"They were at Lausanne. They were talking of going to
Lucerne."
"To stay?"
"For some time, I think. Papa was getting tired of Lausanne.
We shall know as soon as we reach our port."
"Wonderful things will crowd upon you now, Daisy," the doctor
said meditatively. "And you are as ready for them as ever."
"Don't they crowd upon everybody?" I said, remembering what
strange ones life had lately brought to me.
"Everybody does not see them - does not know it. You have this
peculiarity, that you will not fail to note every one that
comes within your knowledge. Europe will be a wonder gallery
to you. And life, perhaps."
"Oh, life is now, Dr. Sandford."
He had been looking very grave. He smiled at me then, one of
his bright, winsome smiles that the child Daisy used to get.
It made my heart sore with longing for him, and sorrow.
"Isn't it a wonder, that I live, and that I shall live for
ever?" I said. "That this world is only the portal to glory?
Isn't it a wonder, that there is a highway from these low
grounds to Heaven's court, and that the gates of brass and
bars of iron that stopped the way, are broken asunder? Isn't
it a wonder, that the Prince of Heaven came down to open the
way and to show it to us? and is there any wonder so great, as
that, after this, any mortal should refuse to walk that way?"
"Grant Sandford, to wit!" said the doctor with an odd
expression, something between pleased and displeased. "I am
afraid, Daisy, he would want an angel to go before him after
all."
I remember this little talk well, for it puzzled me and did
not seem like Dr. Sandford. I remember nothing else of any
interest till we came to Switzerland and I was near my
journey's end. We had pushed on, sometimes by night and day;
stopping only for necessary meals and refreshment. I wanted no
delay. When we reached the glories of the Swiss mountains,
even yet distant, my mood oddly changed, and I was no longer
in a hurry. My life, I knew, would take a new turn, in among
those mountains somewhere; and it might not, I had a shrewd
suspicion that it would not, be a turn for my ease and
comfort; and even while I was as eager as ever to see my
father and mother, at the same time I was willing to take the
last steps of the way more slowly, and enjoy what I had and
what I hoped for together, before reality should displace
anticipation. This is my understanding of the mood as I look
back to it; at the time I did not reason, but only was
conscious of being ready to linger and willing to lose nothing
of novelty and beauty on my way. However, lingering was not
possible. By one conveyance and another we pushed our way on,
till Lucerne, our place of destination, was reached.