Page:Between Two Loves.djvu/228

Rh He said the words over and over as he drove away from the large still house, and amid the clack-a-ty clack-a-ty of the noisy looms they kept springing to his lips.

That night, soon after he got home, there came to him a sorrowful note from Eleanor. A few hours now, she said, would decide the fate of her husband; and "oh, father, father! pray for him!"

The entreaty spoke to Jonathan's heart like a command from God. He rose up, even from his dinner-table, and went into his own room, and, when he had locked the door, fell upon his knees and poured out his soul anew in love and gratitude. And while he was praying the fire burned, and he washed out the bitterness of his hate in penitential tears, and in strong supplications for the life of his enemy.

There are moments in life which are at once sacrificial and sacramental, moments that are a crucible from which the soul comes out white and strong, and these were such moments to Jonathan Burley. He rose up from his knees like one of old, justified, and with the light of divine consolation on his face. Fear was gone, and condemnation, and there was no room in