"I
don't know," he repeated, turning them to his daughter's transparent
face, which seemed almost an incarnation of the divine words. "I think,
my dear, that you could put some ideas into his head that would do him
more good than any thing I can give him;" and he smiled gravely upon
her.
"All right, papa," said Sophie, gayly, with a tender kindling of her
soft, gray eyes. "Nothing could make me happier than to do good to
somebody. As soon as I get well enough, I'll take him under my charge."
Her manner was playful, but there was a vibration in her tone which
caught the professor's ear, and conveyed to him the idea that there was
an unseen depth of yearning and passionate desire to be something more
than an invalid, selfish and helpless, during her earthly life; an
inheritance, perhaps, of the apostolic spirit which had played a not
inconsiderable part in the history of his own life. And surely, he may
have thought, there never was human being better qualified than she to
inspire to high and pure simplicity of life and thought, were it merely
by the example of her own. And would it not be a strange and beautiful
thing, if this beloved daughter of his should be the means of turning to
worthier and truer ambitions a man whom, of all others, he had reason to
wish honored and respected among mankind! It was a very alluring
thought, and the professor quite lost himself for a few moments in the
contemplation of it.
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