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+
+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 76759 ***
+
+Transcriber's note: Unusual and inconsistent spelling is as printed.
+
+[Illustration: "Whatever is the matter?"]
+
+
+
+                       THE STRANGE HOUSE;
+
+
+                               OR,
+
+                       A MOMENT'S MISTAKE.
+
+
+                               BY
+
+                         CATHARINE SHAW
+
+  AUTHOR OF "DICKIE'S SECRET," "THE GABLED FARM," "ALICK'S HERO,"
+         "NOBODY'S NEIGHBOUR," "SOMEBODY'S DARLING," ETC.
+
+
+                          New Edition.
+
+
+                           _LONDON:_
+                     JOHN F. SHAW AND CO.
+                  48, PATERNOSTER ROW, E.C.
+
+
+
+                           CONTENTS
+
+                             ————
+
+ CHAPTER
+
+       I. NEXT DOOR
+
+      II. POVERTY KNOCKS AT THE DOOR
+
+     III. LOVE DOES NOT FLY OUT OF THE WINDOW
+
+      IV. GONE
+
+       V. MOLLIE'S WELCOME
+
+      VI. ALL SIX!
+
+     VII. CONWAY'S DISCOVERIES
+
+    VIII. DAISY'S "CHUM"
+
+      IX. A CHAMPION
+
+       X. A SONG
+
+      XI. A SCRIMMAGE
+
+     XII. MARMALADE
+
+    XIII. THE OVERTURNED BASKET
+
+     XIV. "X. Y. Z."
+
+      XV. LITTLE LESTER
+
+     XVI. A LATE VISITOR
+
+    XVII. BEFORE DAWN
+
+   XVIII. SUNRISE
+
+     XIX. ROSE GUESSES SOMETHING
+
+      XX. UP THE CHIMNEY
+
+     XXI. BY THE NURSERY FIRE
+
+    XXII. NO THOROUGHFARE
+
+   XXIII. A HINDRANCE
+
+    XXIV. AT THE GRAVE
+
+     XXV. JOHNNIE'S JOKE
+
+    XXVI. FLIGHT
+
+   XXVII. A DARK RIDE
+
+  XXVIII. ALMOST
+
+    XXIX. AT LAST
+
+     XXX. WRAPPED IN A CLOAK
+
+    XXXI. ANOTHER PROMISE
+
+   XXXII. A VIGIL
+
+  XXXIII. "FRITZ IS COMING"
+
+   XXXIV. SET TO WORK
+
+    XXXV. OUTSIDE THE GREAT NORTHERN
+
+   XXXVI. BY AND BY
+
+  XXXVII. A NEW THOUGHT
+
+ XXXVIII. IN THE MUSEUM
+
+   XXXIX. HIDING
+
+      XL. RANDALL'S MISCHIEF
+
+     XLI. TWO SIDES OF A STORY
+
+    XLII. CLOUDS
+
+   XLIII. "WAITING FOR YOU!"
+
+    XLIV. A SHORT DRIVE
+
+     XLV. TILL WEDNESDAY
+
+    XLVI. NURSE'S PLAN
+
+   XLVII. THE STRANGE HOUSE AGAIN
+
+  XLVIII. RANDALL'S REQUEST
+
+    XLIX. WEDNESDAY
+
+       L. IN THE CABINET
+
+      LI. AT LANRIFFE
+
+     LII. RANDALL'S RETURN
+
+
+
+                        [Illustration]
+
+                       THE STRANGE HOUSE.
+
+                             ————
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+NEXT DOOR.
+
+"HARK! What's that, Ned?"
+
+"Nothing!"
+
+"It isn't nothing! Do hush, Ned; there is something wrong outside!"
+
+It was a still night at the end of September, unusually mild for the
+time of year, and the boys were just in bed, having left their window
+thrown wide-open, so that every noise in the road came up distinctly.
+
+Conway, having just laid his head on his pillow, heard some one say in
+a clear, abrupt undertone—
+
+"I've got you!" followed by a scuffle, in which, now that Ned was
+quiet, holding his breath too, there were words exchanged of angry
+expostulation.
+
+The boys were out of bed in a trice, and were leaning out of the window
+breathlessly.
+
+"Let go, I say," said the second voice angrily.
+
+"Not I! I've got you, now! I've been watching you for this half-hour."
+
+"Let go, I say! What do you want with me? I'm in my own garden, I tell
+you."
+
+"A likely story," answered the gruffer voice, which the boys took to
+be a policeman's. "And if you stir till I can get help, you'll feel my
+truncheon."
+
+"I say," said Conway, "don't you think we ought to go down, Ned?"
+
+He was getting into his garments in breathless haste, followed by Ned.
+And just as they rushed down-stairs, two or three heads were put out at
+various doors, and their mother asked—
+
+"Whatever is the matter?"
+
+The boys did not wait to explain much, but called out, "There's
+something going on in the next garden; tell father to come," and rushed
+off.
+
+"What is it, mother?" asked Mollie, peeping from her room.
+
+Mrs. Shaddock shivered, her teeth chattering with nervousness. "I don't
+know," she answered, "only I heard a noise in the road."
+
+"Why have the boys gone down?" asked Mollie. "And oh, here's father
+going too!"
+
+Meanwhile the boys had reached the garden, and had sprung over the
+hedge which separated them from their neighbour's grass-plot, and were
+already standing by the policeman, who was grimly holding on to a
+crouching figure under the front hedge.
+
+As the policeman's lantern was turned on the boys' faces, the
+imprisoned man looked up and exclaimed—
+
+"Speak for me, young sirs; you know me, don't you? These young
+gentlemen live next door to me, and they know I live here!"
+
+"I don't believe you," said the policeman; "you're here for no good,
+that I do know. Get up and come along with me."
+
+"I'm not going to," said the man stoutly. "I live here. And if I like
+to be in my garden at this time of night, I shall please myself."
+
+"We'll go and rouse the house and see if you belong there. Who else
+lives here?" asked the constable suspiciously.
+
+"No one else," said the man, springing to his feet, and releasing
+himself, though he did not attempt to move away. "I live alone, and
+it's no business of any one's if I do. What sort of a policeman can you
+be not to know me who has lived here for this past year, and worked in
+my garden day and night?"
+
+"Yes, it 'is' our neighbour," broke in Conway, while Mr. Shaddock, who
+had now come out, assured the officer of the law that this was the case.
+
+"Well, I'm new on this beat," said the man, letting go unwillingly.
+"But when I see a feller poking along by a hedge, and hiding down
+beneath it when he hears a footstep, I sez to myself, 'He ain't up to
+no good.' And no more he isn't, be he neighbour or no neighbour to
+respectable folks!"
+
+He stood aside angrily, while the man, with curt thanks to his
+releasers, strode up the garden path and let himself into the house
+with a latch-key.
+
+"Rum," remarked the policeman; "for when I first took hold of him, I
+could swear I saw a light in the bottom room. And how should it go out
+and all be black and dark now, I should like to know?"
+
+He moved off, shaking his head, while Mr. Shaddock and his sons made
+their way back to their home.
+
+On the doorstep stood Mrs. Shaddock and her eldest daughter, Mollie,
+who had been looking on in great excitement, fearing, or perhaps
+hoping, that a veritable thief had been caught.
+
+The disturbed household gathered in the deserted dining-room, a motley
+group in their quickly-donned costumes.
+
+Ned could not help laughing as he pulled Mollie's long hair, and asked
+her if she were sure her head was not chopped off?
+
+"After that tug, I 'am,'" she answered. "But, father, what did he say?
+We could not hear."
+
+"Yes," said Mrs. Shaddock, "do tell us."
+
+"I've nothing to tell," answered her husband. "Our strange neighbour,
+it seems, was meandering about outside, and a new policeman took him up
+in mistake for a thief; that's all!"
+
+"All!" echoed Mrs. Shaddock. "Suppose you had been taken up when you
+were smoking a cigar."
+
+"Well, he wasn't smoking," said Conway; "he was hiding apparently.
+Besides, he says there is no one living in the house with him, and yet
+the 'Bobby' saw a light put out."
+
+Mrs. Shaddock turned white. "'I' saw a light put out," she said, "just
+after your father went out. We were standing on the doorstep when a
+light was slowly moved a few yards, and then it went out."
+
+"That can't be, my dear, if nobody besides lives there," said Mr.
+Shaddock.
+
+"It is very queer though," she said, turning to Mollie, "for we both
+thought it was strange the person did not come to the door."
+
+"What a good thing it is we had been up so late!" said Ned, yawning.
+"If we had not been at that concert, this would not have happened!"
+
+Conway laughed. "Or we should have slept through it," he said.
+
+"I feel scared," remarked Mollie. "I wonder if Daisy is awake?"
+
+"There is nothing to be scared at," said Ned, "and father is next door
+to you. Anyway, I love excitements. We will watch the Strange House,
+Conway, and see what comes of this."
+
+"Yes," assented his brother, "if it is worth while. That feller next
+door has told a lie, anyway!"
+
+"Oh, that's nothing," said Ned carelessly. "It's more than that, I
+think. I shall keep my eyes open."
+
+"And I shall shut mine," said Conway, "if they aren't shut already!"
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+POVERTY KNOCKS AT THE DOOR.
+
+"HOW does it look, Phyllis?"
+
+The child glanced up from her lessons, and stretched out her hand
+across the table for a fine piece of cambric which her mother was
+holding out to her.
+
+She took it under the lamp, and examined it critically.
+
+"I've seen you do it better, mother."
+
+"I was afraid so," answered Mrs. Ashlyn slowly. "I can do no more work
+by candlelight."
+
+"Mother!" exclaimed the child, with an accent of dismay.
+
+"I have feared it for a long time," she said, passing her hand over her
+eyes, and leaning back in her chair rather wearily.
+
+Phyllis looked in her face consideringly, and then her eyes met a pair
+of dark ones opposite—those of a young man seated with a pile of books
+before him, in the study of which he had been buried, till interrupted
+by the serious nature of the conversation between his two companions.
+
+For that it was a serious conversation both knew.
+
+Mrs. Ashlyn was a widow with very limited means, and had been
+accustomed to eke out her income by fine needlework for a large
+baby-linen warehouse in the neighbouring town.
+
+If this source of income should fail, what would become of them? So
+thought the three seated in that cosy little room.
+
+From outside came the subdued roar of the sea, as its ceaseless waves
+broke on the beach near; while inside the clock ticked on audibly, and
+the lamp shone on Phyllis's shining hair and on Otto's curly head,
+both bent over their respective books, though their thoughts were busy
+elsewhere.
+
+Otto, the son of an old friend, had lived with Mrs. Ashlyn for three
+years, while preparing for his medical examinations, and had become,
+as Phyllis expressed it, "quite one of the family." But at any rate,
+he shared all their interests, and, so far as he understood them,
+sympathized in their cares.
+
+What would happen now, if one of the chief sources of income should be
+permanently dried up?
+
+The meditations of the three were broken in upon by a light step coming
+swiftly up the little garden path, and by the turning of the handle of
+the front door.
+
+"There's Gertrude!" exclaimed Phyllis rather unnecessarily, for both
+her companions knew that quite well.
+
+Mrs. Ashlyn rose, folded her work carefully into a spotless
+handkerchief, and placed it in a dainty, covered basket which stood at
+her side. Then she looked up with a smile as the door opened to admit
+a girl of about twenty-two, who came in with a bright look and manner
+that seemed like a May breeze.
+
+"You look like news!" said Phyllis. "Are they going to keep you on?"
+
+"No," answered Gertrude.
+
+Mrs. Ashlyn's eyes were fixed on her face inquiringly, with an anxiety
+in her answer which the others understood, if Gertrude did not.
+
+"No," pursued Gertrude, "they are not. They want to make other
+arrangements. So now there is nothing to be done but to look out for
+something else!"
+
+"That is not so easy," said Mrs. Ashlyn. "Camptown is not so very
+large, and the schools there are limited in number. But I dare say we
+shall find something in time."
+
+"Of course we shall," said Gertrude heartily. "Why, mother, do you not
+'know' that all our ways are in our Father's hands?"
+
+Mrs. Ashlyn was leaving the room, and received her daughter's kiss with
+a sweet, patient smile, the patience of which was not noticed by her
+child so much as its sweetness.
+
+"Mother! I had something to ask you. Now Phyllis is so 'competent'
+and—well—everything, would you spare me if I heard of a situation near
+London—at Hampstead?"
+
+"Have you?" asked her mother, starting. And she was not the only one in
+that room who started too.
+
+"Yes, Miss Timely told me of one—"
+
+"I will think of it," said Mrs. Ashlyn quietly.
+
+And then the door closed and the three young people were left alone.
+
+Gertrude looked after her mother with a puzzled look. Then she said to
+Phyllis—
+
+"Is mother not well?"
+
+But Phyllis did not answer at once, so Otto said quietly—
+
+"Her eyes have troubled her again to-night, and I think she has gone to
+bathe them."
+
+"You speak in a different tone from what you do generally, Otto," she
+said, going to his side. "Has anything happened while I have been gone?"
+
+"Nothing but what I said—nothing fresh," he added in a quick undertone.
+"But I think it has come over your mother more than ever before—what
+I have long foreseen—that the work which she does so beautifully is
+injuring her sight, and that she will soon be unable to do it."
+
+"Otto!"
+
+There was a pause. The young man was gathering his books together, as
+if he had finished.
+
+"Have you done?" asked Phyllis, surprised.
+
+"For to-night," he answered. "I am going for a walk along the beach."
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+LOVE DOES NOT FLY OUT OF THE WINDOW.
