and to thy seed after thee.'"