Then at about eleven o'clock, after a reading from the Bible and a
prayer, we retired.

As I lay in my little white bed I was always more restless Sunday nights
than at any other time. Immediately ahead of me there was the prospect
of Mr. Ratin whom morning would surely bring, and he was always a most
painful sight to me after a respite; also I was full of regret because
Sunday was over, always over so quickly!--and I felt a great weariness
when I thought of the many lessons it would be necessary for me to
prepare before Sunday came again. Sometimes, as I lay there, I would
hear the songs the sailors sung as they passed in the distant lands and
noble ships; and a sort of dull and indefinite longing took possession
of me and I felt as if I would like to be out of doors myself in search
of pleasurable and exciting adventure. I hungered to be in the bracing
wintry night air, or in one of those foreign lands where the sun beats
down with tropical warmth; I yearned to be out and singing like them, as
loud as possible, just for the joy of being alive.




CHAPTER XXIV.



"And I beheld, and heard an angel flying through the midst of heaven,
saying with a loud voice, Woe, woe, woe, to the inhabiters of the
earth!"

Besides reading the Bible with the family every evening, I read a