He used to kiss those chubby arms--kiss the rosy cheeks, and the soft
brown hair. But that hair had changed sadly since the days when its
owner had first lisped his name, and called him "Ugh," for the bands and
braids coiled around 'Lina's haughty head were black as midnight. Not
less changed than 'Lina's tresses was 'Lina herself, and Hugh, strong
man that he was, had often felt like crying for the little baby sister,
so lost and dead to him in her young womanhood. What had changed Ad so?
There was many a tender spot in Hugh Worthington's heart, and shadow
after shadow flitted across his face as he thought how cheerless was his
life, and how little there was in his surroundings to make him happy.
There was nothing he would not do for people if approached in the right
way, but nobody cared for him, unless it were his mother and Aunt
Eunice. They seemed to like him, and he reckoned they did, but for the
rest, who was there that ever thought of doing him a kindness? Poor
Hugh! It was a dreary picture he drew as he sat alone that night,
brooding over his troubles, and listening to the moan of the wintry
wind--the only sound he heard, except the rattling of the shutters and
the creaking of the timbers, as the old house rocked in the December
gale.
Suddenly there crept into his mind Adah's words, "I shall pray for you
to-night." He never prayed, and the Bible given by Golden Hair had not
been opened this many a day. Since his dark sin toward Adah he had felt
unworthy to touch it, but now that he was doing what he could to atone,
he surely might look at it, and unlocking the trunk where it was hidden,
he took it from its concealment and opened it reverently, half wondering
what he should read first, and if it would have any reference to his
present position.
"Inasmuch as ye did it to the least of these ye did it unto Me."
That was what Hugh read in the dim twilight, that the passage on which
the lock of hair lay, and the Bible dropped from his hands as he
whispered: "Golden Hair, are you here? Did you point that out to me? Does it mean
Adah? Is the God you loved on earth pleased that I should care for her?"
To these queries, there came no answer, save the mournful wailing of the
night wind roaring down the chimney and past the sleet-covered window,
but Hugh was a happier man for reading that, and had there before
existed a doubt as to his duty toward Adah, this would have swept it
away.