CHAPTER XXV.

LOOKING EASTWARD.

"It's just a week," I said, three days later, to Arthur, "since we heard of Lady Muriel's engagement. I think _I_ ought to call, at any rate, and offer my congratulations. Won't you come with me?"

A pained expression passed over his face. "When must you leave us?" he asked.

"By the first train on Monday."

"Well--yes, I _will_ come with you. It would seem strange and unfriendly if I didn't. But this is only Friday. Give me till Sunday afternoon. I shall be stronger then."

Shading his eyes with one hand, as if half-ashamed of the tears that were coursing down his cheeks, he held the other out to me. It trembled as I clasped it.

I tried to frame some words of sympathy; but they seemed poor and cold, and I left them unspoken. "Good night!" was all I said.

"Good night, dear friend!" he replied. There was a manly vigour in his tone that convinced me he was wrestling with, and triumphing over, the great sorrow that had so nearly wrecked his life--and that, on the stepping-stone of his dead self, he would surely rise to higher things!

There was no chance, I was glad to think, as we set out on Sunday afternoon, of meeting _Eric_ at the Hall, as he had returned to town the day after his engagement was announced. _His_ presence might have disturbed the calm--the almost unnatural calm--with which Arthur met the woman who had won his heart, and murmured the few graceful words of sympathy that the occasion demanded.

Lady Muriel was perfectly radiant with happiness: sadness could not live in the light of such a smile: and even Arthur brightened under it, and, when she remarked "You see I'm watering my flowers, though it _is_ the Sabbath-Day," his voice had almost its old ring of cheerfulness as he replied "Even on the Sabbath-Day works of mercy are allowed. But this _isn't_ the Sabbath-Day. The Sabbath-Day has ceased to exist."

"I know it's not _Saturday_," Lady Muriel replied: "but isn't Sunday often called 'the Christian Sabbath'?"

"It is so called, I think, in recognition of the _spirit_ of the Jewish institution, that one day in seven should be a day of _rest_. But I hold that Christians are freed from the _literal_ observance of the Fourth Commandment."

"Then where is our _authority_ for Sunday observance?"

"We have, first, the fact that the seventh day was 'sanctified', when God rested from the work of Creation. That is binding on us as _Theists_. Secondly, we have the fact that 'the Lord's Day' is a _Christian_ institution. That is binding on us as _Christians_."

"And your practical rules would be----?"

"First, as Theists, to keep it _holy_ in some special way, and to make it, so far as is reasonably possible, a day of _rest_. Secondly, as _Christians_, to attend public worship."

"And what of _amusements_?"

"I would say of them, as of all kinds of _work_, whatever is innocent on a week-day, is innocent on Sunday, provided it does not interfere with the duties of the day."

"Then you would allow children to _play_ on Sunday?"

"Certainly I should. Why make the day irksome to their restless natures?"

"I have a letter somewhere," said Lady Muriel, "from an old friend, describing the way in which Sunday was kept in her younger days. I will fetch it for you."

"I had a similar description, _vivâ voce_, years ago," Arthur said when she had left us, "from a little girl. It was really touching to hear the melancholy tone in which she said 'On Sunday I mustn't play with my doll! On Sunday I mustn't run on the sands! On Sunday I mustn't dig in the garden!' Poor child! She had indeed abundant cause for hating Sunday!"

"Here is the letter," said Lady Muriel, returning. "Let me read you a piece of it."

"_When, as a child, I first opened my eyes on a Sunday-morning, a feeling of dismal anticipation, which began at least on the Friday, culminated. I knew what was before me, and my wish, if not my word, was 'Would God it were evening!' It was no day of rest, but a day of texts, of catechisms (Watts'), of tracts about converted swearers, godly char-women, and edifying deaths of sinners saved._

"_Up with the lark, hymns and portions of Scripture had to be learned by heart till 8 o'clock, when there were family-prayers, then breakfast, which I was never able to enjoy, partly from the fast already undergone, and partly from the outlook I dreaded._

"_At 9 came Sunday-School; and it made me indignant to be put into the class with the village-children, as well as alarmed lest, by some mistake of mine, I should be put below them._

"_The Church-Service was a veritable Wilderness of Zin. I wandered in it, pitching the tabernacle of my thoughts on the lining of the square family-pew, the fidgets of my small brothers, and the horror of knowing that, on the Monday, I should have to write out, from memory, jottings of the rambling disconnected extempore sermon, which might have had any text but its own, and to stand or fall by the result._

"_This was followed by a cold dinner at 1_ (_servants to have_ no _work_), _Sunday-School again from 2 to 4, and Evening-Service at 6. The intervals were perhaps the greatest trial of all, from the efforts I had to make, to be less than usually sinful, by reading books and sermons as barren as the Dead Sea. There was but one rosy spot, in the distance, all that day: that was 'bed-time,' which never could come too early!_"

"Such teaching was well meant, no doubt," said Arthur; "but it must have driven many of its victims into deserting the Church-Services altogether."