+
+OTTO let himself out into the darkness, leaving the two girls looking
+at each other.
+
+"He said he had heaps to do!" exclaimed Phyllis.
+
+"He has altered his mind. But what is this, about mother's eyes?"
+
+Phyllis explained, and then Gertrude ran up-stairs to find her mother.
+
+The rooms were all dark, but as she peeped into her mother's, across
+the strip of moonlight was a kneeling figure.
+
+The figure rose on hearing her step, and her mother came to her side
+and drew her to the window. Neither spoke for a moment, then Gertrude
+said gently—
+
+"Your eyes may be better again, mother!"
+
+"I hardly expect that my dear, but—"
+
+"You have seen a way?"
+
+"Yes; 'I will never leave thee nor forsake thee.'"
+
+"That is the best help there can be."
+
+Again they stood in silence, watching the bright rippling sea,
+sparkling like diamonds in the moonlight.
+
+"What is this situation you have heard of, my dear?"
+
+"It is near Hampstead; Miss Timely knows the people well, and says I
+should be very comfortable. There are four boys and two girls—"
+
+"Boys?" asked Mrs. Ashlyn.
+
+"Oh, not all for me to teach! One little boy, I think, and the two
+girls."
+
+"When do they want you?"
+
+"Directly. But, mother, the salary is good, much better than what Miss
+Timely gave me. And then you will not have my board, you know!"
+
+"Your board!" said her mother fondly. "But, Gertrude, how shall I part
+with you, and how shall you bear to go?"
+
+"That I do not know," she answered, in a tone that had a sort of
+huskiness in it. "But sometimes I have wished for a change—"
+
+"Have you, dear?"
+
+"Yes," answered Gertrude slowly, her voice growing clear and calm
+again, "yes, I have. I thought it would be good for us all. I shall
+come back again, God willing. But—if you do not mind, I should like to
+go."
+
+Mrs. Ashlyn was very thoughtful for a few moments, still with her arm
+round her daughter's waist, and still looking out on the sea.
+
+She opened her mouth to speak, but the question got no farther than her
+lips.
+
+Perhaps Gertrude did not desire to prolong the interview. At any rate
+she drew herself away gently, and said in a would-be sprightly tone—
+
+"I must write about this at once, mother, and then set to about some
+adornments! What a good thing it is you have made me keep my clothes in
+such good order!"
+
+"I never thought it would be for this," said her mother ruefully.
+
+"Ah! We do not know what good things are in store for us, by and by,
+mother. Let us trust on; we have been cared for hitherto."
+
+Mrs. Ashlyn followed her down-stairs, and superintended the letter to a
+certain Mrs. Shaddock, living in a certain road near Hampstead; which
+letter got written and posted before they went to bed.
+
+"I'll run over and put it in the box," said Gertrude, throwing a light
+shawl over her head. "Mother, I shall not be able to be so primitive at
+Hampstead!"
+
+"No, my dear. You will miss the freedom."
+
+"I shall miss a great many things," she answered soberly.
+
+
+Meanwhile Otto had made his way from the houses of the little village,
+and had found a sheltered nook among the rocks where he could be alone,
+and yet could see the sea and the moon.
+
+But though his eyes were fixed upon it, his thoughts were elsewhere.
+
+He felt conscious of having received a blow. He was unwilling to
+acknowledge it to himself, and yet he felt it was there.
+
+He had been sure two years ago that he had buried something—a very dear
+hope—safely and securely in the depths of his heart, never again to
+rise, he had assured himself. And yet—yet the imprisoned hope was not
+dead! It had burst its chains, and was there by his side, with more
+life than ever!
+
+When he had first come to Lanriffe, the pretty little fishing village
+near to the larger town of Camptown, and had settled down in Mrs.
+Ashlyn's happy little cottage, he had found out after a few months that
+there was one in that cottage who had become worth all the world to him.
+
+Then had come thoughts of prudence and necessity—his unfinished
+studies, his uncertain future, his poverty, everything.
+
+He had had a sore struggle, but he had considered he had conquered.
+
+"As sisters henceforth," he had assured himself. And till to-night he
+had believed it true.
+
+Now she was going away! Uncertain?—Nonsense, of course she would go!
+
+All his patience and self-control were cast to the winds. He bent his
+head to the blast, and felt as if there were nothing in the world of
+any use now! Gertrude was going away!
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+GONE.
+
+THE answer from Mrs. Shaddock had come. Gertrude was to go as soon as
+she could arrange to set off, and Mrs. Ashlyn and the two girls were
+very busy during the days which elapsed, stitching and planning and
+packing.
+
+When they were together, all tried to face the impending parting with
+as much cheerfulness as possible. But the nearer it got, the worse it
+seemed.
+
+Otto, after that one lonely walk on the shore, buried himself in his
+studies with more diligence than ever, seldom looking up to joke with
+Phyllis or fall into one of those talks with Gertrude that had been
+such a happiness to him before.
+
+The last day seemed a very long one. In the afternoon, when they were
+up-stairs putting the final things into the box, the door opened and a
+sweet face peeped in.
+
+"Rose!" exclaimed Phyllis.
+
+Any one could see that the lady whom Phyllis addressed was her own
+sister, but the sad eyes and ethereal mournful look did not match
+Phyllis's bright face at all.
+
+"My dearest!" said Rose's mother, rising. "Have you come home?"
+
+"Yes, we came last night. To-day I have done nothing but set my house
+in order."
+
+She sighed heavily, as she put her bonnet on the bed and turned to
+smooth her hair at the glass, which reflected back a singularly lovely
+young face set in wavy hair, which at thirty was already almost white.
+She smoothed it back with careless grace, and turned to her mother with
+a faint smile, saying, "I have come to tea!"
+
+"I am so glad," said Gertrude. "It would have seemed worse to go
+without seeing you, Rose."
+
+"I need not ask?" said Mrs. Ashlyn, tenderly. "You have had no tidings?"
+
+"None," answered Rose, sadly. "We spent all our holiday in searching,
+and could gain not the slightest clue."
+
+When they went down-stairs, Otto sat in the window still buried in his
+books. But on their entrance, he closed them and rose to greet the
+new-comer, glancing in her face inquiringly, as the others had done,
+knowing that the answer was to be read plainly enough without any words.
+
+Rose and her husband had passed through a terrible sorrow—one so
+dreadful that life had seemed a blank to them from the moment, two
+years ago, when they had become childless!
+
+No little grave belonged to the sorrowful parents; no last days of love
+and tenderness could be remembered; no little clothes in which their
+darling had died were left for that broken-hearted mother. Their child
+had been snatched from them, and had left no mark behind.
+
+The young mother, when lodging for a few weeks at the seaside, had
+suddenly been called away to attend her husband, who was dangerously
+ill.
+
+The landlady, who had only one boy, offered in the kindest way to take
+charge of their four-year-old darling. And in an agony of doubt, torn
+between love for husband and child, Rose left the child in her charge,
+and set off on her long journey to Scotland.
+
+While she was there, she received one letter from the landlady to say
+all was going well. And then a week elapsed and no further tidings came.
+
+She wrote to inquire, and on receiving no answer, she left her
+convalescent husband and hurried south.
+
+When she arrived at the lodgings, all things were as she had left them
+a fortnight before, but the house was empty!
+
+No landlady, no boy, no child!
+
+The neighbours said she had hurriedly set out ten days ago, saying the
+little visitor was ill and must be taken to his mother. And this was
+all any one knew. They had taken tickets to London, and there all trace
+of them ceased.
+
+That was Rose's story: no wonder that Otto looked in her face to see if
+in their weary search any hope had crept in.
+
+No earthly hope had entered, but in that depth of desolation, when
+their hearts had been almost broken, the One who healeth the broken in
+heart had drawn near to them to bind up their wounds.
+
+"He belonged to Jesus," Rose had said to her mother; "he loved Jesus,
+even though he was so little. By and by we shall meet again, either
+here or in heaven, and I can trust Him!"
+
+Oh, the depth which that loving heart had reached before she could say,
+"I can trust Him!"
+
+Otto knew all the story. Besides, Rose's husband was Otto's own brother.
+
+So they sat down to tea, and Rose put away her own sorrows while she
+entered into all the interests at the cottage.
+
+At last it was time to go, and Otto offered to accompany his
+sister-in-law home.
+
+"To-night?" she asked, surprised. "I can easily go back in the omnibus,
+Otto, and you would rather not be away this last night?"
+
+"I shall come with you," he answered; "there will be all too much time
+for good-byes even then. Goodbyes are wretched things."
+
+His eyes met Gertrude's, and then looked away again. "Shall you be up
+when I come home?" he asked.
+
+"That depends on what time that will be," she answered, smiling a very
+little.
+
+"Then I will come in time to see you," he said.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+MOLLIE'S WELCOME.
+
+THE train was speeding towards London, bearing Gertrude to her new home.
+
+The partings had all been said. Oh, the terrible wrench it was to leave
+her mother, to know that henceforth she must be left to Phyllis's care
+and thoughtfulness!
+
+Then Phyllis! How her large eyes had filled with tears, and how sober
+her sweet face had looked as she realized for the first time her
+responsibilities as sole home-daughter!
+
+And then the third parting had perhaps been the worst of all, because
+the feeling on both sides had not been able to be expressed.
+
+"Will you think of me and trust me, Gertrude?" was all that Otto's dry
+lips had been able to falter.
+
+And Gertrude had put her hand in his, and had answered a very quiet,
+"Yes, Otto," as their eyes met.
+
+Now, seated in the train, she felt as if she would like to have been
+able to live the last twelve hours over again.
+
+
+Towards afternoon a cab drove up to that certain road near Hampstead
+where the Shaddocks lived, and Gertrude and her two modest boxes were
+deposited within the hall of her new home.
+
+"Good afternoon, Miss Ashlyn," said a tall, pleasant-looking girl of
+about thirteen, coming out of the dining-room, where she had been
+waiting on purpose to receive her governess. "Mother is out just now,
+but told me to make you welcome."
+
+"Thank you," said Gertrude. "Are you Mollie?"
+
+"Yes. Will you like to remove your things, or will you have some tea
+first?"
+
+The prospect of a cup of tea after her long journey looked very
+inviting, and gave Gertrude a pleasant impression of her new
+surroundings that such a thing should have been thought of.
+
+"Stay!" said Mollie, ere she could reply. "I will have it brought to
+your room; you will feel more at home so."
+
+"She won't!" said Ned, peeping in at the door and hearing his sister's
+remark. "People don't get at home in their bedrooms! Besides, I want to
+see Miss Ashlyn, and if you shut her up there, I shan't."
+
+Mollie tossed her head at this advice. While Ned came forward on
+Gertrude's holding out her hand, with an awkward attempt to be at his
+ease.
+
+"I shall soon be at home, I dare say," said Gertrude, as brightly as
+she could, though her heart felt like a lump of lead, and she would
+like to have hidden her face and had a good cry.
+
+"Come up-stairs, Miss Ashlyn," said Mollie then, "and do not mind Ned.
+He is always rude."
+
+The matter-of-fact tone of this revelation was very astonishing, but
+Mollie left no time for Ned's rejoinder, as she tripped on before,
+having taken up Gertrude's umbrella and waterproof in her hand.
+
+"This is your room," she said, when they had gained the top floor. "You
+will find a nice view from the windows, which 'I' think compensates for
+the stairs!"
+
+"Beautiful!" said Gertrude.
+
+"Susan will bring up your boxes in a moment. Oh! Here she is with your
+tea. We shall have high-tea at seven o'clock. When you are ready, if
+you will ring, Susan will tell me, and I will come up to show you the
+way down."
+
+"Thank you, Mollie," said Gertrude gratefully. "You seem to have
+thought of everything!"
+
+The girl looked rather astonished, but answered, abruptly, "Oh, that is
+nothing. I hope your tea will be good."
+
+She left the room, and Gertrude laid her bonnet down and threw off her
+jacket, just as two maids came to her door with her boxes.
+
+They were soon uncorded, the servants glancing at her a little
+curiously, though not unkindly. And then the door was shut and she was
+alone.
+
+She looked round; her room was large and well-furnished, with a
+somewhat low ceiling, but the window was wide and low too, giving an
+impression of space and expanse very cheering to the country girl, who
+had dreaded brick walls and endless roofs.
+
+No walls or roofs, at least near ones, obtruded themselves on her view.
+Before her stretched the gardens of neighbouring houses, and beyond
+these were a few more distant streets of villas, shut in finally by
+green hills and fields, with Highgate spire in the distance.
+
+Then she turned her attention to her tea. On the dainty tray was
+a pretty tea-set with a plate of sandwiches and some cake for her
+refreshment.
+
+So she sat down to partake of it, leaving her boxes and all else till
+she should have tasted that fragrant cup which had been prepared.
+
+Greatly revived, and feeling that the world looked decidedly less dark
+than it had done a quarter of an hour ago, she rose and prepared to
+unpack her boxes, having gathered that this was what Mollie expected
+her to do.
+
+The things which had taken so long to work at and pack at home, took
+but little time to take out of the box and arrange neatly in the
+wardrobe. All was done very quickly, and then she stood ready to begin
+her new life.
+
+"This is the last time I shall be mistress of my own time," she said to
+herself with a little smile on her lips. "How strange it will seem!"
+
+Then she knelt down by the bed, and asked that she might be blessed in
+this home and be made a blessing.
+
+Then she rang her bell, as directed, and waited Mollie's appearance
+with beating heart.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+ALL SIX!
+
+MOLLIE looked round on her governess's room with approving eyes.
