But if he were once "in secret
shadow far from all men's sight," his oppressed heart would begin to
revive, and he might gather strength enough to face with calmness what
he would continue to face somehow, in the performance of his arrears of
duty to the boys and girls of Glamerton.
Can one ever bring up arrears of duty? Can one ever make up for wrong
done? Will not heaven be an endless repentance?
It would need a book to answer the first two of these questions. To the
last of them I answer, "Yes--but a glad repentance."
At length the slow hour arrived. Longing thoughts had almost
obliterated the figures upon Time's dial, and made it look a hopeless
undivided circle of eternity. But at length twelve o'clock on Saturday
came; and the delight would have been almost unendurable to some, had
it not been calmed by the dreary proximity of the Sabbath lying between
them and freedom. To add to their joy, there was no catechism that day.
The prayer, although a little longer than usual, was yet over within a
minute after the hour. And almost as soon as the _Amen_ was out of the
master's mouth, the first boys were shouting jubilantly in the open
air. Truffey, who was always the last, was crutching it out after the
rest, when he heard the master's voice calling him back.
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