"I'm afraid _I_ was a deserter this morning," she gravely said. "I had to write to Eric. Would you--would you mind my telling you something he said about _prayer_? It had never struck me in that light before."

"In what light?" said Arthur.

"Why, that all Nature goes by fixed, regular laws--Science has proved _that_. So that asking God to _do_ anything (except of course praying for _spiritual_ blessings) is to expect a miracle: and we've no right to do _that_. I've not put it as well as _he_ did: but that was the outcome of it, and it has confused me. Please tell me what you can say in answer to it."

"I don't propose to discuss _Captain Lindon's_ difficulties," Arthur gravely replied; "specially as he is not present. But, if it is _your_ difficulty," (his voice unconsciously took a tenderer tone) "then I will speak."

"It _is_ my difficulty," she said anxiously.

"Then I will begin by asking 'Why did you except _spiritual_ blessings?' Is not your mind a part of Nature?"

"Yes, but Free-Will comes in there--I can _choose_ this or that; and God can influence my choice."

"Then you are not a Fatalist?"

"Oh, no!" she earnestly exclaimed.

"Thank God!" Arthur said to himself, but in so low a whisper that only _I_ heard it. "You grant then that I can, by an act of free choice, move this cup," suiting the action to the word, "_this_ way or _that_ way?"

"Yes, I grant it."

"Well, let us see how far the result is produced by fixed laws. The _cup_ moves because certain mechanical forces are impressed on it by my _hand_. My _hand_ moves because certain forces--electric, magnetic, or whatever 'nerve-force' may prove to be--are impressed on it by my _brain_. This nerve-force, stored in the brain, would probably be traceable, if Science were complete, to chemical forces supplied to the brain by the blood, and ultimately derived from the food I eat and the air I breathe."

"But would not that be Fatalism? Where would Free-Will come in?"

"In _choice_ of nerves," replied Arthur. "The nerve-force in the brain may flow just as naturally down one nerve as down another. We need something more than a fixed Law of Nature to settle _which_ nerve shall carry it. That 'something' is Free-Will."

Her eyes sparkled. "I see what you mean!" she exclaimed. "Human Free-Will is an exception to the system of fixed Law. Eric said something like that. And then I think he pointed out that God can only influence Nature by influencing Human Wills. So that we _might_ reasonably pray '_give us this day our daily bread_,' because many of the causes that produce bread are under Man's control. But to pray for rain, or fine weather, would be as unreasonable as--" she checked herself, as if fearful of saying something irreverent.

In a hushed, low tone, that trembled with emotion, and with the solemnity of one in the presence of death, Arthur slowly replied "_Shall he that contendeth with the Almighty instruct him?_ Shall we, 'the swarm that in the noontide beam were born,' feeling in ourselves the power to direct, this way or that, the forces of Nature--of _Nature_, of which we form so trivial a part--shall we, in our boundless arrogance, in our pitiful conceit, _deny_ that power to the Ancient of Days? Saying, to our Creator, 'Thus far and no further. Thou madest, but thou canst not rule!'?"

Lady Muriel had covered her face in her hands, and did not look up. She only murmured "Thanks, thanks!" again and again.

We rose to go. Arthur said, with evident effort, "One word more. If you would _know_ the power of Prayer--in anything and everything that Man can need--_try_ it. _Ask, and it shall be given you._ I--_have_ tried it. I _know_ that God answers prayer!"

Our walk home was a silent one, till we had nearly reached the lodgings: then Arthur murmured--and it was almost an echo of my own thoughts--"_What knowest thou, O wife, whether thou shalt save thy husband?_"

The subject was not touched on again. We sat on, talking, while hour after hour, of this our last night together, glided away unnoticed. He had much to tell me about India, and the new life he was going to, and the _work_ he hoped to do. And his great generous soul seemed so filled with noble ambition as to have no space left for any vain regret or selfish repining.