+
+"You have found out where to put your things," she remarked. "Do you
+like your room?"
+
+"Very much indeed, thank you."
+
+"We have only had one governess before," said Mollie, "but the boys go
+to school now, all but Randall, and he's spoilt." She laughed lightly
+as she led the way down-stairs once more.
+
+"Will you make acquaintance with the schoolroom first, Miss Ashlyn?"
+
+"Anywhere you like, dear."
+
+"Then here it is," she said, pausing on the landing of the first floor.
+"That is mother's room, that is mine and Daisy's; there is the spare
+room, and this is our own special study, where we 'grind,' and play,
+and practise."
+
+The view from the window looking towards the front, though different
+from her room up-stairs, Gertrude considered very good "for London,"
+for it was over the well-kept grounds of a gentleman's house, which was
+nearly hidden in the autumn-tinted trees.
+
+But only a glance did she give at that, for at the table sat her
+pupils, who would henceforth be everything to her.
+
+Daisy was a plain little girl with a dark, sober face, who looked up
+quietly and even calmly into her face, murmuring, "Good afternoon, Miss
+Ashlyn."
+
+So different was the child from bright, energetic Mollie, that Gertrude
+almost felt abashed by her reception. She shook her little hand,
+however, and looked round at the other occupants of the room.
+
+Ned, whose acquaintance she had already made, sat perched on the end of
+the sofa, swinging his legs backwards and forwards.
+
+"I'm not one of 'em," he announced with a wink at the others, at which
+Randall winked back and gave a giggle.
+
+"I know that," answered Gertrude pleasantly, "so now I must put names
+to these two. This is Randall, I am sure, by what I have heard; and
+this must be Hugh."
+
+She bent towards the boy—rather taller than Randall, but not so
+robust—and looked into his face.
+
+Did something in him remind her for an instant of that little nephew
+who had gone out of their life so mysteriously? For a moment she felt
+as if she were speaking to him. Then her eyes nearly filled with tears,
+and very tenderly she said, "I hope Hugh and I shall be friends."
+
+The child, for he was about nine years old, looked up with great
+astonishment. While Randall burst out—"He's a cry-baby; you won't care
+for him."
+
+"Shall I not?" answered Gertrude. "We shall see."
+
+"Oh, fie!" said Daisy, colouring. "You should not tell tales out of
+school."
+
+"We haven't begun yet," said Randall, nodding.
+
+"Why, there's mother; she's coming in."
+
+He ran to the window to make sure, and then bounded down the stairs.
+
+"What are you playing at?" asked Gertrude, turning to Daisy and Hugh.
+
+"A word game," said Daisy, rather curtly.
+
+"Would you care to join?" asked Mollie. "But I do not think it is worth
+while, for mother is come in, and she will want to see you, she said."
+
+"I will look on then," answered Gertrude.
+
+She stood by the table watching the game till Randall came tearing
+back to say that Mrs. Shaddock was in the drawing-room, and would Miss
+Ashlyn go there to her.
+
+She found Mrs. Shaddock a woman evidently accustomed to society,
+apparently with but little in common with the life which Gertrude had
+left—a life full of Sunday-school work, Church interests, and desires
+after pleasing God above everything else.
+
+"I am sure you will satisfy me," Mrs. Shaddock concluded, after they
+had talked for half an hour; "so do not be discouraged if you find
+things difficult at first."
+
+She rose as she said these words, and Gertrude found herself dismissed,
+with all the load of her six charges on her hands.
+
+"I am out a great deal," Mrs. Shaddock had said, "and I require a
+governess who will act in my absence as if she were an elder daughter."
+
+She went up-stairs pondering deeply. So she was expected to "manage"
+the whole six! What if they should prove too much for her?
+
+Then she remembered a promise which she had often "tried and proved."
+
+"'As thy days so shall thy strength be.'"
+
+So she entered the study with a peaceful face.
+
+"Here is Conway," said Mollie, looking up. "Now you have seen all of
+us! And, Miss Ashlyn, Conway said he had something to tell us, when you
+came up. Do you know we have a Strange House next door?"
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+CONWAY'S DISCOVERIES.
+
+CONWAY was a tall boy of between fifteen and sixteen, and acknowledged
+Gertrude's salutation with not over-ceremonious courtesy. He was,
+however, full of some news he was anxious to bring out, and directly
+the door was shut and Gertrude had taken the seat Mollie pushed towards
+her, he began—
+
+"I say! Such a lark as I have had!"
+
+"When?" asked Ned. "What do you mean?"
+
+"I went just now to the Strange House. I thought as it was the last day
+of the holidays that I would signalize it!"
+
+"Miss Ashlyn does not know anything about the Strange House,"
+interrupted Mollie.
+
+"Then I shall tell her," said Ned, "so that Conway can gather breath
+for his story."
+
+"Pooh!" laughed Conway. "But, anyway, Miss Ashlyn must be told about
+our episode the other night, or she will not see why I was so anxious
+to find out about our mysterious neighbour."
+
+"First, then," said Ned, "about a year ago the next house (which you
+perceive is a somewhat old-fashioned one, and is not nearly such a good
+one as ours) was taken by some one, and a van with furniture came in
+the evening just before dark.
+
+"We did not take much notice, but thought one van was but little
+for the size of the house. We were somewhat curious about our new
+neighbours, but never could see any of them about, except a man, who
+could not be called a gentleman, whom we dubbed 'Mr. Eccentric.'
+
+"No tradesmen seem to call. No postmen bring letters. Except for that
+one man who continually works in his garden, the house might be empty."
+
+"Perhaps he likes solitude," suggested Gertrude, as Ned paused.
+
+"But," said Mollie eagerly, "that's the strange part of it. Mother
+and I certainly saw a light moved and put out that night when the new
+policeman took the man up for a burglar."
+
+Conway now took up the thread and explained all about the events
+recorded in the first chapter, gratified to find a fresh listener in
+the governess, and to see that her attention did not flag.
+
+"Well, let all that be," said Ned at last. "Now tell us what you have
+found out more. You do not mean to say that you went up to the house,
+Conway? But you've got cheek for anything."
+
+"I had cheek enough for that," laughed Conway. "I went just now and
+knocked at the door, intending to ask the old fellow how he felt after
+his apprehension the other night. But I knocked and I rang, I knocked
+and I rang, till I was tired of that game. Nobody came to the door, for
+the very reason that nobody was at home to do so, I suppose. Just as
+I was turning on my heel, the old fellow came up the garden path and
+asked stiffly what I might want.
+
+"I told him I had come to make inquiries as to his health—"
+
+"You never did!" exclaimed Ned.
+
+"I did! I sympathized with him in the bobby's rough handling, et
+cetera, et cetera, and got him round into a good temper before I had
+done with him."
+
+"That's like you!" said Mollie.
+
+"He told me that he lived by himself, that he might be perhaps a little
+peculiar, but that gardening was his hobby. And that if only folks
+would let him alone, he did not wish to meddle with any one. He would
+go his way, and they could go theirs."
+
+"How funny!" said Ned.
+
+"But for all his peculiarity, there was a certain uneasiness about
+him," Conway went on, "that made me suspicious. He's got heaps of
+vegetables and fruit in that back garden!"
+
+"Of course he has," said Mollie; "any one with eyes can see that from
+our back windows! Why yesterday there were half a dozen beautiful
+marrows on trellis-work, and to-day they are all gone."
+
+"He's eaten them all," said Ned.
+
+"They were gone when I got up this morning," said Mollie, "for I
+noticed. I believe he sells them."
+
+"Who to?" asked Conway scornfully.
+
+"At Covent Garden, or somewhere. He sauntered in at the front gate
+about eight o'clock this morning. 'I' believe he gets up and goes to
+market early when no one is about."
+
+"There's something queer about it," said Conway; "don't you think so,
+Miss Ashlyn?"
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+DAISY'S "CHUM."
+
+GERTRUDE looked from one to the other, listening and trying to
+comprehend in quick succession the different statements of her various
+entertainers.
+
+Daisy said no word, but she followed all that was said with keen
+interest, her dark face changing and varying as one after another gave
+out their opinions.
+
+Conway had got so friendly over his interesting news that he ceased to
+feel Gertrude quite such a stranger, and now began telling her about
+their school, to which he, Ned, and Hugh went daily by train, and which
+ought to have begun a week ago, but had been postponed owing to a scare
+of illness.
+
+"Have you got your books together?" asked Mollie. "For there's such a
+hunt the first morning, Miss Ashlyn, generally."
+
+"Don't you bother," said Conway. "I can mind my own affairs, thank you."
+
+"Well, don't ask me to get them, then," said Mollie.
+
+"I shall be sure to remember," said Conway, crossly. "Come, Ned, let's
+go down now."
+
+"Yes; we've had enough of the girls," said Ned.
+
+They went off, Gertrude looking after them with some surprise in her
+eyes.
+
+"Did you ever see such boys?" asked Mollie, vexedly. "But they always
+are worse with strangers; they will be pleasanter when they get used to
+you."
+
+Gertrude did not answer. Her heart sank; she busied herself over her
+work-basket, which she had brought down in her hand, in silence, though
+her eyes were too blinded to see what she was doing. At length she drew
+out a piece of crewelling on which she had been engaged at home, and
+spread it out before her.
+
+The familiar pattern brought back with a rush all the circumstances
+in which she had put in those last leaves: the lamplight, the red
+table-cloth at home, Phyllis's beautiful little oval face bent over her
+lessons, her mother's presence so restful as well as cheering, Otto's
+quiet friendliness.
+
+It cost her a great effort not to let a sob escape her.
+
+She put down her work, and murmuring something about "up-stairs,"
+hastened to her room.
+
+For one instant she felt as if she 'must' fly home again! Oh, the
+dreadfulness of this home-sickness which swept everything before it!
+Why had she wished, sometimes even longed, to get away from the little
+daily round of getting the breakfast ready, going to Camptown, walking
+home again, getting the tea ready, and then spending the evening in
+reading and work!
+
+Now she would have given everything to be back again!
+
+She hastily bathed her eyes, which she knew must be red with the unshed
+tears, which she was keeping back so resolutely. And then with one
+swift prayer for help and comfort, she gulped down her sobs, and slowly
+made her way back again to the study.
+
+Meanwhile, when the door had been shut after her, Daisy had volunteered
+a remark.
+
+"Miss Ashlyn will hate us all if the boys go on so."
+
+"Let her," said Randall, pouting; "I don't care if she does."
+
+"I do," said Mollie; "it is not ladylike to behave badly, and I don't
+mean to. What is more, Randall, I shan't let you, either."
+
+Randall's round face put on an ugly frown. But after a moment's
+thought, he nodded defiantly. "You won't be able to help it," he said.
+
+"Shall I not?" asked Mollie. "I have ways and means."
+
+"Oh, hush," said Hugh. "I do hate to hear you quarrel."
+
+"Do you, cry-baby?" asked Randall, turning upon him with his little
+bold, lionlike face.
+
+"Never mind, Hugh," whispered Daisy; "'handsome is, as handsome
+"does."' You can always behave the best, in spite of what anybody says."
+
+Hugh had flushed scarlet, and his small, thin hand was clenched into a
+fist beneath the table. But at his little sister's soothing whisper, it
+relaxed, and he gave a slight laugh, which however, angered Randall far
+more than a blow would have done.
+
+Just at the moment, however, Gertrude's step was heard at the door, and
+Mollie hastily rose, saying—
+
+"Oh, Miss Ashlyn, shall we go and get ready for tea? You have not seen
+my room yet."
+
+Mollie's room looked over the gardens at the back, as she had said.
+And while she brushed her abundant hair, she explained about their
+neighbour's doings, and how his garden, both back and front, was kept
+in the best order of any in that suburb.
+
+After that they went to the drawing-room, where they found Mr.
+Shaddock, listening to Conway's account of his visit next door.
+
+Tea was rather formidable to poor Gertrude among such a number of
+strangers, though Mr. and Mrs. Shaddock exerted themselves to find
+topics of conversation, while Mollie did her best to join in, and to
+interest her governess in what went on.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+A CHAMPION.
+
+AFTER tea, Daisy and Hugh went back to the study, only waiting to beg
+Ned not to come. And Gertrude asked if she might go with them.
+
+Perhaps the children looked a little disappointed. But very soon,
+when they were all shut in with the curtains drawn and the cheerful
+lamplight, they drew near to her, and condescended to examine her
+photograph album, which she had brought down for their inspection.
+
+"The boys learn their lessons in the little library," they told her;
+"and Mollie stays with mother and father. Randall goes to bed if he
+will, or stays up till nurse makes him come; or else he comes in here
+and bothers us."
+
+"Do you always spend your evenings together?" asked Gertrude.
+
+"Yes," said Daisy; "they do not want us down-stairs, and I am sure we
+do not want them!"
+
+
+After a time a motherly-looking woman entered, greeting Gertrude with a
+respectful manner, and asked if Hugh were not ready for bed.
+
+"Oh, nurse, I 'am' so happy," said Hugh. "Is Randall up-stairs yet?"
+
+"Not yet, my dear. But you know how tired you will be for school if you
+sit up."
+
+"Yes," urged Daisy, "do go, Hugh. You can have Miss Ashlyn's company
+to-morrow, and nurse says quite true. Do go!"
+
+The boy put away his things-without another word, and wishing Gertrude
+good-night, left the room. When the door was shut, and Daisy had
+watched the handle for a moment, she got up and softly drew near to
+Gertrude's side.
+
+"You will not notice what Randall says, will you, Miss Ashlyn?"
