In a few weeks the soup was once more
concocted of familiar ingredients, and customers, as often as they
grumbled, had the pleasure of being rebuked in their native tongue.
It was with anything but a cheerful heart that Jane went through
this initiation into the philanthropic life. Her brief period of joy
and confidence was followed by a return of anxiety, which no resolve
could suppress. It was not only that the ideals to which she strove
to form herself made no genuine appeal to her nature; the imperative
hunger of her heart remained unsatisfied. At first, when the
assurance received from Michael began to lose a little of its
sustaining force, she could say to herself, 'Patience, patience; be
faithful, be trustful, and your reward will soon come.' Nor would
patience have failed her had but the current of life flowed on in
the old way. It was the introduction of new and disturbing things
that proved so great a test of fortitude. Those two successive
absences of Sidney on the appointed evening were strangely unlike
him, but perhaps could be explained by the unsettlement of his
removal; his manner when at length he did come proved that the
change in himself was still proceeding.
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