"Come, it is nearly morning!" Arthur said at last, rising and leading the way upstairs. "The sun will be rising in a few minutes: and, though I _have_ basely defrauded you of your last chance of a night's rest here, I'm sure you'll forgive me: for I really _couldn't_ bring myself to say 'Good night' sooner. And God knows whether you'll ever see me again, or hear of me!"

"_Hear_ of you I am certain I shall!" I warmly responded, and quoted the concluding lines of that strange poem 'Waring':--

"Oh, never star Was lost here, but it rose afar! Look East, where whole new thousands are! In Vishnu-land what Avatar?"

"Aye, look Eastward!" Arthur eagerly replied, pausing at the stair-case window, which commanded a fine view of the sea and the eastward horizon. "The West is the fitting tomb for all the sorrow and the sighing, all the errors and the follies of the Past: for all its withered Hopes and all its buried Loves! From the East comes new strength, new ambition, new Hope, new Life, new Love! Look Eastward! Aye, look Eastward!"

His last words were still ringing in my ears as I entered my room, and undrew the window-curtains, just in time to see the sun burst in glory from his ocean-prison, and clothe the world in the light of a new day.

"So may it be for him, and me, and all of us!" I mused. "All that is evil, and dead, and hopeless, fading with the Night that is past! All that is good, and living, and hopeful, rising with the dawn of Day!

"Fading, with the Night, the chilly mists, and the noxious vapours, and the heavy shadows, and the wailing gusts, and the owl's melancholy hootings: rising, with the Day, the darting shafts of light, and the wholesome morning breeze, and the warmth of a dawning life, and the mad music of the lark! Look Eastward!

"Fading, with the Night, the clouds of ignorance, and the deadly blight of sin, and the silent tears of sorrow: and ever rising, higher, higher, with the Day, the radiant dawn of knowledge, and the sweet breath of purity, and the throb of a world's ecstasy! Look Eastward!

"Fading, with the Night, the memory of a dead love, and the withered leaves of a blighted hope, and the sickly repinings and moody regrets that numb the best energies of the soul: and rising, broadening, rolling upward like a living flood, the manly resolve, and the dauntless will, and the heavenward gaze of faith--_the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen_!

"Look Eastward! Aye, look Eastward!"

THE END.

FOOTNOTES

[1]At the moment, when I had written these words, there was a knock at the door, and a telegram was brought me, announcing the sudden death of a dear friend.

INDEX.

A Artistic effect dependent on indistinctness (!); 241

B Barometer, sideways motion of; 13 Bath, portable, for Tourists; 25 Books or minds. Which contain most Science? 21 Boots for horizontal weather; 14 Brain, inverted position of; 243 Bread-sauce. What appropriate for? 58

C Carrying one's-_self_. Why not fatiguing? 169 Child's view of purpose of Life; 330 Choristers' life, danger of; 274 Church-going, principle of; 272 Conceited people always _depreciate_ others; 237 Content, opportunity for cultivating; 152 Conversation, how to indicate parentheses in; 251 " " " questions in; 251 'Convenient' and 'Inconvenient,' different meanings; 140 Critic, conceited, always _depreciates_; 237 " how to gain reputation of; 238 Crocodiles, logic of; 230

D Darwinism reversed; 64 Day, shortness of, and length of, compared; 159 " true length of; 159 Debt, how to avoid payment of; 131 Dreaminess, certain cure for; 136

E Electricity, influence of, on Literature; 64 Enjoyment of life, secret of; 335 Events in reversed order; 350 Extreme sobriety, inconvenience of; 140 Eye, images inverted by; 242

F Fairies, how to improve character of; 190 " " recognise presence of; 191 Falling house, life in a; 100 Final Causes, problem in; 297 Free-will and nerve-force; 390 Frog, young, how to amuse; 364

G Gardener's Song; Elephant; 65. Buffalo; 78. Rattlesnake; 83. Banker's Clerk; 90. Kangaroo; 106. Coach-and-Four; 116. Albatross; 164. Garden-Door; 168 Ghosts, treatment of, by Shakespeare; 60 " " in Railway-Literature; 58 " weltering, appropriate fluid for; 58 Graduated races of men; 299

