it was a lovely evening in august. the sun was setting in a blaze of splendour over the sparkling sea. the smooth shaven lawns and majestic sweep of park land around the fine old tudor house were looking their loveliest upon an evening like this, and down by the sea, just where the creek ran up through a belt of woodland, and into the very garden itself, a man and a boy were waiting beside a neat little boat, fitted with cushions and other requisites of comfort, as if in expectation that somebody from the great house behind the trees would shortly be coming down for an evening row or sail.
the man and the boy were both dressed in suits of sailor blue. their caps were of the same pattern, and had in gold letters round them the words, "prince rupert." the same words were painted in gilt letters upon the pretty boat; and the little boy—who was none other than pat, only grown wonderfully brown and healthy and strong-looking—sometimes glanced at the name with a smile, and then up at jim's smart head-gear.
"this is better than lone rock, isn't it, jim?" he said, breaking the silence which had lasted some considerable time. "we didn't think last summer ever to be in a place like this."
"no, that we didn't," answered jim, with the smile, which was now so frequently seen, and which lightened his rugged face wonderfully. "it's a better place than ever i dreamed of once; though i know now there's a better one still waiting for us by-and-by."
jim's face lighted as he spoke with a look that pat was used to seeing there now, and which always filled him with a certain wonder and awe. jim had been up and about again for some little time now. he had the sole charge of the three boats which were kept in the boathouse in the creek, and used by the people in the big house whenever they wanted a sail or a row. no more scrupulously clean and attentive boat-keeper had ever been known, and all who came to the house noticed jim, and had a kind word for him. but it was already quite plain that the man would never be fit for hard work again. he had received an injury on the night of the storm which baffled the skill of all the clever doctors who had been called in to see him. they could "patch him up" for a little while; they could give him sufficient ease and strength to enable him to get about his light daily tasks with comfort and pleasure. he could sail a boat in the bay in fine weather, or gently scull the light little prince rupert about with its young master as passenger. but that was about all he was fit for, and those who had heard the doctors' verdict knew that any winter he was liable to be carried suddenly off through the injury to the lung, which had so nearly caused his death whilst he lay in the lighthouse under the care of eileen. jim knew this himself as well as any one, but the thought gave him no trouble or anxiety. he was wonderfully happy and contented in his life; yet he was as ready as ever to go forth over the unknown sea if the lord should hold out his hand and bid him come.
"do you miss her very much?" asked pat, after a pause, turning his eyes towards the sea in the direction of the lone rock, which in very clear weather could be distinguished from the garden wall. "you were fond of her, and knew her better than the rest of us. do you think she misses you now that you're gone?"
"why, no, i hardly think she do," answered jim, with a smile; "i'd got into the way of thinking and speaking of her as though she were alive—it seemed a bit of company when one was all alone. but when i wasn't alone any more, why, she didn't seem to be more than a big lamp then. i always look out for her of a night when the light shines over the sea, but i don't seem to want to be over there no more. it's wonderful how one grows to like the life one has to lead. i used to think i'd never be happy off lone rock, and now——"
"i know you're happy here, jim," said pat, with a quick upward glance of loving admiration; "you always look so happy!"
"i oughter to be ashamed of myself, if i wasn't," said jim. "if i was a prince i couldn't be better took care of, and me able to do so little. it 'ud make me ashamed, it would, if our lady wasn't the sweetest mistress that ever drew breath. it does one good to see her face day by day. it's like a bit of god's sunshine come down on earth—that's what it is."
"yes, i do love her, and little prince rupert too," answered pat eagerly. "oh, jim! what a thing it's been for us your swimming into the sea that night and pulling him out. it hurt you a great deal, i know; but you're glad you went, aren't you?"
jim's face wore a look that it often did when his thoughts were growing beyond his powers of expression. it was some little time before he tried to speak.
"yes, pat, lad, i'm glad enough i went; but i'd have been just as glad, i hope, if it hadn't brought none of these good things to us."
"do you mean you'd have been glad if you'd had to go to the workhouse as mother was afraid once?" asked pat, with wide-open eyes; and jim looked at the boy with a curious half-smile in his eyes.
"well, i suppose the lord jesus is with his folks in the workhouse as well as anywhere else, pat, and if so be as he's there, i can't think it could be such a bad place. i know old folks make a deal of fuss against going there, and may be it's right to struggle as long as one can to earn a living oneself; nay, i'm sure it is. but if so be as he sends sickness, and there's nothing else for it, why, i suppose he'll be there to take the sting away, like as he does always. i don't think folks think quite enough about that when they talk agin the workhouse. it's the way we get into of thinking all about ourselves and scarce a bit about him."
"that's not your way, jim," said pat warmly; "i think you're always thinking of him."
