It would be a severe punishment for the remorseful, to
condemn them to a voyage around the Horn in an old-fashioned sailing
vessel. I think they would be ready for confession and hanging by the
time they landed! But there's compensation in every situation, and the
unhappy traveler, while remembering too much, perhaps, will also learn
to readjust himself, and so make the future easier. Reflection is a
good thing only when it lights up the future as well as the past."
The lady smiled, with more lightness than was her wont, and let a hand
drop gently upon the shoulder of the girl beside her. "With Faith to
guide?" she asked; then, looking at the other sister, "And Hope to
cheer?" Then, more seriously, "It is a good thought, but one that has
only come to me lately."
A rattle of boyish feet, and Dwight was among them.
"Most there, aren't we?" he cried with boyish eagerness. Then, growing
sober, "But what's the reason nice things always have a bad side, too?
It's just horrid to have to leave you all! Why, I felt like crying
even to say good-by to Quint, Huri, and Tegeloo."
"But you're not to start the good-byes up here yet," put in Carnegie,
hurriedly. "We shall not really separate for a day or two, and there's
no use in prolonging the agony."
He spoke with feeling, and a glance passed between the elders.
A moment later, as the young people strolled onwards together, at the
call of Bess, to watch the state barge of some native prince as it
sailed slowly by, its dusky crew shouting greetings.
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