The Chainbearer

Chapter 8

"I see thee still,

Remembrance, faithful to her trust,

Calls thee in beauty from the dust;

Thou comest in the morning light,

Thou'rt with me through the gloomy night;

In dreams I meet thee as of old:

Then thy soft arms my neck enfold,

And thy sweet voice is in my ear:

In every sense to memory dear

I see thee still."

-Sprague.

It was just ten in the morning of the succeeding day when my uncle Ro and myself came in sight of the old house at the Nest. I call it old, for a dwelling that has stood more than half a century acquires a touch of the venerable, in a country like America. To me it was truly old, the building having stood there, where I then saw it, for a period more than twice as long as that of my own existence, and was associated with all my early ideas. From childhood I