"Just the same. He's had a call."
"And old Adam? Is he still living?"
"He can't walk any longer, but his mind is perfectly clear. Sometimes
his son puts his chair into an oxcart and brings him over to the
ordinary. He's still the best talker about here, and he frets if he is
left by himself."
For a moment they were silent again. Old Adam, having fulfilled his
purpose, was dismissed into space. Molly watched Abel's eyes turn to the
pines on the horizon, and in the midst of the June meadow, there was a
look in them that reminded her of the autumnal sadness of nature. She
had seen this look in Reuben's face when he gazed wistfully at the
blossoming apple boughs in the spring, and the thought came to her
that just this attitude of soul--this steadfast courage in the face of
circumstance--was the thing that life was meant to teach them both
at the end. If Abel's energy was now less effervescent, she realized
instinctively that it had become more assured. Life or marriage--or,
perhaps, both together had "tamed" him, as Reuben had prophesied, and
the rough edges of his character had worn smooth in the process.
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