In another sequestered nook, I paused with a sinful
mixture of curiosity and delight, before a Chinese idol standing alone on
a pedestal.
There was a strangeness and a newness about things at the Ark that began
to be exhilarating, I was reminded, in a negative sort of way, that I had
intended to begin my work on this new day with a prayer to the true God
for strength and assistance. I had found it necessary to make this
resolve because, although I had a "fixed habit of prayer," it was
reserved rather for occasions of special humiliation than resorted to as
an everyday indulgence; practically, I had well nigh dispensed with it
altogether.
However, I started back in an intently serious frame of mind to find my
couch. I lost my way, and stumbling against a swinging-door which opened
into a comparatively spacious apartment, what was my joy to discover my
trunk, with the portmanteau containing my keys on top of it.
I then proceeded to array myself with an absorbing ardor and devotion,
doing my hair before a hand-glass with rare resignation of spirit. I
began to feel more and more like an incorporated existence, and admitted
a sudden eagerness to join the Keeler family at breakfast.
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