So Eric, dear Eric, at last your name was cleared."
"As I always knew it would be, dear old boy," said Wildney.
Montagu and Wildney found plenty to make them happy at Fairholm, and
were never tired of Eric's society, and of his stories about all that
befell him on board the "Stormy Petrel." They perceived a marvellous
change in him. Every trace of recklessness and arrogance had passed
away; every stain of passion had been removed; every particle of
hardness had been calcined in the flame of trial. All was gentleness,
love, and dependence, in the once bright, impetuous, self-willed boy; it
seemed as though the lightning of God's anger had shattered and swept
away all that was evil in his heart and life, and left all his true
excellence, all the royal prerogatives of his character, pure and
unscathed Eric, even in his worst days, was, as I well remember, a
lovable and noble boy; but at this period there must have been something
about him for which to thank God, something unspeakably winning, and
irresistibly attractive.
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