+
+"How do you mean, dear?"
+
+"About Hugh." She hesitated, then went on hurriedly, "He calls him
+cry-baby. But perhaps you didn't hear? Anyway, you will not be long
+before you do hear it, for he tells everybody."
+
+"I did hear it," said Gertrude, "but I thought I would judge for
+myself."
+
+"Oh, that's all right, then," said Daisy eagerly. Then, as if she could
+hardly leave the subject there, she added—
+
+"He isn't strong—Hugh, but he's not a cry-baby! He does cry sometimes,
+and they tease him dreadfully. But not one of them can do the brave
+things Hugh can. Not one of them tries so hard to control himself; not
+one of them is so good to people who are in trouble! And yet—yet Hugh
+is always in hot water because his spirits are not very strong."
+
+Daisy's face had flushed deeply, and she put her small hand gently on
+to Gertrude's knee, looking up beseechingly in her face.
+
+"I shall be sure to remember all you have told me," she answered,
+putting her arm round the small shoulders, and drawing the little girl
+towards her.
+
+"Oh, thank you," said Daisy earnestly; "I am so very glad I have
+told you. I don't know why I did, except that you seem so very kind.
+Besides, I thought you took to Hugh."
+
+"He is very like a little nephew of mine, whom we have lost."
+
+Daisy glanced at Gertrude's dress curiously, but her eyes returned to
+her face without a satisfactory answer to her questioning look.
+
+"No, I am not in mourning," Gertrude answered, "but by and by, if Hugh
+and you and I become friends, I will tell you both all about it."
+
+"Oh, that would be kind!" exclaimed Daisy. Then she paused, and hung
+her head for an instant. "Miss Ashlyn," she exclaimed in a low voice,
+"I will be good to you, indeed I will! I didn't mean to be—We are none
+of us at all good, but Hugh—but indeed I will try all I can!"
+
+Gertrude bent and kissed her, then she said softly—
+
+"Daisy, dear, you have made my heart lighter, but I wonder if you know
+the blessedness of trying to please the Lord Jesus? Have you over
+thought of that?"
+
+Daisy shook her head slowly.
+
+"Then I will try to teach you, and it will make you so happy!"
+
+"Nurse does sometimes talk to Hugh and me like that, but I don't
+understand what she means."
+
+"Would you like to understand?" asked Gertrude.
+
+"I don't mind—" said Daisy.
+
+"Do you not sometimes feel very sad and naughty, and as if you could
+not be good any way?" asked Gertrude.
+
+"Well, I suppose I do, sometimes," acknowledged Daisy.
+
+"And do you not feel then as if you do not care to think about God, and
+would rather keep away from Him?"
+
+Daisy's wondering eyes were fixed upon her governess's face, but she
+did not answer in words.
+
+"That is sin," said Gertrude, "and unless that sin is got rid of, we
+can never get near to God, we can never please Him. Daisy, is it not
+the best news to hear that the Lord Jesus has died on the cross to make
+an atonement for this dreadful sin, so that we sinners may be forgiven
+and come back to God?"
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+A SONG.
+
+AT last, the evening came to an end. Daisy departed to bed, Randall
+came in and looked at her, and sauntered out again, leaving the door
+open, and Mollie finally came for a few minutes, bringing a message
+from Mrs. Shaddock to the effect that Miss Ashlyn could retire whenever
+she felt inclined.
+
+"We generally have friends in the evening, or she goes out, but mother
+will not let me sit up late because she says I should lose my colour,"
+said Mollie, glancing at herself in the glass over the mantel-piece and
+shaking out her hair.
+
+"She is very wise," answered Gertrude.
+
+"But all the same, I do as I like," pursued Mollie. "I read in bed as
+often as not, or talk to nurse. She does not encourage that, I can tell
+you. But all the same, I do not get to bed as early as mother thinks."
+
+"Do you feel happy in doing so?" asked Gertrude, looking up with a
+bright little smile.
+
+"Oh dear, yes! 'What the eye doesn't see,' you know."
+
+Gertrude shook her head, smiling.
+
+"Are you awfully strict?" asked Mollie.
+
+Gertrude paused for an instant. She felt this might be a momentous
+conversation.
+
+She prayed in her heart one of those three-word prayers that she often
+pondered over, "Lord, help me!" And then, strengthened and calmed, she
+looked up at her questioner and answered—
+
+"When I have found out what your mother's wishes are in things, I shall
+be 'awfully strict' in carrying them out."
+
+"Shall you go telling tales, and asking her if I am to read in bed and
+do this and that?"
+
+"You will see," said Gertrude with a smile.
+
+"I should hate you if you did," said Mollie, also smiling.
+
+"I hope you will not hate me," answered Gertrude, "but whether you do
+or not, I ought to do my duty, ought I not?"
+
+"We shall see," said Mollie, looking at her somewhat curiously. "Now I
+must say good-night. I hope you will sleep well, Miss Ashlyn."
+
+"Thank you, dear, for trying to make me at home," said Gertrude.
+
+Then Mollie put out her cheek to be kissed, and Gertrude was at last
+alone.
+
+But though she looked round on her cosy study, she did not feel it
+enough her own, as yet, to indulge herself in even a thought towards
+home.
+
+She was just considering whether she should go to her own room, when
+Susan appeared with a little tray with biscuits and lemonade, asking if
+Miss Ashlyn would please to take some milk or anything more that she
+could bring her.
+
+"I am to be well cared for, at any rate in this way," said Gertrude to
+herself. But she did not feel inclined to eat.
+
+She cleared up her work, put the room straight, lowered the gas, and
+ascended to her own room and shut herself in.
+
+The moonlight streamed over the floor, making the little jet of gas
+which was already lighted quite tiny in comparison. She went to her
+window and looked out. How still it all was!—except for the occasional
+sounds of music coming up from the neighbouring drawing-rooms.
+
+Gertrude leant her head against the sash and buried her face in her
+hands, for some one near was singing a song which Otto had sung only
+last night—"When the mists have rolled in splendour." And after it was
+over, they had stepped outside to look at the harvest moon rising over
+the sea.
+
+While they had stood there, he had asked her whether she had any
+desires for things to be different from what they were, or whether she
+were quite satisfied to do the will of God, just as she found it every
+day?
+
+And she had thought about it, watching the slow red moon rise and rise
+out of the mist and enter a little cloud, till, after a few minutes'
+eclipse, she had suddenly shone out triumphantly above it in the clear
+deep blue.
+
+And she had answered thoughtfully—
+
+"I think my life feels something like that moon in the mist just now—"
+
+"Uncertain as to its true duty and position?"
+
+"Well, perhaps, Otto, but I don't know," she had answered.
+
+"And then?" he had asked.
+
+"I feel as if to-morrow were like that bit of dark cloud, which, after
+all, in the wonderful fashioning of our Father's hand, may only serve
+to brighten the light when it does shine out!"
+
+"Yes," he said consideringly, "only it is so hard to wait so long in
+the mist and in the cloud, Gertrude!"
+
+"If that is our appointed path?" she had asked.
+
+"It might all be clear sky if the mists did not come from earth," said
+Otto.
+
+"I see—self-made. Well, Otto, I don't know; all I can do is to ask God
+to work in me what He wills. I can't see the way myself, or tell how to
+act, sometimes."
+
+"Nor I," he had answered in a low tone.
+
+Then Phyllis's clear voice had called out from the front door, "Come,
+you two, it is ever so late, and we have to be early to-morrow!"
+
+Gertrude remembered it all, while still some beautiful tenor voice sang
+over and over again—
+
+   "We shall know each other better
+    When the mists have rolled away!"
+
+"Ah, but that is in heaven," she murmured. "It is not a song of earthly
+things at all! To do our Father's will every day is our portion, and it
+shall be mine to do it willingly, if He will help me!"
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+A SCRIMMAGE.
+
+"DO you like Miss Ashlyn?" asked Randall of Hugh as they were being
+dressed the next day.
+
+"I don't know yet," said Hugh, "but I think I do."
+
+"Daisy said yesterday she should not mind her, or do what she wished,
+unless she chose," said Randall.
+
+"Then Miss Daisy hadn't ought to," interposed nurse; "it was very
+naughty of her."
+
+Nurse spoke with such unusual energy that Hugh was quite surprised.
+
+"I don't mean to either," nodded Randall.
+
+"Well, you'll 'have' to," remarked Hugh, "so it is no good boasting. Of
+course I am different; I go to school, and she's only got to help me
+with my lessons."
+
+Hugh and Randall both looked up suddenly, for there stood Gertrude
+close to them asking nurse a question.
+
+"I don't care," said Randall in a low, defiant tone; "she shouldn't
+have come in—"
+
+But Gertrude had received her answer from nurse and had turned away,
+something in her face making Hugh sure that she had both heard and been
+grieved by the tone in which the boys had spoken.
+
+Hugh looked after her doubtfully, then he turned angrily upon Randall.
+
+"I wish you would not behave so!" he exclaimed. "She was going to like
+us, and now she won't."
+
+"I don't care," said Randall, "whether she does or not."
+
+"I do then," answered Hugh.
+
+"Then you should not have said that about the lessons," retorted
+Randall.
+
+Hugh stood silent. What had he said? It had seemed nothing to him, and
+yet somehow he was conscious that some slighting words had passed his
+lips which he had hardly intended.
+
+His dressing being finished, he went down-stairs slowly, wondering how
+he could make Miss Ashlyn understand that he had meant to be kind, in
+spite of what he had said in his haste.
+
+She was coming out of her room as he passed the door.
+
+Their eyes met. Something in the little boy's made her pause.
+
+"I didn't 'mean'—" he said hesitatingly.
+
+"Did not mean what, dear?"
+
+"About my lessons—I ought not to have said you 'had' to!"
+
+"I understand," said Gertrude, stooping to kiss him, "and I will help
+you gladly."
+
+Hugh looked anxiously in her face.
+
+"They are hard sometimes," he said, "but I will be as industrious as I
+can—"
+
+"I shall not mind the hardness," said Gertrude, smiling. "This is the
+dining-room, is it not?"
+
+So they went in, to find Conway and Ned eating their breakfast in great
+haste.
+
+"Come on, Hugh, you will be late. What's the good of getting into hot
+water the first day?"
+
+Gertrude found that neither Mollie nor Daisy had yet appeared. And Mr.
+and Mrs. Shaddock, she found, breakfasted after the rest had gone.
+
+She sat down and waited, wondering what she was expected to do, and
+presently Mollie came in looking pale and sleepy.
+
+"Hullo, Moll!" said Ned. "One would think it was bedtime for you."
+
+"I wish it were," said Mollie. "Miss Ashlyn, are you not going to have
+some breakfast?"
+
+"I was waiting for you, Mollie."
+
+"Oh, don't another time," said Mollie.
+
+"Moll is often late," remarked Ned, "or she has a book to finish before
+she gets up, or something."
+
+"Yes," said Mollie, "so long as I am ready for school by half-past
+nine, it does not matter to any one what time I get up."
+
+Gertrude felt that the "any one" included her, though Mollie spoke very
+unconcernedly, and took her seat at the table and began her breakfast
+as if she were the only person in the room. Then she looked round at
+the tea-tray and said—
+
+"Oh, Miss Ashlyn, do you mind pouring out? Miss Halling always did, and
+the boys could never get off without your help."
+
+So Gertrude took her place at the urn, and Conway looked up to pass her
+some bacon, immediately after burying himself again in a book he was
+reading.
+
+Daisy appeared when the rest had begun to move, wished Gertrude a
+rather abrupt good morning, and then seated herself by Hugh and began
+to whisper to him.
+
+Soon there began a commotion, such as Gertrude in her quiet life had
+never imagined.
+
+As the time for the train drew near, there were calls for boots, books,
+pencils, caps and straps, and Daisy was sent hither and thither to find
+what was wanted.
+
+Mollie condescended to do one thing for Ned, after which she took
+herself off up-stairs. While Daisy waited close to Hugh, chiefly to
+protect him from the jeers and cuffs of his brothers, and from the
+more pungent taunts of little Randall, who took evident delight in
+irritating his sensitive little brother.
+
+At last they were off, and Gertrude, with a sigh which sounded quite
+ponderous, turned and met Daisy's eyes fixed on her face.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+MARMALADE.
+
+"YOU'LL get used to it, Miss Ashlyn," she said, looking down the road
+after her brothers.
+
+"Shall I?" asked Gertrude, as she turned away with a heavy heart.
+
+She went to her room, closed the door, and sat down by the window,
+feeling unutterably desolate.
+
+Were all of them going their own way without reference to her? Only
+speaking to her when they must, only asking her help when they could
+not possibly do without it?
+
+Why had she left her happy home for this? It was true she had found
+it difficult to get anything to do in Camptown; it was true that her
+mother's income was insufficient for them without her help; it was true
+that she had her own reasons for wanting a change, which she had hardly
+acknowledged to herself. But for all that, now she was really away, the
+home-sickness and loneliness seemed more than she could bear, and she
+felt sick at heart as she reviewed the difficulties in her path.
+
+She buried her face in her hands, too utterly despairing to cry, but
+certainly more desolate than she had ever been before. Perhaps the
+bitterest drop in her cup was little Randall, with his handsome face
+and sharp tongue.
+
+She was roused from her reverie by the thought that school-time would
+quickly be there, and that she could not begin her duties with such a
+burden on her heart.
+
+She rose from her seat and knelt down by the bed, not able to form any
+words of prayer, but still with an earnest uplifting of her heart for
+help.
