THE RECTOR'S RETURN
David Chantrey's term of exile was over, and the spring had brought
release to him. He was returning to England in stronger health and vigor
than he had enjoyed for some years before his absence. It seemed to
himself that he had completely regained the strength that had been his
as a young man. He was a young man yet, he told himself--not six and
thirty, with long years of happy work lying before him. The last
eighteen months had been weary ones, though he could not count them as
lost time, since they had restored him to health. The voyage home was a
succession of almost perfectly happy days, as he dwelt beforehand upon
the joy that awaited him. He had a packet of letters, those which had
reached him from home during his absence; and he read them through once
more in the long leisure hours of the voyage. Those from his friend
Warden and his aunt which bore a recent date had certainly a rather
unsatisfactory tone; but all of Sophy's had been brighter and more
cheerful than he had anticipated. Every one of them longed for his
return, that was evident.
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