been talk of her going to Ikunetu to attempt to obtain a footing among
the wild people of Okoyong.




VIII. BEREFT

Despite her happiness in being back at the work she loved, there was an
underlying current of anxiety in her life. Her thoughts dwelt on the
invalids at home; she wearied for letters; she trembled before the
arrival of the mails; even her dreams influenced her. But she would not
allow herself to grow morbid. Every morning she went to the houses in
the Mission before breakfast to have a chat and cheer up the inmates.
On New Year's Eve, fearing the adoption of European customs by the
natives, and wishing to forestall them, she invited all the young men
who were Christians to a prayer-meeting from eleven o'clock till
midnight. They then went up and serenaded Mr. and Mrs. Luke, two new
missionaries, whose subsequent pioneer work up-river was a record of
toil and heroism. Mr. Luke entered into the spirit of the innovation.
He gave out the 2nd Paraphrase and read the 90th Psalm. Prayer was
uttered, and the company separated, singing the evening hymn in Efik.

Next morning, the first of the year 1886, she arose early and wrote a
letter, overflowing with love and tenderness and cheer, to her mother
and sister. It was finished on the third, on the arrival of the home
mail. She was at tea with Mrs. Luke before going to a meeting in the
church, when the letters came. "I was hardly able to wait for mine,"
she wrote; "and then I rushed to my room and behaved like a silly body,
as if it had been bad news. It brought you all so clearly before me. At