1893 COSTEBELLE 323 



And certainly he was astonishingly bright when 

 his wife returned to him. It was on a Sunday after- 

 noon, and his first proposition was, ' The church bell is 

 tinkling, let's go to church.' It was the twenty-eighth 

 of January, and the brightness and gladness of two 

 of the Evening Psalms were oddly appropriate, and 

 chimed in with feelings of a greater gladness dawning 

 on him, for he was leaving the strange land in which 

 for years he had not been able to sing ' The Lord's 

 Song.' 



And then began a time, often saddened by hours 

 of intense physical exhaustion and physical depres- 

 sion, but also of what can only be called growth in 

 holiness, in all that comes from nearness to God. 



In the early autumn and winter there had been 

 sad moments when still the clouds of darkness, of 

 inability to grasp the Hand of God stretched out to 

 meet him, hung over him, but in these months there 

 had been the same growth. 



One to whom he often spoke of the deepest things 

 of life and of death will never forget his saying one 

 day just after the attack of illness in December : ' I 

 have come to see that cleverness, success, attainment, 

 count for Httle ; that goodness, or, as F. (naming a 

 dear friend) would say, " character," is the important 

 factor in life.' 



For in early days Mr. Eomanes had attached, so it 

 seemed to some of those who knew him best, an undue 

 importance to intellect, to cleverness, to intelligence, 

 and the same person to whom he said the few words 

 just quoted had often discussed with him the relative 

 value of goodness and of intellect. 



By goodness is meant perfect and complete good- 

 ness, not such as that of which it has been said, ' It 

 is the business of the wise to rectify the mistakes of 

 the good.' 



And as weeks passed on he would often plan a 



t2 



