"Wretched
Poland!" sighed he; "how far from thee lies one of thy bravest sons!"
The words were breathed in so low a murmur, that none heard them
except the ear of Heaven! and that little boy, whose gaze had been
some time fixed on Thaddeus, and whose gentle heart never forgot
them.
Dr. Cavendish, regarding with redoubled pity the now doubly desolated
exile in this last resignation of his parental friend to a foreign
grave, attempted to persuade him to return with him to dinner. He
refused the kind invitation, alleging, with a faint smile, that under
every misfortune he found his best comforter in solitude.
Respecting the resignation and manliness of this answer, Doctor
Cavendish urged him no further; but expressing his regret that he
could not see him again until the end of the week, as he was obliged
to go to Stanford next day on a medical consultation, he shook hands
with him at the door of Mrs. Robson and bade him farewell.
Thaddeus entered his lonely room, and fell on his knees before the
"ark of his strength,"--the Holy Book, that had been the gift of his
mother. The first page he opened presented to him the very words
which had poured consolation onto his sad heart, from the lips of the
venerable clergyman when he met him on his entrance into the church-
porch before the coffin of his friend!
"I am the resurrection and the life, saith the Lord.
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