Esther's journal Author:Esther Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: Sanuarg i8///. ITTLE Aldred is much better since the severe cold has a little yielded. The heavy fall of snow, before which he was so ill, has brought a ... more »softer air with it. The landscape in its snowy clothing looks dreary, and yet very striking. A hushed appearance seems to rest on everything ; not a ripple disturbs the cold still lake, whose usual azure tint is much dimmed by the chiller reflections it receives. Jebruarg isf, 18—. Monday. I ERR von Stein and I have had some talk together at last, and I feel deeply and painfully interested in him, for he has told me the story of his life's sorrow, and it is indeed a sad one. It came about thus. Yesterday I took the little Leonards to church, as their mamma was keeping her room with a severe cold. We always go now to the Eglise Libre, and this day the sermon was more than usually simple and beautiful. It was full of Christ and His finished work. I came back with my heart in a glow, and when the children complained of the cold (it was a raw, damp day, the first of a regular thaw that has set in), I felt nothing of it. On entering the house I sent the children to their mother, and went straight into the salon, where I knew I should find a noble fire. So I did; the great logswere crackling away on our ample hearth, and by it, the only occupant of the room, sat Herr von Stein. He was almost buried in the deep old-fashioned fauteuil, his head leaning on his hands, so that he did not see me till I stood close by him to warm myself. I was half inclined to go away again, but the wan and utterly woe-worn countenance he then turned towards me, moved me to a strong feeling of compassion— to a longing to help and comfort one to whom this blessed day seemed to have brought no blessing, no comfort! A German novel lay on a tab...« less