Eric, or, Little by Little | Page 5

Eric! although he had been longing for the time ever since the
news came, yet now he was too agitated to enjoy. Exertion and
expectation made him restless, and he could settle down to nothing all
day, every hour of which hung most heavily on his hands.
At last the afternoon wore away, and a soft summer evening filled the
sky with its gorgeous calm. Far off they caught the sound of wheels; a
carriage dashed up to the door, and the next moment Eric sprang into
his mother's arms.

"O mother, mother!"
"My own darling, darling boy!"
And as the pale sweet face of the mother met the bright and rosy
child-face, each of them was wet with a rush of ineffable tears. In
another moment Eric had been folded to his father's heart, and locked
in the arms of "little brother Vernon." Who shall describe the emotions
of those few moments? they did not seem like earthly moments; they
seemed to belong not to time, but to eternity.
The first evening of such a scene is too excited to be happy. The little
party at Fairholm retired early, and Eric was soon fast asleep with his
arm round his newfound brother's neck.
Quiet steps entered the little room, and noiselessly the father and
mother sat down by the bedside of their children. Earth could have
shown no scene more perfect in its beauty than that which met their
eyes. The pure moonlight flooded the little room, and showed distinctly
the forms and countenances of the sleepers, whose soft regular
breathing was the only sound that broke the stillness of the July night.
The small shining flower-like faces, with their fair hair--the trustful
loving arms folded round each brother's neck--the closed lids and
parted lips made an exquisite picture, and one never to be forgotten.
Side by side, without a word, the parents knelt down, and with eyes wet
with tears of joyfulness, poured out their hearts in passionate prayer for
their young and beloved boys.
Very happily the next month glided away; a new life seemed opened to
Eric in the world of rich affections which had unfolded itself before
him. His parents--above all, his mother--were everything that he had
longed for; and Vernon more than fulfilled to his loving heart the ideal
of his childish fancy. He was never tired of playing with and
patronising his little brother, and their rambles by stream and hill made
those days appear the happiest he had ever spent. Every evening (for he
had not yet laid aside the habits of childhood) he said his prayers by his
mother's knee, and at the end of one long summer's day, when prayers
were finished, and full of life and happiness he lay down to sleep, "O

mother," he said, "I am so happy--I like to say my prayers when you
are here."
"Yes, my boy, and God loves to hear them."
"Aren't there some who never say prayers, mother?"
"Very many, love, I fear."
"How unhappy they must be! I shall always love to say my prayers."
"Ah, Eric, God grant that you may!"
And the fond mother hoped he always would. But these words often
came back to Eric's mind in later and less happy days--days when that
gentle hand could no longer rest lovingly on his head--when those mild
blue eyes were dim with tears, and the fair boy, changed in heart and
life, often flung himself down with an unreproaching conscience to
prayerless sleep.
It had been settled that in another week Eric was to go to school in the
Isle of Roslyn. Mr. Williams had hired a small house in the town of
Ellan, and intended to stay there for his year of furlough, at the end of
which period Vernon was to be left at Fairholm, and Eric in the house
of the head-master of the school. Eric enjoyed the prospect of all things,
and he hardly fancied that Paradise itself could be happier than a life at
the seaside with his father and mother and Vernon, combined with the
commencement of schoolboy dignity. When the time for the voyage
came, his first glimpse of the sea, and the sensation of sailing over it
with only a few planks between him and the deep waters, struck him
silent with admiring wonder. It was a cloudless day; the line of blue sky
melted into the line of blue wave, and the air was filled with sunlight.
At evening they landed, and the coach took them to Ellan. On the way
Eric saw for the first time the strength of the hills, so that when they
reached the town and took possession of their cottage, he was dumb
with the inrush of new and marvellous impressions.
Next morning he was awake