^ The ^Afternoon of the Year $£ 



by heart. As to countless others the Word of God was 

 indeed a lantern unto her feet and a light unto her paths. By 

 that unfailing source of light she ruled herself, her house- 

 hold and the village. She had in full measure that deep- 

 rooted love of the Bible which is so characteristic of our 

 race, and I often heard her repeating passages to herself as 

 she went about the house and garden. Small wonder that 

 her ways were ways of pleasantness and all her paths were 

 peace. I remember standing one evening with her by 

 the side of the great pond at the further end of the lawn 

 and watching a singularly beautiful sunset. She looked 

 at it in silence for a few minutes, and then almost un- 

 consciously she repeated the whole of the Psalm ' The 

 heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament 

 sheweth his handiwork.' To this day I can never read or 

 hear that Psalm without thinking of her. 



In appearance great-aunt Lancilla was a very impressive 

 old lady. In the days when everyone of her age wore long 

 skirts she invariably wore skirts quite four inches off the 

 ground, both during the day and in the evening. The 

 colour she most affected was a certain soft cinnamon 

 brown one rarely sees nowadays. Others wore bonnets, 

 but summer and winter she wore wide-brimmed hats, 

 almost devoid of trimming and tied under her chin with 

 a large flat bow. She rarely wore jewellery, but instead 

 enchanting strings of beads which she had acquired in 

 various parts of the world, and that was quite a genera- 

 tion before Paris or Chelsea had even dreamt of beads. 

 No one loved pretty things more than she did, but I 

 think she was almost unconscious of passing fashions. 

 Under her skirt and fastened like an apron she wore a 

 Pocket. Only a capital letter can give an idea of the size 



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