H Happiness, excessive, how to moderate; 159 Honesty, Dr. Watts' argument for; 235 Horizontal rain, boots for; 14 House falling through Space, life in a; 100 Hymns appealing to selfishness; 276

I 'Inconvenient' and 'Convenient', different meanings; 140 Indistinctness necessary for artistic effect (!); 241 Inversion of Brain; 243 " images on Retina; 242

L Ladies, logic of; 235 Least Common Multiple, rule of, applied to Literature; 22 Life, how to enjoy; 335 " in falling house; 100 " in reversed order; 350 " purpose of, as viewed by Child; 330 " regarded as a Drama; 333 Literature, development of, due to Steam; 64 " " " Electricity; 64 " for Railway; 58 " treated by Rule of Least Common Multiple; 22 Little man, privilege of being a; 299 Liturgy, chanted, effect of; 273 Logic of Crocodiles; 230 " Dr. Watts; 235 " ladies; 235 " requisites for complete argument in; 259 Loving or being loved. Which is best? 77

M Men, graduated races of; 299 " little, privileges of; 299 Minds or books. Which contain most Science? 21 Money, effect of doubling value of; 312 Music, how to get the largest amount of; 338

N Nerve-force and free-will; 390 Nerves, curiously slow action of; 158 Novel-reading, how to enjoy; 336

O _Onus probandi_ misplaced by Crocodiles; 230 " " Dr. Watts; 235 " " ladies; 235 Order of events reversed; 250

P Pain, how to minimise; 337 Paley's definition of Virtue; 274 Parentheses in conversation, how to indicate; 251 'Phlizz', a visionary flower; 282 " " fruit; 75 " " nurse-maid; 283 Pictures, how to criticize; 238 Pleasure, how to maximise; 335 Plunge-bath, portable; 25 Poor people, simple method for enriching; 312 Portable bath for tourists; 25 Poverty, the blessings of; 152 Prayer for temporal blessings, effect of; 391 Preachers, exceptional privileges of; 277 " appealing to selfishness; 276 Proof, burden of, misplaced by Crocodiles; 230 " " " Dr. Watts; 235 " " " ladies; 235

Q Questions in conversation, how to indicate; 251

R Railway-literature; 58 " scenes regarded as dramatic; 333 Rain, horizontal, boots for; 14 Retina, images inverted on; 242 Reversed order of events; 350

S Scenery, enjoyment of, by little men; 299 Science. Do books, or minds, contain most? 21 Selfishness appealed to in hymns; 276 " " religious teaching; 275 " " sermons; 276 Sermons appealing to selfishness; 276 Shakespeare, passages treated of:-- 'All the world's a stage'; 335 'Aye, every inch a king!'; 373 'Is this a dagger that I see before me?'; 371 'Rest, rest, perturbed Spirit!'; 60 'To be, or not to be'; 370 Shakespeare's treatment of ghosts; 60 Short man, privilege of being a; 299 Sillygism, requisites for a; 259 Sobriety, extreme, inconvenience of; 140 Spencer, Herbert, difficulties in; 258 Sport, false and true; 318 Steam, influence of, on Literature; 64 Sunday, as spent by children of last generation; 387 " observance of; 385

T Time, how to put back; 314, 347 " " reverse; 350 Tourists' portable bath; 25

V Virtue, Paley's definition of; 274

W Watts, Dr., weak logic of; 235 Weather, horizontal, boots for; 14 Weight, relative, conceivably non-existent; 100 Weltering, appropriate fluids for; 58

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Transcriber's Notes

--This is part of an illustrated set also including "Sylvie and Bruno Concluded", also available at Project Gutenberg with numerous hyperlinked references to this volume.

--Copyright notice provided as in the original--this e-text is public domain in the country of publication.

--Corrected a typo based on the note in the companion volume: '(N.B. "stagy-entrances" is a misprint for "stage-entrances")'.

--Silently corrected a few other palpable typos; left non-standard spellings and dialect unchanged.

--Moved the frontispiece illustration to the corresponding place in the text.

--Collated the table of illustrations from the companion volume (correcting a few page number), and added its captions to the illustrations.

--Only in the text versions, delimited italicized text (or non-italicized text within poetry) in _underscores_ (the HTML version reproduces the font form of the printed book.)

End of Project Gutenberg's Sylvie and Bruno (Illustrated), by Lewis Carroll