+
+"I asked to be guided about coming here," she thought, "and if my
+Father in heaven has sent me here—"
+
+Then the tears came at last as a relief, and she laid her head down on
+her arms and wept heartily, praying for submission and faith and help,
+as she had never prayed before, perhaps.
+
+"If He sent me, He has something for me to do here," she thought, "and
+I must set about the doing of it at once. Oh, how wrong I have been to
+repine or be afraid!"
+
+What had her text been that morning? "Certainly I will be with thee."
+What could she want more than that assurance?
+
+She rose from her knees and found that the burden with which she had
+knelt down was all gone. Nothing remained but a thankfulness that she
+was so loved and so protected that such promises could indeed be hers
+in Christ Jesus. She had only just bathed her eyes when a knock came at
+the door, and on opening it, she found Daisy standing waiting.
+
+"We are ready for school, Miss Ashlyn," she said.
+
+"Is it half-past nine?" asked Gertrude, surprised.
+
+"Yes; it is later than that—"
+
+"Then my watch has played me a trick," she said, turning to the
+dressing-table to take it up. "It usually goes so well, but it says
+twenty past nine now."
+
+Daisy looked soberly at her, as if her watch being fast or slow was not
+of much interest.
+
+Gertrude put it in her dress hastily, anxious to go down-stairs, and as
+she did so she discovered that her fingers were sticky.
+
+"How strange!" she said.
+
+"What?" asked Daisy.
+
+"I had but that moment washed my hands, and yet they are sticky!"
+
+Daisy suggested washing them again, and went down to tell the others
+Miss Ashlyn was coming, while Gertrude turned back to the table to put
+down her basket again.
+
+Just where her watch had lain, there was a little mark on the toilet
+cover as if a finger had been drawn along it to remove some stain, and
+on looking closer she found a little streak of marmalade had been left
+behind too.
+
+"I wish I had not left my watch there all breakfast-time," she said to
+herself, as she went down-stairs; "it was careless of me."
+
+Seated at the table in very good order were her three pupils.
+
+"It's jolly late," said Randall.
+
+"Never mind," interposed Mollie; "what if it is? Miss Ashlyn, what
+shall we do first? Miss Halling always—"
+
+"I have written out this rough time-table, Mollie, which your mother
+approves. I think we shall find it work well. Daisy and Randall can
+write, while you and I have a history lesson."
+
+"Oh, but—" began Mollie.
+
+"Wait, however, an instant," continued Gertrude calmly, "till I have
+settled the other two. That is right, Daisy, you have your book ready.
+Is this yours, Randall? I see you both write very well."
+
+Randall disdained to be pleased by the pleasant tone, and passed his
+pen over to Gertrude with an abrupt, "I want a new nib."
+
+"Oh, you don't!" exclaimed Mollie. "I gave you one this morning! You've
+spoilt it drawing with it since breakfast!"
+
+Gertrude took the pen in her hand to examine it, and found that once
+more, her fingers had grown sticky!
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+THE OVERTURNED BASKET.
+
+GERTRUDE got through the morning's school better than she had feared,
+and when twelve o'clock struck they were all quite surprised.
+
+"We go for a walk now," said Mollie.
+
+So the four set out together, Mollie taking the lead, showing Gertrude
+the beauties of Hampstead Heath, and describing the long walks they
+sometimes took on Saturdays to Highgate, Finchley, and other places
+round.
+
+They were coming home, and had almost reached their own door, when,
+turning the corner of the road, Mollie gave a start, and exclaimed in a
+low tone, "There is Mr. Eccentric!"
+
+While at the same moment the man who was in front of them, recognizing
+the young people, and wishing apparently to get out of their way as
+quickly as possible, stepped aside to let them pass, and in doing so
+stumbled over the kerbstone, and slipped down on his knee.
+
+He quickly picked himself up, but his basket had sped many yards in
+front of him, and the old-fashioned lids opening, the contents were
+scattered on the path.
+
+Daisy hastened to replace the fallen things, while Gertrude turned her
+attention to the man, who was brushing the dust from his knees, and
+answering her curtly that he was not in the least hurt. When he turned
+round to look after his basket, Daisy was trying to gather up some rice
+which had fallen out of a paper, while Mollie was holding in her hand
+some lilac print, a reel of white cotton, and a little pair of child's
+shoes which had evidently been freshly mended.
+
+The man took the things and stuffed them into the basket in silence,
+though his face had turned very pale.
+
+"I fear you are hurt," said Gertrude again.
+
+But he would have no more to say about it, and limping a little, he
+pushed on to his own gate and left the four to turn in at theirs.
+
+"'We've' had an adventure!" said Mollie. "Far greater than Conway's.
+How I do long to tell the boys! Miss Ashlyn, what could he want with
+those things if he lives alone?"
+
+"I do not know," said Gertrude thoughtfully.
+
+She went up-stairs to her own room, but all the way she was haunted by
+an impression of having seen that little pair of child's slippers on
+some little pair of feet! How could that be possible? Were there not
+hundreds of little slippers in the world?
+
+Mrs. Shaddock was very interested with their news at dinner, and the
+meal passed much more comfortably than the previous ones, Gertrude
+feeling less forlorn as they began to have things in common to talk
+over.
+
+When she went back to the schoolroom, on the mantel-piece was a letter
+from her mother.
+
+She sprang towards it, then sat down by the window with it in her hand,
+and began covering the envelope with kisses.
+
+"Oh, how could I go away from you? How could I?" she murmured over and
+over again.
+
+Then she ran up to her room, tore the letter open, and devoured the
+precious contents.
+
+They were words written from a full mother's heart, words of advice,
+and cheer, and encouragement. Rising from their perusal, Gertrude felt
+strengthened to go on her way.
+
+   "You must expect difficulties, my dear—" (the letter ran). "These
+things are allowed to happen in our lives, but our God is equal to
+it all. There is such a storehouse in the Lord Jesus, that whatever
+happens, there is grace enough for it. Go to Him in everything, and you
+will find 'everything' just a ladder reaching to heaven."
+
+"Even Randall," she said to herself, as she put the letter in her
+pocket and prepared for school.
+
+When she reached the schoolroom again, Mollie was practising, Daisy was
+buried in the perusal of a book, but no Randall was there.
+
+She was looking round and wondering how she should find him, when
+Mollie volunteered—
+
+"He isn't coming; he has worried mother till she has taken him out with
+her."
+
+So the school went on without him, and just as they were putting up
+their books at five o'clock, they heard a great commotion in the hall,
+and Randall's voice saying loudly—
+
+"Well, cry-baby, have you 'blubbed' to-day?"
+
+"There are the boys!" exclaimed Mollie. "Now for our news! Come along,
+Daisy, let us go down to the dining-room to see them!"
+
+They ran off, leaving Gertrude alone.
+
+She turned to her letter once more, reading the dear lines over and
+over, till she knew them by heart.
+
+Then she bent her head on her hands and thought of her mother's advice.
+
+"Grace enough for 'all' that happens."
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+"X. Y. Z."
+
+"HAVE you been to call for letters to-day?" asked a woman, looking up
+from her work with anxious eyes.
+
+"No, I haven't," shortly answered the man addressed. "I can't always be
+callin' there, ye know. It looks so queer."
+
+"Not at all," answered the woman decidedly. "People must have letters,
+and you buy your tobacco there. That's nonsense!"
+
+"Not nonsense at all," answered the man. "I'm pretty near sick of it.
+Here's a pretty go I've had this morning. I slipped down, and the
+things you sent me for flew out of the basket—shoes and all—and the
+folks next door helped to pick them up."
+
+The woman glanced at him in dismay, but after a moment, her own anxiety
+overcame even that, and she said slowly—
+
+"James, I can't 'think' how it is there wasn't a letter the other day;
+I do wish you had called there this morning."
+
+"It's rubbish you're being so fidgety," said the man. "He's all right.
+I tell you what it is, this is driving us into our graves. I'm near
+sick of it."
+
+He turned towards the little fire with his pipe, and the woman gathered
+up some lilac print which she had been cutting out, and left the room.
+
+"A living death," she said to herself, "and all for the want of a bit
+of courage at the right time!"
+
+Slowly she mounted to the top of the house, and taking a key from her
+pocket, unlocked a door, letting herself in and locking it from the
+inside again.
+
+There was a little fire burning in the grate, protected by a cheap
+nursery guard, and an unlighted candle was on the table beside a
+work-basket.
+
+On the floor were bricks and toys scattered hither and thither.
+
+The woman glanced towards a small bed in the corner of the room, and
+then lighted her candle and sat down by the fire with her work.
+
+But ever and anon she buried her face in her hands, and pressed her
+forehead with her fingers, as if to keep back thought.
+
+"He said he would write without fail, every week, and it is three days
+over the time now!"
+
+She turned again restlessly to the light, and put her needle into the
+print. Then with a sudden movement she folded that together and went
+to a drawer, taking from it a worn pair of knickerbockers, which she
+spread on the table, fitting on a patch carefully, and bending over
+it with a certain look on her face that would have made an observer's
+heart bleed—if he had had a tender heart.
+
+"I 'can't' bear it," she whispered at last.
+
+She put out her hand to extinguish the candle, when a low whistling was
+heard on the stairs and a slow step came nearer and nearer.
+
+She hastened to unlock the door, looking in the man's face and speaking
+abruptly.
+
+"You'll stay here a bit, James? I'm that uneasy that I can't bide here
+at all. I must go to Oxford Street and see if there ain't a letter for
+me."
+
+"What, at this time o' night?" questioned the man. "It's ridiculous.
+But do as you like; it don't matter either way, and you'll get a bit of
+air."
+
+He sat down by the fire and put his pipe in his mouth once more.
+
+The woman went into an adjoining room to get her bonnet, and soon had
+let herself noiselessly out of the front door, and was speeding towards
+the high-road which led down from Hampstead to the more populated
+districts of Camden Town.
+
+It was not till she reached one of the main thoroughfares that she
+aided her steps by entering a tram-car, and there her veiled face and
+plain garments attracted no attention.
+
+She alighted among the crowd when she reached Oxford Street, and
+disappeared among them up one of the wide turnings.
+
+By and by, she came to her destination, and on her inquiry, two letters
+were handed over to her, and she turned away.
+
+Both bore the Highgate postmark, but were in different handwriting. Yet
+as the woman grasped them, she knew that her journey had not been in
+vain.
+
+She clasped her hand over the precious lines, addressed in a large
+boyish hand to "X. Y. Z., Tobacconist, Dash Street." And without
+apparently dreaming of opening them, she hurried out into the crowd
+again, and was soon seated in a returning tram, speeding back whence
+she came, and alighting where she had got in before.
+
+At length, her weary walk over, she let herself into the house with a
+latch-key, and passed quickly up the dark staircase.
+
+In answer to her low whistle, the door up-stairs was noiselessly
+unlocked, and she entered the room she had left nearly two hours ago.
+
+"I've got it!" she exclaimed, sinking into the chair the man had left.
+
+"Two?" he questioned.
+
+And while with rather trembling fingers she broke the seal of her own,
+he did the same by the second envelope.
+
+Hers ran—
+
+   "Dear mother—I wish you'd come to see me; I ain't well, and the
+master—"
+
+That was all. The large lines only reached to the bottom of the page
+and then stopped.
+
+His ran—
+
+   "To X. Y. Z. Madam—Your boy has been taken suddenly ill, and I regret
+to tell you that the doctor looks seriously upon his complaint. I
+would have telegraphed, but your wish to keep your address from us has
+precluded my doing so. Will you come at once? I am, etc., etc., Head
+Master."
+
+Both letters bore the date of two days before.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+
+LITTLE LESTER.
+
+THE young people were so full of the overturned basket and its
+mysterious contents that Randall forgot to tease Hugh as much as usual.
+And besides, Miss Ashlyn's quiet presence rather awed the little bully,
+who was not quite sure how she would take it, if he let his sharp
+tongue loose on his delicate brother.
+
+Indeed, since the episode of the sticky pen, Randall could not forget
+the sudden glance Gertrude had given towards his little hands, nor the
+quiet and firm tone in which she had told him to go to nurse to have
+them washed. Nor did he like Daisy's exclamation as he was leaving the
+room—
+
+"Why, Miss Ashlyn, how funny that your watch should have been sticky
+too!"
+
+So he decided to keep quiet for a time and make some plan of mischief
+which should be more annoying and more difficult of discovery.
+
+Hugh and Daisy soon made their way to the schoolroom, and settled
+themselves cosily under Gertrude's wing, the little boy conning his
+lessons with great industry, only occasionally asking for some help
+in a gentle, entreating little tone, which Gertrude thought she quite
+understood since their conversation that morning.
+
+At last, the books were put away, and Daisy came over to Gertrude's
+side and said softly, "Are we friends enough yet?"
+
+Gertrude smiled. "What do you think?" she asked.
+
+"I think we are," said Daisy. "When Hugh and I take to people, we
+'take' to them, and we don't change a bit."
+
+"I see; so you consider you have 'taken' to me?"
+
+"You are laughing at us?"
+
+"Only a very little. I am so glad, Daisy, if you have. Come, then, and
+sit by the fire, and we will have a sort of story—
+
+"About seven years ago my pretty sister Rose was married—"
+
+"Was she like you?" interrupted Daisy with a little smile.
+
+"Oh no! A hundred times prettier," said Gertrude enthusiastically;
+"oh no! Her husband travels for a large firm in London, and my sister
+generally has her home at Camptown, near where I come from."
+
+"Yes," nodded Hugh. "I know about Camptown; there are soldiers there."
