“What doth hinder me to be baptized?” she asked, in the words of Philip.

“If thou believest, thou mayest.”

Accordingly, at the conclusion of the morning prayer, when the preacher said, “Those persons to be baptized may now come forward,” Clarice Briton, leading little Gabriel by the hand, rose from her seat and walked up before the congregation, and stood in the presence of all.

Not an eye was turned from her during the ceremony.  When she lifted Gabriel, and held him in her arms, and promised the solemn promises for him as well as for herself, the souls that witnessed it thought that they had lost Clarice.  The tears rolled down Old Briton’s cheeks when he looked upon the girl.  What he saw he did not half understand, but there was an awful solemnity about the transaction, that overpowered him.  He and Dame Briton had come to the meeting because Clarice urged them to do so;—­she had said she was going to make a public promise about Gabriel, and that was all she told them; for, beside that there was little time for explanation in the hurry of preparing Gabriel and herself, Clarice’s heart was too deeply stirred to admit of speech.  After she had obtained the promise of her parents, she said no more to them; they did not hear her speak again until her firm “I will” broke on their ears.

Dame Briton was not half pleased at what she saw and heard, during this service.  She looked at Bondo Emmins to see what he was thinking,—­but little she learned from his solemn face.  When the sign of the cross was laid on the forehead of Clarice, and on the forehead of Gabriel, a frown for an instant was seen on his own; but it was succeeded by an expression of feature such as made the dame look quickly away, for in that same instant his eyes were upon her.

Enough of surprise and gaping wonder would Dame Briton have discovered in other directions, had she sought the evidences; but from Bondo Emmins she looked down at her “old man,” and she saw his tears.  Then came Clarice, and before she knew it she was holding the little Christian Gabriel in her stern old arms, and kissing away the drops of hallowed water that flashed upon his eye-lids.

A sermon followed, the like of which, for poetry or wonder, was never heard among these people.  The preacher seemed to think this an occasion for all his eloquence; nay, for the sake of justice, I will say, his heart was full of rejoicing, for now he believed a church was grafted here, a Branch which the Root would nourish.  His words served to deepen the impression made by the ceremonial.  Clarice Briton and little Gabriel shone in white raiment that day; and, thanks to him, when he went on to prove the Kingdom of Heaven upon earth one with that mysterious majesty on high, a single leap took Clarice Briton over the boundaries of faith.

VII.