The Storyteller

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXV, Issue 2, 28 February 1907, Page 3

The Storyteller

THE DEFECTION OF MRS. CAPTAIN

(Concluded "from last week.)

j ,'.As the doctor himself surmised, it .was a serious case., ''Dr. Bemis pronounced- it double pneumonia. The 'greatest care was necessary, and he would semi for a nurse immediately. Bui. JL>r. Marlowe - objected. Mrs. Piekering was sumciently skilled, and if she were willing, he -preferred-Jier stranger. Of course Mrs. Captain was willing, yes,' and de- . lighted. It .was preposterous to - thinK of sending for a nurse, if Dr. Marlowe was satisfied with her care, and so she installed herself iii -his room, after having listened intently to Dr. Bemis' orders as to the treatment to be followed. _ To Mrs. Captain it was a labor of love.. The young man, who had no relatives in the wori'd, re- ' ceived all the sympathy of her 'generous heart. During the lomgi nights she watched untiringly, ' waiting till the morning -dawned to -steal,, a few hours of sleep, careful of his every want, uncomplaining of the hardship ; indeed, not recognising it as such. She got to yearn for the daily visit of the priest, seeing how much pleasure and new strength it gave her patient, and inwardly she' blessed tine kind face of -.the hojly man who spread such unction abouli ' her house. -But the hard days soon passed, -and strength slowly returned to the sick man. It was a happy day when the "doctor .'declared him strong enough to go South, till the summer. - . Mrs. Captain's heart was grieved as she' heard t<he news. The thought of her ' boy ' leaving^ hct. wasJJ|a bitter one, yet she uttered no word to" shew her^gsal feelings, and only broke clown when she'"hear>d "15ne train that bore - him • away whistling out, of -the st.atipn." The;, "departure of the doctor was like, tearing something "from her life, and she prayed earnestly -for the time -when it would be restored. "- . -. .3. *"' That Friday night she went to meeting for the first time ' since her boarder had been stricken down. - She felt that all eyes were upon her; and "the. minister's words on ' Lack of Faith ' seemed to be directed entirely at .her head* . •" • ' - - ' ' But she winced not, because she was oblivious^of it all. She was thinking of things of faith, but of the things which up to now she had 'heard "of as in a dream. , The prayers she had read for the .doctor out' -of his books ; the litanies she had repeated for- his responses every night during his illness ; his patience in suffering his pious ejaculations, came intoher heart r ,now with, a convincing force. She could not see- 'the "minister. 'She saw instead the doctor's wan face, the face, too, of . the priest who had come with what the •doc tar had told.- her was. Gad Himself.* She saw herself again going before the priest, witfr the lighted candle .in her hand, and immediately her heart .cried out for it all, for something besides these bare- walls, jL'his lifeless form of religion, and, while the'preacher- ~ continued Ms -invectives, in her heart she knelt and begged for the coming of that God to her. She did not wait for the- service to be ended". There was a -voice calling her,' \and she feared it might be silenced by delay. While the congregation sang a hymn which she -had loved irom childhood she left the -meeting-house and crossed the street to the Church of St. Michael. - - It did not- take long for the great news to travel that Mrs. Captain was a frequent ; caller" at Father .-Johnson's. * The strangest stories began to be noised about. Mrs. Captain was to marry the doctor ; Mrs. Captain was to become a 'nun. 1 ; "Mrs. Captain^but Mrs. Captain herself vouchsafed no information, and callers who relied on old acquaintance to obtain in-, formation were doomed to ring and ring - without having the door opened. Even - the minister was not admitted, which made him aware of the fact that the faith of his parishioner was in danger, and caused him to. pray for her/ with his congregation,' in no uncertain terms. -It was .true that Mrs. Captain was meditating a change of- religion. Bravely she studied^ the little catechism which the nriest had given her, day after ' day, week after week, a"nd then one • night when grace had prevailed - she sat " at the little table, which had come to her from past 'generations-, and penned two * letters,, one " to the doctor, .begging' him to be godfather to an old woman, the other to the minister, sending in her resignation as a member of his Church.

The next Sunday was evenltful in the church circles of doming. In one church a man was railing against the defection of a pillar of the old meeting--house, and- in another a gray-haired woman was weeping tears of" joy on the day of. her First Communion.— ' Donatooe's Magazine.'