Page:Memorials of Capt. Hedley Vicars, Ninety-seventh Regiment by Marsh, Catherine, 1818-1912.djvu/139

132 in darkness, and in the shadow of death, and to guide their feet into the way of peace.' God grant it, for Jesus Christ's sake.

"It was not my servant whom you saw at Kensington, who died of cholera, but a man named Hillyar, who left me about a year ago. Richard Young, I am glad to say, is well. I often see him reading the book you gave him.

"I am advised to go to Pentelicus for a few days' change, but have not made up my mind to it, as I have plenty to do here. Certainly I shall not go as long as the cholera remains here. It is, I trust, leaving us now; but such has been its malignity that only twenty of those who have been attacked with it have come out of hospital alive.

"The army in Turkey has also suffered severely from the pestilence. Rumours are now afloat that we are to be sent on thither. We all desire it most heartily.

"God bless you all.

"Ever most beloved friend and sister, your most attached and grateful brother,

"The secret of the Lord is with them that fear Him, and he will show them His covenant." That covenant is "of life and peace," — words which had their peculiar charm for Hedley Vicars. There was no morbid weariness of existence in him. Love and hope were strong in his heart, and the future had its own bright pictures before his imagination. Death in itself, was not a thing which he desired; he delighted in viewing it as a "mere incident in life." His soul was kept in peace amidst "nothing but death, death on every side" (to use his own expression), because he knew and felt that "he that hath the Son of God hath life;" and with love to that