Little By Little | Page 9

to have it happen now. If it had been at any other time, I
could have borne it better," continued the penitent boy, wiping away
the tears that blinded him.
"We cannot choose the time for such an event to happen."
"If it had only come before I left home! O, dear."
"Be calm, Paul; we could not select a time when we should be prepared
for such a calamity. You must not suppose one time is better than
another for trials and sorrows."
"You do not understand me, Captain Littleton," replied Paul, earnestly.
"I disobeyed my mother in going out in the boat. She told me to come
ashore, and stood on the beach beckoning and calling to me not to go,
but I didn't mind her. That's what makes me feel so bad about it."
"I am sorry you disobeyed her, for you must suffer the more for your
disobedience."
"I was sorry I did so before I came ashore, and now I would give all the
world if I had minded mother, and let Tom Nettle laugh at me as much
as he pleased."
"Tom is a wild boy, and you must not heed his jeers."
"I will not, another time. You think my father is not dead?"
"I think not," replied Captain Littleton, as he increased the speed of the
horse.
Paul did not say much more, but wept in silence as the chaise dashed
along the road. Every moment seemed like an hour, till he came in
sight of the cottage of his father. There were the two sulkies of the
doctors, and a crowd of people at the gate, to enable him to realize the
dreadful calamity which had overtaken him. The panting horse stopped
before the door, and Paul's limbs almost failed him as he dragged

himself into the house.
"O Paul," sobbed his mother, who met him at the door, "I thought you
would never come. I'm afraid you won't have a father a great while
longer."
"Forgive me, mother, for what I did," cried Paul.
"I do forgive you, my son; but come, your poor father wants to see you
very much."
His mother took him by the hand, and led him into the chamber where
his father lay. He was shocked by the change which a few short hours
had produced, and he needed not the skill of the physicians to assure
him that Mr. Duncan had but a short time to live.
"Paul," said his father, faintly, "I shall soon be no more, and I leave
your mother and your brothers and sisters to your care. Take good care
of them, Paul, for they will soon have no one else to help them. Be a
good boy, and be an honest man, and everything will go well with you.
Be true to your God and true to yourself, and then all the world cannot
harm you. May God keep you in the path of duty as long as you live."
Mr. Duncan closed his eyes with an audible sigh, and Paul burst into
tears, realizing that he was about to lose the kindest and best of fathers.
"Don't cry, my boy," said the sufferer; "be a man, and in a little while
the struggle will be over with me."
The whole family were gathered round the bed, and Mr. Duncan gave
them his blessing, for the doctors assured him his hour was at hand. We
will not dwell upon the painful scene. In an hour all was still in that
room save the sobs of the bereaved widow, who stood gazing in agony
upon the silent form which she had seen go out from her that morning
in the full vigor of health and strength. The angel of death was there,
and had done his work.
Paul was stupefied by the suddenness of the shock, and all the currents

of his existence seemed to stop in their flow. He spent the afternoon in
his chamber, trying to understand the nature of his situation. He had
dried his tears, but the deeper grief had gone in upon his heart. He spent
a wakeful night in thinking of the past, and in endeavoring to make
himself believe that his father was dead. All that he had ever done for
him, all that he had ever said to him, came up before him with a
vividness that made them seem like realities.
In this condition he moved about the house till after the funeral,
mechanically executing such duties as he was required to perform; but
everything was so unnatural to him that he could hardly persuade
himself of the reality of his being. The death of his father was an epoch
in his existence, a turning point in his career, and the wheels of