"i've got so much lost time to make up, you see, pat," answered the man gravely; "i'd never thought of him, and of all he'd done for me, till you brought it back to me again. i've lived the best part of my life without him. it's wonderful how he'll take the poor bit that's left, when all one's best years were spent in forgetting and scorning him."
pat looked grave and said nothing. the thought was rather beyond his comprehension, but it always made him happy to think that he had helped jim back to the light, though he never quite knew what he had done.
a joyful sound close at hand caused both the pair to start, and a little figure in white darted forth round an angle of the path, and yellow-haired rupert stood before them, his face beaming with delight.
"good evening, jim; good evening, pat! i'm going to have a beautiful row to-night, and mamma's come to see how well i row. see, there she comes through the trees! lift me in quick, jim, and you come too, pat, i want her to see how well i do it. let me have the sculls. i can do it like a man now!"
jim was already in the boat, and helped the eager little boy in, where he stood between his knees, with his hands upon the sculls, which jim was getting ready for use. pat sprang after and took the tiller, pushing off from shore just as the lady came round the angle of the path to nod to them with sweet smiling glances.
"look, mamma! look at me, mamma! i'm sculling!" shouted rupert, his bright face all in a glow of importance and pleasure, "i can scull as well as jim now, and i'll take you out sometimes like papa does, when i've got time. but i like going with pat and jim best. it's like as if we were living together in the lighthouse and had just gone out for a row."
"yes, darling," answered the mother, smiling and waving her hand. "take good care of pat and jim, because they took good care of you once. how are you feeling to-day, jim? and how is your mother, pat?"
"nicely, thank you, my lady," they both answered in a breath, and the lady waved her hand once more to the party before turning back towards the house again.
"she knows you are safe with me," remarked rupert, slightly transposing a phrase he frequently heard from his parents' lips, and then the boat was headed towards the lone rock, and rupert played the game all the time that they were living there again. he and jim and pat had been across once with nat since their coming to live at the lodge, and rupert never forgot that it had once been his temporary home, and made many plans about buying it for his very own when he was a man, and going there to live with pat. whenever he had little friends of his own to tea at home, he would always assert his superiority over them by telling how he had once lived in a lighthouse, which certainly none of the others had done. and the story of his life there never failed to arouse a great interest and wonder.
the child's father was waiting to take him when the boat neared shore again, and he spoke kindly to jim and pat before leading his little son home.
as the latter put away the boat safe in the boathouse, and walked slowly towards the pretty lodge together, they saw the light from the lone rock streaming out over the darkening water, increasing every moment in brightness. pat looked lovingly at it.
"i used to wonder as i lay in bed how she would look to people a long way off. i didn't know she was quite so bright. i think they must be taking good care of her, jim."
"yes, i think so, she's bright enough of nights. i can just see her as i lie awake in bed—through that gap in the trees. it makes me think about the lamp to our feet and the light to our path."
"oh, yes," answered pat quickly and eagerly, "that's what mother said too, jim, and she said something else as well; i wonder if i could remember it. i think it was about you. i know it made me think of you directly she said it."
"about me?" questioned jim absently, his eyes still on the light.
they had paused now upon a little bit of rising ground to look over the sea. a short distance to the right, a little bit farther up the hill, twinkled the lights from a charming little lodge, within the rose-covered walls of which eileen was stepping to and fro setting out the supper, whilst nat smoked his pipe by the handful of fire, looking the picture of contentment and well-being. pat could see the lights from both his past and present home as he stood beside jim on the brow of the rising ground, waiting till the man should have recovered breath to go on, for going up hill always tried him a little, even though he went slowly. but it was their habit to stand thus a few minutes looking out towards the lighthouse, especially after dark, when the rays of the lamp could be seen; and now pat took up the word again and went on eagerly—
"yes; mother was saying that when she looked out at night and saw the light, and the great track it made in the water, it made her think about some words in the bible, where it says about the 'path of the just shining more and more unto the perfect day.' and when she said it i thought of you, jim, and i said to mother, 'isn't that what jim's path does, mother?' and she said, 'yes, pat, i think it is; because jim seems to me to be going on more and more to the perfect day than anybody i ever saw before.' so it must be like you, jim, for mother always knows."
jim made no response in words; but pat saw him draw his hand softly across his eyes. presently he laid his hand upon the boy's shoulder, and there was something in the touch that made pat look suddenly up. he met a glance of such affection and tenderness that for the moment he felt half startled, and then jim spoke in tones that faltered a little with the deepness of his feeling.
"you mustn't think too well of me, pat; you don't know what i've been through in the dark before the light came. i'm the last man in the world as should be spoken of so. but i do know that my sins are washed away. i do know that he's taken the burden off my back. he's led me into the light now, and i think he'll keep me there to the end. but, pat, it was your little hand that first pointed the way. i can't see how i should ever have found it if the lord hadn't sent you to show it me. there's never a night as i lie watching the light, and thinking of that other light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world, if so be as he'll turn his eyes towards it, but that i think of those old days of black darkness, when there wasn't a ray of light in my poor heart. and then i think of how the light came, and how he sent it to me. for it must have been his doing all the while that you came to lone rock, pat, and taught me to know that we were never alone if so be as we would take the lord at his word, and go to him across the blackness and the darkness."