+
+"Yes. Well, by and by there came a dear little baby boy to my sister's
+home, and she and her husband doted on him more than I can say. My
+sister used to take him about with her, if the places that her husband
+went to were near enough, and they used to have such happy times.
+Sometimes, however, he went alone.
+
+"Once, when she was staying at a watering-place in the south, she was
+suddenly called to Scotland to nurse her husband, and left her darling
+little boy in the landlady's care.
+
+"Whether she was right or wise to do such a thing does not matter
+now. The landlady seemed a very nice woman, and my sister trusted her
+completely.
+
+"When she got back again—think of it, Daisy and Hugh—the house was
+empty, the woman and her husband and little boy were all gone too!—and
+with them our little darling, the most precious thing in the world to
+all of us!"
+
+Hugh and Daisy gazed in Gertrude's face, but they seemed as if they
+could not ask a question.
+
+"Ever since, my dear sister has gone about searching for her lost
+child, little Lester. And never have we heard one single word of him
+from that day to this."
+
+Hugh's little hand was put out till it touched Gertrude's softly, and
+he said—
+
+"Perhaps, some day—"
+
+"Yes," she answered, "we live in hope of that. Hugh, he used to say,
+'I've opened my heart to Jesus, and He's come in!'"
+
+"Who taught him that?" asked Daisy gently.
+
+"I think I taught him," said Gertrude. "My dear sister did not know her
+Saviour herself then, and it was not till little Lester was taken away
+that she found she needed a Saviour."
+
+Hugh's eyes gave a flash, but he looked down quickly and was silent.
+
+"I believe you love Him too, Hugh," said Gertrude, drawing the boy to
+her.
+
+"I'm so bad," said Hugh in a low tone. "So afraid—and so nasty
+sometimes, but yet—" he paused. Then meeting Daisy's eyes, and flushing
+up to the roots of his hair, he added courageously, "Yes, I do. In
+spite of not being a bit what I should be, I do. And He loves me!"
+
+Daisy looked well satisfied. She had been almost afraid that Hugh's
+courage would vanish under the test to which it was being put. But
+as she had found many times, to her surprise, there was a secret of
+strength in the frail little boy that surpassed her utmost expectations.
+
+"Now we must go to bed," she said, rising reluctantly. "Thank you ever
+so much, Miss Ashlyn."
+
+Hugh put up his face for a kiss, and then Gertrude was left alone with
+her heart full of her sister Rose and of lost little Lester.
+
+And every time she shut her eyes, she seemed to see before them a pair
+of worn, shabby little kid-lined slippers!
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+
+A LATE VISITOR.
+
+"I MUST go to-night," said the woman in a hoarse voice, rising from the
+chair into which she had sunk ere she had opened that letter which bore
+such sad tidings.
+
+"You can't get there," said her husband. "It's ten o'clock now, and
+every one 'ull be in bed."
+
+"If he's bad—" She tried to finish the sentence, but her dry tongue
+would not say the words.
+
+"Perhaps he's better by now," said the man, not unkindly. "Mightn't you
+as well go the first thing to-morrow?"
+
+"I daren't go out in daylight, as you know. No; I shall be away all
+to-morrow most likely, so you'll stay and mind him," glancing towards
+the corner.
+
+"I'll see to that," said the man.
+
+The woman put her hand to her head as if dazed.
+
+"Take a drop o' tea, or somethin'," urged the man. "You're about beat.
+To think that there was a letter after all!"
+
+"I somehow expected it," said his wife wearily. "Ought I to take
+anything with me? I'd near done those little knickers, but he'll never
+want them now."
+
+"Oh, don't say so!" exclaimed the man.
+
+She shook her head again. Then, after an instant's hesitation, she went
+to the bed in the corner and bent over it, and there was a sound in the
+still room as of a kiss.
+
+The man looked on wondering. But in another moment, with a brief
+good-bye, the woman had gone noiselessly down the stairs and had let
+herself out into the darkness.
+
+How she reached Highgate, she could never recall afterwards. Almost
+blindly she hurried along, helping her steps by an omnibus on which
+she happened to see Highgate written, and at length arrived at her
+destination long after the clocks had struck eleven.
+
+Almost breathless she paused at the house she was seeking, and with
+anxious eyes gazed up at the windows. Darkness reigned, not a sign of
+light or life appeared in any of them.
+
+She began to breathe more freely, and to chide herself for her frantic
+fears. All were evidently in bed and asleep.
+
+But almost ere that thought had crossed her heart, came another which
+seemed to strike her with more terrible fear still. What if all should
+be over, and her boy should be dead?
+
+She went up the front steps and took hold of the bell, but ere she had
+rung it, came another thought. She quickly turned from the door, and
+made her way up a side lane which was close by, and from that position
+scanned the back of the house.
+
+At the very top, two windows seemed to have a dim light in the room
+belonging to them.
+
+The woman put her hand to her heart as if with a sudden pang, and
+almost stumbling along in her eagerness, once more reached the front
+door, where she gave a low ring.
+
+The sound went through the quiet house, and she heard it outside.
+
+The minutes, though in reality they were very few, seemed very long
+before a light began to glimmer through the ground glass of the door,
+coming nearer and nearer.
+
+Then a step was audible, and some one set the light down and undid the
+fastenings of the door.
+
+The woman, who was grasping the stone balustrade for support, lifted
+her eyes to meet those of a sweet-looking nurse, who in snowy cap and
+apron stood holding the door in her hand.
+
+"Are you—" she asked and paused. Then altering the form of her
+question, said gently, "What may you be wanting, ma'am? Have you come
+to see any one?"
+
+The woman's lips formed some words, but they were inaudible.
+
+"Perhaps you are my patient's mother?" suggested the nurse. Then seeing
+that this was the case, she held out her hand and led the woman into
+the hall, placed her in a chair, and carefully closed the front door.
+
+"Then he is alive," the poor mother at last found voice to say.
+
+"Yes, he is alive," answered the nurse.
+
+"May I go to him?" asked the woman, starting up.
+
+"Not yet. You are not fit to see him yet. Come in here, and I will tell
+you about him. Perhaps you will be able to quiet him better than I. He
+has something which is on his mind, I fear."
+
+The woman hung her head, but then with a sudden passion she exclaimed,
+"It was no fault of his—no fault at all. It was all my doing! Oh! I
+have suffered for it—My boy! My boy!"
+
+"Hush! If you wish to see him, you will have to be a great deal calmer
+than this. I will go back to him, and will fetch you in five minutes."
+
+"Oh, let me come now!" besought the woman, rousing herself. "Oh, I will
+be calm, indeed I will."
+
+"Wait an instant then," said the nurse in her sweet, calm tone.
+
+She left the room and returned in a moment with a glass of milk, which
+she evidently expected the poor mother to drink, and which she held
+to her lips authoritatively, not noticing her reluctance. Then with a
+kind cheering word, in which she heard, "The dear Saviour has been here
+before you," she led the way up the quiet staircase, to that room where
+the dim light was burning.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+CHAPTER XVII.
+
+BEFORE DAWN.
+
+"INFLAMMATION of the lungs," the nurse had whispered.
+
+But when the woman entered that darkened room, she was hardly prepared
+for the little figure she found propped up in the narrow bed, nor for
+the sunken cheeks and staring eyes of her once healthy boy.
+
+Her promise of calmness and her fear of not being allowed to see him
+kept the woman from the first wild impulse to throw herself at his feet
+and devour him with kisses.
+
+As she crossed the room to his side, she felt like some untamed animal
+being robbed of its offspring. But all she did was to bend over him and
+say with a strangled sob—
+
+"Oh, Johnnie, are you very ill, my dear?"
+
+After trying vainly to speak, he nodded slightly, but looked
+appealingly towards his nurse, and laid his head back on his high
+pillow.
+
+"He will be better presently, ma'am," said the nurse, putting a chair
+near. "He wants to tell you something, but he has not much breath at
+times. He will speak when he feels able. Is not that right, dear?"
+
+Johnnie was watching his mother's face with those pathetic eyes, in
+which some urgent request lay hidden. As the nurse bent over him with
+some medicine, he whispered—
+
+"Shall I have time?"
+
+"I think you will," she answered. "But if not, Johnnie, I can tell her
+what you have told me."
+
+"Ah, but—"
+
+No telling of hers, he felt, would have the weight of his own dying
+request. But he could not as yet gather strength to speak.
+
+"He has been light-headed a good bit," explained the nurse, "but he is
+better of that now."
+
+The woman had taken her child's hand, but he drew it away as if more
+than he could bear, and in a short breathless way gasped—
+
+"I'll speak presently."
+
+Just at this moment the door opened noiselessly, and the master of the
+school came in.
+
+"We feared you would be too late," he said gravely, in a low tone, to
+Johnnie's mother. "Did you not receive my letter?"
+
+"No," answered the woman briefly; "not till to-night."
+
+Then, as if impelled by something she could not resist, she asked in an
+almost inaudible tone—
+
+"Is there no hope, then?"
+
+"I fear not."
+
+The master turned to the bed, spoke a few kind words to the boy, and
+noiselessly left the room.
+
+Still Johnnie lay with that distressed look on his face. And the nurse
+stood by watching him, but without saying a word to break the silence,
+lest in doing so she might hinder rather than help her poor little
+invalid.
+
+The mother, sitting there in that unbroken silence, felt as if she
+could not bear the agony of it much longer.
+
+She was just turning towards Johnnie with an appealing look, when he
+said in that same short, gasping way—
+
+"I want you to take him back, mother."
+
+The woman shrank, and the child felt it.
+
+"I never knew how wicked it was—till now," he went on, gazing still at
+her averted eyes.
+
+"You did not know," whispered his mother.
+
+"No—no, mother—not that! But taking him away! It was awful of me to
+do what I did—I never knew the harm—but you will take him back now,
+mother."
+
+"I don't see how I can," she said at last.
+
+"Mother!" he urged. "'He's' got a mother."
+
+There was a breathless pause. The nurse, standing by, feared that her
+little patient's life would ebb away in the agony of that ungranted
+request.
+
+"I'm going to Jesus," whispered Johnnie again, in a broken voice. "He's
+forgiven me that, and all my other sins—every sin. He has washed me
+clean and white. But, mother, you must give him back, indeed you must."
+
+"She will," interposed the nurse soothingly, "when she has had time to
+think of it! Just tell him that you will, if you can, ma'am!"
+
+With a warning glance she went to the fire for some broth, while the
+woman, urged by her look and by the beseeching, dying agony of her
+child's eyes, said slowly—
+
+"I will—Johnnie—I will."
+
+Then realizing what she had done, she buried her face in her hands, and
+trembled from head to foot.
+
+Johnnie's hand, which had lain listlessly on the counterpane, sought
+his mother's now, and pressed it with what little strength he had, and
+he drew her towards him.
+
+"Kiss me, mother," he said.
+
+After that, though he took what the nurse gave him, he did not seem
+able to speak. His eyes never closed, but were generally fixed on his
+mother's face with an expression the nurse did not understand.
+
+The hours crept on; sometimes his mother said a word of tender
+endearment, sometimes only her suppressed weeping broke the stillness.
+
+The daylight was beginning to creep in when he spoke once more.
+
+"Mother, you will come to Jesus too?"
+
+"Oh, Johnnie, I'll do what you ask me about the other. But don't make
+me promise what I can't do, my dear!"
+
+"Ah, but you can," he panted. "Nurse told me the words—they make it so
+plain—'Him that cometh to Me, I will in no wise cast out!' Can't you
+come after that, mother?"
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+SUNRISE.
+
+BUT the poor mother was too bewildered and heart-broken to take any
+comfort yet.
+
+Her only child was being snatched from her under circumstances so
+pitiful that to her mind no ray of hope or consolation could enter.
+
+She would have given everything she possessed at that moment to pacify
+her dying child, and yet the promise he wanted of her was one she
+thought she could not give.
+
+Johnnie still held her hand, and all she could do was to bend down and
+kiss his little one softly, stilling her passionate longing to clasp
+him in her arms by an effort which seemed to her to be almost killing
+her.
+
+As her eyes were fixed on his wan little face, she saw his lips move,
+and at the same moment the nurse came quickly to his side with her
+gentle, untiring, "What is it, dear?"
+
+"You'll be glad by and by—" said Johnnie, tenderly, to his mother.
+
+"Glad? Oh, Johnnie, you do not know—"
+
+"Glad that I am gone to Jesus. Mother—if you will not promise me—still
+you'll try?"
+
+"I'll do what I can, Johnnie," she answered at last.
+
+He glanced towards the nurse as if struggling to remember something.
+
+She sat down on the edge of his bed and put her arm under his head.
+
+"Say it again," he whispered.
+
+So she said, slowly and distinctly—
+
+"'Him that cometh unto Me, I will in no wise cast out.'"
+
+"Yes; that's it!" he answered, with a sigh of content.
+
+Just then a ray of sunshine broke from a dark cloud in which the sun
+had been hidden, and crept along Johnnie's bed, covering his thin
+little hands, and shining right up into his wide-open eyes.
+
+"What's that?" he asked with a sudden smile, the only one his mother
+had seen on his face, an eager, tender smile which astonished her.
+
+"It's the blessed sunrise," said the nurse soothingly.
+
+But his eyes were still gazing upward, the smile growing and growing
+till it became radiant.
+
+"It's—it's 'Jesus!'" he murmured.
+
+The eyes continued to look while the gasping breath grew fainter and
+fainter. And then, with one more weary, yet rested sigh, he went away
+to the glory which his Saviour has prepared for those who love Him.
+
+
+Twelve terrible, hopeless hours of heart-rending grief must elapse
+before the woman could venture to retrace her steps to her home, or
+tell her husband of the blow which had fallen upon them.
