His life had been ordered in this course; he had accepted
it the more readily from his inherited distrust of worldly values and
aspirations; it had, in short, been he, and now the foundations of his
entire existence had been overthrown.
He read the letter more carefully, realizing the probable necessity of
his immediate return home for the funeral. But that was dispelled--his
father wrote that it had been necessary to bury Hester at once. The
elder Meikeljohn proceeded relentlessly to an exact exposition of why
this had been done. "A black swelling" was included in the details. He
finished:
"And if it would be inconvenient for you to leave your work at this
time it is not necessary for you to come here. In some ways it would be
better for you to stay. There is little enough for you to do and it
would stop your money at college.... The Lord is a swift and terrible
Being Who worketh His will in the night."
Hester was dead. Elim involuntarily walked to a window, gazing with
unseeing eyes at the familiar pleasant prospect. A realization flashed
unbidden through his mind, a realization like a stab of lightning--he
was free. He overbore it immediately, but it left within him a strange
tingling sensation. He directed his mind upon Hester and the profitable
contemplation of death; but rebellion sprang up within him, thoughts
beyond control whirled in his brain.
Free! A hundred impulses, desires, of which--suppressed by his rigid
adherence to a code of duty--he had not been conscious, leaped into
vitality.
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