children nodded to me, and smiled at one another as they saw me led like
a lamb to the service by my two small guardians.

It was a lovely day, and the sandy ground was dry, and the congregation
sat on the rough coarse grass or perched on the sand hillocks round. As
for the old boat, it was occupied by the choir, and little Jack, having
seen me safely to the spot, climbed into it and stood proudly in the
stern. He had a hymn-book in his hand, which I knew he could not read,
for he was holding it upside down, but he looked at it as long and as
earnestly as if he could understand every word. Marjorie planted herself
beside me, I suppose to watch me, in case I showed signs of running away
before the service was over.

Then just before eleven, and when quite a large company of people had
gathered on the green, her father arrived. He was a man of about forty,
and his face gave me the impression that he had known trouble, and yet I
fancied as I looked further at him that the trouble, whatever it was,
had ended. He seemed to me like one who has come out of a sharp storm,
and has anchored in a quiet haven. For whilst I noticed in his face the
traces of heavy sorrow, still at the same time he looked happier and
more peaceful than any of those who stood round him; in fact, it was the
most restful face I had ever seen. He was not an educated man, nor was
he what men call a gentleman, and yet there was a refinement about him
which made one feel at once that he was no common man, and had no common
history. His face was so interesting to me, that I am afraid I was
gazing at him instead of finding the hymn he had given out, but I was
recalled to my duty by his little daughter, who seized the hymn-book she
had given me at the beginning of the service, found the page for me, and
pointed with her small finger to the place.