+
+The kind nurse did everything in her power to try to comfort the
+desolate mother.
+
+But to all her gentle words, the woman only answered, "You do not
+know—no one can ever know—it is no use to talk to me. Oh, my Johnnie!
+My Johnnie!"
+
+Once during that long day which she spent in the housekeeper's room,
+she had asked permission to visit the place where lay all that remained
+of her boy. But thither no earthly eye followed her, and her grief,
+with its secret sting, was seen only by Him who can unlock the chambers
+of every heart, and knows what each one needs to bring it to feel its
+need of Himself.
+
+At length the weary day was over, and darkness began to gather.
+Directly the woman saw this, she took her bonnet and shawl, and with a
+few words of broken thanks to the nurse, she left the house and turned
+towards home.
+
+An hour after dark, the woman climbed up those stairs at home, and was
+let in to that top room, which looked so like, and so unlike too, the
+room she had left less than twenty-four hours ago.
+
+As she threw aside her veil, her husband saw all at a glance.
+
+"Yes—" she said, and then sank down in the chair and laid her head on
+her arms on the table.
+
+The man broke into bitter reproaches, walking up and down the room
+pouring forth thick words of anguish, in which he laid the blame on his
+wife, as if she were not heart-broken enough already.
+
+Presently the woman raised her head, and throwing off her shawl and
+bonnet, she went to the corner and lifted from the bed a little child,
+wrapping it in a blanket and sitting down by the fire with it on her
+lap.
+
+"How's he been?" she asked briefly.
+
+The man, who had been watching her movements and gradually ceasing to
+rage, now mumbled something about "very poorly," and without any more
+words went down-stairs, and shut himself into the room they occupied
+there.
+
+The woman proceeded to feed and wash the little invalid in unbroken
+silence. But as she did so, the first tears she had shed since Johnnie
+died fell down her cheeks, and dropped on to the soft golden curls of
+the little boy.
+
+"Oh, Johnnie, Johnnie!" she whispered at last. "How could I have
+promised you what I did? I shall never, never be able to keep it!"
+
+And still, as she tended the little one, her tears dropped down on his
+golden hair as she remembered Johnnie's beseeching words—
+
+"'He's' got a mother too!"
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+CHAPTER XIX.
+
+ROSE GUESSES SOMETHING.
+
+"HERE is a letter from Gertrude," said Otto, walking into his
+sister-in-law's pleasant sitting-room one evening.
+
+"That is always welcome. And so are you," answered Rose, looking up
+from her work.
+
+Otto smiled slightly. He looked worn, and after the first flush caused
+by his brisk walk into Camptown had subsided, he seemed to become paler
+than his observant sister had ever seen him.
+
+"Sit down," she said, putting aside her work, and stirring the fire
+into a blaze; "have you come to tea?"
+
+"If you will have me."
+
+"Willingly indeed. Have you read Gertrude's letter, or is it private
+and particular?"
+
+"It is not private, but all her letters are particular—"
+
+"Yes. So, Otto, we will have her letter together before I ring for the
+tea; then we shall not be interrupted."
+
+She settled herself in her chair near the lamp, and opened the sheets,
+proceeding to read out what Otto had already heard: all Gertrude's
+account of the overturned basket, with its mysterious little pair of
+shoes.
+
+Rose drew her breath as she reached that part of it, and when she had
+put down the letter, she looked into the fire with an absorbed gaze,
+while she seemed to forget Otto's presence altogether.
+
+"Strange!" she murmured. "Otto, did it give you a queer feeling when
+you read that?"
+
+"We are apt to fancy every little trifle may bear upon little Lester,"
+he said softly, "but this seems too unlikely. Do not build upon it,
+dear Rose."
+
+"I know I am too ready to do so," she answered sadly, "but—"
+
+Still she looked into the fire in deep thought.
+
+"Otto," she exclaimed, "I must go and call at that house!"
+
+"They would not admit you."
+
+"Do you think so? At any rate, I should like try. Oh, if I could have
+seen those little slippers! I should have known them anywhere."
+
+She rose from her seat, and began pacing to and fro in the little room,
+her sweet, calm face looking worried and anxious.
+
+"If—supposing, Otto, that man were afraid of what his basket had
+revealed, and were to move away as they did from Blank—"
+
+"But, dear Rose, this may have nothing to do with them at all!"
+
+"But then it may—"
+
+She sat down again, looking troubled, her hands lying listlessly in her
+lap, her brow full of lines.
+
+"'God is our Refuge and Strength, a very present help in trouble,'"
+said Otto. "Perhaps, Rose, He is leading us along, though we cannot see
+the way."
+
+"But it is so hard to trust in the dark—"
+
+"His road will lead to the light," said Otto; "there are no 'blind
+thoroughfares' with our Father, Rose!"
+
+She looked up quickly. "'No' blind thoroughfares, Otto!" she answered,
+significantly, throwing off her own care as she so often did, in order
+to comfort another. "You must remember that, as well as I."
+
+He flushed a deep red, but his eyes looked frankly into hers
+nevertheless.
+
+"I do not forget it," he said quietly, "but I have had a long spell in
+the dark."
+
+"You have," she answered.
+
+After that there was silence, till, suddenly bethinking herself, she
+rang the bell, and began to busy herself in preparation for tea, taking
+some cake from the sideboard, and putting the caddy on the table.
+
+When the maid had left the room, and they sat down to their meal, just
+those two, Rose began—
+
+"Then you do not advise my going off to see Gertrude?"
+
+"I cannot advise anything," said Otto, "but if you think it likely, it
+might be worth trying."
+
+"I feel as if I must, Otto."
+
+Again there was silence. She was planning when she could go, and what
+might be the consequences. He was wishing with a great longing that he
+could go too, and in his thoughts was almost forgetting little Lester
+altogether.
+
+At last, their eyes met, and something in her brother-in-law's made
+Rose say gently—
+
+"Otto, I hope it will all come right some day."
+
+She was referring to his thoughts, not to her own.
+
+Again, he coloured vividly, rising to go.
+
+"So soon?" she asked, surprised.
+
+"Yes, I only came over to bring you that letter." Then, as he stood
+in the doorway, he added abruptly: "Rose, I see you have guessed my
+secret. I never knew till she was gone that I could feel so much—and
+with my poverty and all, it is so hopeless."
+
+"Nothing is hopeless when we look above," she said.
+
+And when he was gone, she sat down again and took the lesson home to
+her own heart. And her thoughts shaped themselves into these words—
+
+   "'With God nothing shall be impossible.'"
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+CHAPTER XX.
+
+UP THE CHIMNEY.
+
+"LET me look at it!" exclaimed Randall, pushing Hugh aside, and
+standing on tiptoe to reach the mantel-piece.
+
+"You mustn't. I ought not to have touched it," said Hugh eagerly. "Let
+it alone, I tell you; mother would not like us to touch her letters."
+
+"It isn't a letter, it's a bank-note, and I mean to look at it,
+whatever you say—"
+
+Hugh put his hand upon the object of their dispute, to protect it from
+further molestation, while Randall, with a sudden movement, caught it
+from under his brother's hand, and then in his eagerness dropped it.
+
+It fluttered down, down, down; both boys made a dash at it, but the
+draught from the blazing fire was too strong—it eluded their grasp, and
+quietly floated into the midst of the flames, where it caught fire, and
+went crackling up the chimney.
+
+There was a moment's silence, while both children stood spell-bound.
+
+At length Randall found his voice, though it was choking with anger and
+dismay, and he exclaimed—"You did it! It was your fault!"
+
+"Oh, Randall!" said Hugh, turning white.
+
+"You did! I shall tell mother so! It was all your doing—"
+
+He ran from the room, and Hugh could hear his voice explaining and
+protesting, and his mother's tone of vexation as she realized her loss.
+Then he heard steps approaching, and they both came in.
+
+"I was in the arm-chair," said Randall, "and he was holding it there,
+on the hearth-rug, and then he dropped it, and it blew into the fire—"
+
+"Oh, Randall!" began Hugh, in a despairing tone. "It wasn't a bit so,
+mother! I was telling Randall not to touch it, and he would try to, and
+he snatched it from me, and then—I don't know how—it got burned."
+
+Mrs. Shaddock looked from one to the other.
+
+"'Which' did it?" she asked angrily.
+
+"It was Hugh," said Randall; "I was quite away from him, and I saw it
+in his hand."
+
+"Randall let it fall in the fire," said Hugh steadily, his face white
+even to his lips, and his hands clenched together till they ached.
+
+"I don't believe it," said Mrs. Shaddock. "Don't you hear your brother
+was sitting in the arm-chair, so it could not have been his fault. Here
+is a whole five pounds gone, and you shall have no Christmas presents
+at all, Hugh for being so careless, and then trying to put it on your
+brother. Do not let me have another word on the subject. I do not know
+what your father will say."
+
+Mrs. Shaddock left the room in great displeasure, and the two boys
+stood looking at each other.
+
+"Now, cry-baby, go and tell it all to nurse," said Randall, shaking his
+yellow mane defiantly. "I know it was your fault, so I don't care."
+
+Hugh slowly left the room, his heart stinging with the pain of his
+little brother's taunts.
+
+Soon his father would be back from town, and then he pictured the fresh
+investigation of the whole matter, and the fresh disgrace, and perhaps
+punishment, which would fall upon him. It was not the first time that
+Randall's selfishness and want of truth had got him into dire trouble,
+and he was too sensitive, and too little respected, to fight for
+himself.
+
+He laid himself down on the nursery hearth-rug to think it all over,
+and remained like that till the gong sounded for tea, and he must go
+down.
+
+Mr. Shaddock had come in, and Gertrude and his sisters had returned
+from a lecture they had been attending. Everybody was present, as Hugh,
+pale and dark-eyed, walked into the room.
+
+"You need not come here," said his father, looking up. "Tell nurse to
+give you your tea up-stairs, and put you to bed. Five-pound notes are
+not to be burned with impunity."
+
+Hugh said nothing. He went slowly up to the nursery, and sat down
+dejectedly on a chair. Nurse had heard the account from Randall, and
+knew all about it, or at any rate, so much as could be gathered from
+one side.
+
+"I expect I shall be caned," said Hugh at length, "and it was Randall
+who did it from beginning to end."
+
+"Then never mind, dear," said nurse gently.
+
+If there was one thing that nurse found hard in her comfortable place,
+it was that Hugh was often severely punished, while Randall got off
+free.
+
+But Hugh would not be comforted. He ate no tea, and crept into bed,
+utterly crushed.
+
+As he lay there in the darkness, above the fear of punishment, above
+the threat of no Christmas presents, above the misery of being wronged,
+came over him a greater misery still. For while he knew that every
+word Randall had said was false, and that the burning of the note was
+entirely Randall's doing, yet in his inmost heart he felt he had been
+the one to touch it first, and this fault he had not acknowledged.
+
+He could not do it! That was his first and strongest feeling. Nothing
+on earth could make him volunteer that which would partly justify all
+their displeasure. He had "not" burned the note, there it must rest.
+That was his ultimatum.
+
+But to those who are Christ's, a still small voice comes; the
+Shepherd's hand is stretched out to restore the soul, and lead it in
+the paths of righteousness.
+
+A sudden thought came to poor little Hugh, and he looked up above the
+misery and despair which had seized him. "Oh, help me to do right, by
+Thy mighty power," he whispered. "I can't do it by myself—do help me,
+Lord Jesus."
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+CHAPTER XXI.
+
+BY THE NURSERY FIRE.
+
+STRENGTHENED with a new strength, Hugh sat up in bed, and considered
+what he ought to do.
+
+Truth and falsehood were strangely mixed up in his mind. But of one
+thing he was certain, he had not told any one the whole truth.
+
+Great as was his fear of punishment, his fear of offending his God and
+King was greater. What therefore ought he to do?
+
+Just at this moment his father's step was heard crossing the nursery.
+
+"I am going to put a stop to this deception," he said to the nurse.
+"If he had said boldly that he had done it and was sorry, I would have
+excused him, but to make it worse by a lie—"
+
+"Oh, sir!" interrupted the nurse earnestly. "Do ask him to explain
+it—indeed there may be some mistake. Master Hugh is so good and
+straight and little Master Randall—you know, sir, in the heat of things
+children do not always see quite how it is. Please, sir, do wait till
+we can find out more about it!"
+
+Little shivering Hugh could hear his father turn towards the
+fire-place, and for a moment, he breathed more freely. But, even then,
+after what his father had said, punishment must follow, no matter
+what he might confess. Though he had, indeed, not been the one who
+had burned the note, his father had in his estimation described him
+accurately when he had accused him of a lie. If he had not told one, he
+had acted one.
+
+Then he heard—"Well, nurse, I do not mind waiting, of course, for I
+respect your opinion very much, as you have been with the children so
+long. But if it turns out to be as I think it is, nothing shall come
+between Hugh and his punishment. I cannot make my children all I would,
+but untruth shall not pass unreproved."
+
+Nurse murmured some words of thanks and he seemed to be turning away.
+
+Hugh sprang out of bed, and without waiting for his courage to ebb, he
+rushed into the nursery.
+
+"Father!" he said.
+
+"Well?" said Mr. Shaddock, turning round, rather coldly.
+
+"Father—will you hear all about it—will you hear about it before you
+punish me?"
+
+Mr. Shaddock came back to the fire-place and sat down. Something in the
+boy's face touched him more than he had ever felt touched before.
+
+"It was not my fault about the note—but—"
+
+"I did not come back to hear you say that—" said Mr. Shaddock.
+
+"No, but I was going to tell you all about it. It was my fault,
+because I touched the note first, and said to Randall that it was such
+a dirty old thing to be worth so much. But it was quite safe on the
+mantel-shelf again, and Randall would touch it. And I tried to prevent
+him by putting down my hand on it, and then he snatched it and it fell
+into the fire."
+
+Whether the child's eyes convinced his father, or whether the story
+bore the impress of truth, Mr. Shaddock felt that he knew the whole.
+
+There was a silence while he thought it all over.
+
+"Why did you not tell this to your mother?" he asked, at length.
+
+"I did try to, but—she did not understand."
+
+There was another pause.
+
+"Did you tell her all this?" asked his father, opening his arm to
+invite the little boy within it.
+
+Hugh thought of Randall's overbearing clamour and was silent.
+
+"Did you?" persisted Mr. Shaddock.
+
+"I tried to—" Hugh's eyes looked appealingly in his father's face, but
+he said no more.
+
+"I see. Now, my boy, go back to your bed. I am glad that you have told
+me."
+
+But Hugh hesitated. Never before had he stood like that within his
+father's arm; it was hard to go out from it, and yet he must.
+
+"Father," he said, gently and bravely, "are you not going to punish me?
+I would rather get it over, and then, perhaps, you will forgive me?"
+
+Mr. Shaddock looked down upon him wonderingly. "Forgiveness does not
+depend upon punishment," he said, slowly, "but upon—other things."
+
+"But I deserve what you said," answered Hugh, "because I 'did' not tell
+all the truth."
+
+In that five minutes Mr. Shaddock had learned a great lesson. He had
+never thought of "forgiving" his little son. He had considered it his
+duty to punish him, and there the matter would end. Now he was asked
+for forgiveness!
+
+What had he to do with forgiveness?
+
+Hugh's eyes were still fixed upon him inquiringly his colour going and
+coming.
+
+"I freely forgive you, my boy," he answered then; "God bless you."
+
+Hugh flung his arms round his father's neck, and was inclosed in an
+embrace such as he had never had before.
+
+Mr. Shaddock rose then, and leading his child back to his bed, kissed
+him, and went slowly down-stairs.
+
+"I doubt if I could have done such a thing myself," was his mental
+comment. And all the evening afterwards, those words which he had heard
+so often in church, but had never heeded before, seemed to sound in his
+ears—
+
+   "'Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is
+covered.'"
+
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+CHAPTER XXII.
+
+NO THOROUGHFARE.
+
+"THERE is a lady down-stairs waiting to see you, Miss Ashlyn," said
+Mollie, putting her head in at the door of the schoolroom one morning,
+and then withdrawing it without waiting to receive any answer.
+
+"For me?" exclaimed Gertrude, colouring with surprise. "I do not know
+anybody here."
+
+"Go down and see," said Randall. "I dare say it's some old fogey! Our
+last governess had some of those sort to see her."
+
+If Gertrude had not blushed before, she blushed now. Suppose it should
+be her mother whom Randall had called by such a name?
+
+"You are very rude," she said coldly, turning to him ere she left the
+room. "Do not move till I come back. I will at any rate not be long."
+
+She ran down-stairs, her heart beating. Could it be her mother? But she
+would never have come unless something had been the matter!
+
+She had not long to be in doubt. As she opened the door, a white-haired
+lady indeed sat near the window. But the beautiful complexion and soft,
+dark eyes belonged to no one else than her sister Rose!
+
+In a moment they were clasped in each other's arms, and then Rose in
+rather an agitated way began to explain about the basket, and the old
+man, and the Strange House, and the little slippers.
+
+At mention of these, Gertrude turned pale.
+
+"Rose!" she exclaimed. "That is what has been haunting me ever since. I
+could not make it out!"
+
+"That makes it more necessary than ever for me to do my utmost to find
+out if my child is really—"
+
+Rose broke off. She could not get through those words. The imagined
+nearness of her child, if as she fondly believed, he were in the next
+house, made her altogether frantic. She could hardly control herself.
+
+"Dearest Rose," said Gertrude persuasively, "sit down quietly now,
+while I go and tell Mrs. Shaddock you are here, and speak to my
+children up-stairs. I am sure they will be interested in it all, and
+Mrs. Shaddock will perhaps advise us as to what is best to be done."
+
+Rose sat down obediently, though she glanced out of the window at every
+passer-by with such anxiety, that Gertrude feared she would not even
+allow her time to make her explanations, before she would want to be
+out of the door, and knocking at that Strange House which she thought
+contained her darling.
+
+However, Gertrude hastened to the schoolroom to beg Daisy and Randall
+to amuse themselves with a book till her return, and then she sought
+Mrs. Shaddock, who was busy with Mollie in the dining-room writing
+invitations for an "At Home" the next week.
+
+The explanations were soon made, and Mrs. Shaddock went into the other
+room to make acquaintance with Mrs. Leigh, and in her hospitable way to
+beg her to use her house as if it were her own.
+
+Rose's tearful eyes were a grateful answer enough.
+
+"I am going to the house to see if I can find out anything," said
+Rose, rising. "You cannot wonder that I dare not delay after my sad
+experiences!"
+
+They let her go, and Gertrude went back to the schoolroom to tell Daisy
+about it, and to wait her sister's return. Rose had begged them not to
+accompany her or be seen outside.
+
+Meanwhile with trembling steps, growing more firm as she went along,
+Rose tried to remember Otto's words of there being no "blind streets"
+in God's paths, and so gathered courage as she leaned on Him who is
+mighty.
+
+But her repeated knocks at the door brought no answer, and after she
+had stood there a whole quarter of an hour, she began to despair at
+last.
+
+She ceased knocking and ringing, and then could bear the strokes of a
+spade in the back garden.
+
+She went to the side gate and shook it, and after some time an elderly
+man came shuffling up the path and approached the green lattice-work
+fence.
+
+"Does Mrs. Swift live here?" said Rose as boldly as she could, her
+heart beating.
+
+"My name's Brown," said the man surlily.
+
+"Could I speak to your wife?" asked Rose, looking earnestly in his face.
+
+"I'm alone," answered the man with increased surliness. "What's the
+good of asking me to see my wife? She went away from me a long time
+ago,—and, as I tell you, I'm all alone."
+
+He began to turn towards his garden again.
+
+"Oh, please!" implored Rose. "Would you tell me if you ever lived at
+Blank—?"
+
+A startled look, despite an evident effort, overspread the man's face.
+
+"No, I never did!" he answered heartily enough. "You never heard of a
+Mrs. Swift there, a lodging-house keeper, with one little boy?"
+
+Did Rose fancy a spasm passed across the haggard face before her? It
+was only for an instant.
+
+"Didn't I tell you," he asked roughly, "that I was never at the place?
+How is it likely I should know any one there? Why do you come here
+hindering me at my work?"
+
+He left her abruptly, and Rose stood baffled.
+
+"Oh, please!" she called in her soft, musical voice, which must have
+reached him well enough. "Please do come and talk to me a little while!"
+
+But the man crunched over the gravel unheedingly, and took up his spade
+within sight of her, and so dug and dug persistently till, tired out,
+and fearing she was ridiculous, Rose turned back to the Shaddocks'
+house, feeling that indeed this had been "No thoroughfare" in good
+earnest.
+
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+CHAPTER XXIII.
+
+A HINDRANCE.
+
+"I THOUGHT—I hoped," sobbed poor Rose, "that—at last—my waiting time
+was over, and I—might be going to find my little Lester—if it were
+God's will."
+
+"And the worst is," she added, when she was calmer and was sitting
+in Gertrude's bedroom, "the worst is, Gertrude, if there should be
+anything wrong, they will move away at once."
+
+"Yes," said Gertrude, kneeling down by her and laying her head on
+her sister's shoulder, "but then—even supposing all that, if God has
+allowed us to get on this track, and it is the right one, He will
+certainly make a way out of what seems so dark and difficult now."
+
+The words quieted Rose's aching heart.
+
+"I was almost forgetting that in my disappointment! Dear Gertrude, you
+are a true comforter."
+
+There was silence then, Rose reviewing all the strong consolation which
+she felt at the times when she remembered that her Father in heaven
+could work for her; while Gertrude realized, as never before, how
+precious were her dear ones at home, and felt it would certainly break
+her heart to see Rose go away and leave her behind.
+
+A summons to dinner interrupted these thoughts.
+
+"How truly kind Mrs. Shaddock is!" said Rose, as they went down. "She
+has asked me to stay the night here, or as long as I like. I never saw
+strangers so kind."
+
+At dinner, the plans for the afternoon were freely discussed, for till
+Rose could communicate with her lawyer and ask his advice, she could do
+nothing, "but enjoy herself," as Randall told Daisy.
+
+"I have to go to Highgate to make two or three calls," said Mrs.
+Shaddock, "and shall drive. If Mrs. Leigh will come with me—"
+
+"And me, mother?" interrupted Randall.
+
+"Very well—and you—the rest can walk and meet us there. Then you can
+show Mrs. Leigh the cemetery while I make my calls, and I will take her
+up at the lower gates at five o'clock. Miss Ashlyn, I know you like
+walking, do you not?"
+
+This plan was hailed with applause by the children. For Mrs. Shaddock,
+if she took them a little jaunt in this way, was always very
+generous in her plans. And they knew that a pleasant tea at the best
+pastrycook's in Highgate would be in the programme, and that their
+mother would perhaps tell them to have a cab to bring them home.
+
+So they set off in wild spirits, some time before their mother's
+carriage was ordered, and timed their arrival at the upper gates at
+Highgate Cemetery just as it came bowling along the road.
+
+It stopped to put Mrs. Leigh down, and then Mrs. Shaddock beckoned
+Mollie to the window.
+
+"Have a nice tea," she whispered, pressing some money into Mollie's
+hand, "and do not hurry. Mrs. Leigh says she would like to walk home
+with her sister. So either, of you girls, can come with me or walk
+home, which you like."
+
+"Daisy can come then," said Mollie; "I would much rather stay with
+them."
+
+The carriage drove on, and the party was left standing on the path.
+
+"Which way are we to go?" asked Gertrude.
+
+"I know!" exclaimed Randall. "Come along, Mrs. Leigh, I'll show you."
+
+Mrs. Leigh, looking upon every little boy with the eyes of a bereaved
+mother, had longingly regarded little Randall as perhaps reminding
+her of her own six-year old child. But even if his bright colour and
+yellow hair might have done for little Lester's pink cheeks and golden
+curls, the defiant eyes and bold mien did not remind her of her tender
+darling, and no amount of imagination would turn Randall into a little
+Lester. She however took the child's hand, her fingers thrilling at the
+little fingers, and went forward with him in front, the rest following
+at leisure.
+
+It was a glorious afternoon; the sunshine was perfect, and the fresh
+breeze and the autumn foliage were so entrancing that the children's
+spirits could hardly be kept within bounds in that quiet resting-place
+of the dead.
+
+Several times, Gertrude had to warn them to be more moderate, till at
+last Randall said, "We always do just as we like here, Miss Ashlyn."
+
+"Not if I am in charge," said Gertrude quietly.
+
+"Let us go and look at what we call 'the catacombs,'" said Randall. "If
+you peep in, you can see the coffins all along!"
+
+He went off with his sisters, and Gertrude and Rose were left alone.
+
+"You have a handful with that little boy?" said Rose, looking after
+them.
+
+"Yes," answered Gertrude, "he is my cross."
+
+"Then, darling, he may yet be your 'crown'!" Rose answered tenderly.
+
+Gertrude did not reply, but followed on the heels of her flock to see
+that they did not get into mischief.
+
+By and by, they began to clamour for tea, and the party made their way
+out of the cemetery and wandered into the town, looking at shops as
+they went along, till Mollie exclaimed, "Miss Ashlyn, I 'must' buy that
+pattern; it is just what I have been wanting for ever so long."
+
+Gertrude feared that it was getting late, and begged her to defer her
+purchase till after tea, but she would not hear of it. Then the shop
+was full, and they had to wait, so that when they finally reached the
+pastrycook's, the clock pointed to ten minutes to five.
+
+"You will keep your mother waiting!" exclaimed Gertrude. "Daisy, dear,
+have something to eat, and let us hasten to meet her. I had no idea we
+should be so long in that shop."
+
+The child took some cake and hurried back with Gertrude through the
+quiet cemetery, and arrived breathless, five minutes before the
+carriage came.
+
+"What will they think has become of you?" asked Daisy, to whom the
+moments while they stood waiting seemed longer than they really were.
+
+"I told them to have their tea and to go home without me if I did not
+come," said Gertrude.
+
+And then the carriage came, and she left Daisy with her mother and
+retraced her steps back through the trees and flowers and graves.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+CHAPTER XXIV.
+
+AT THE GRAVE.
+
+THE autumn afternoon was closing in, and but that Gertrude had noticed
+some men filling in a new-made grave as she went down, she would have
+feared that she might find the gates shut.
+
+She walked as fast as she could, taking one of the narrower paths,
+and was almost within sight of the upper gates when her attention was
+arrested by a figure crouching over that very new-made grave which she
+had seen.
+
+Her quick steps took her past before she had realized that there was
+some one who was in great need.
+
+But what was it to her that a mourner should be weeping there? Were not
+all those graves dear to some hearts? And was this not one among many?
+
+Still she could not go on and leave the drooping figure. Somehow there
+was an abandonment in the grief that made Gertrude feel she "could" not
+"pass by on the other side."
+
+One moment she hesitated—then advanced softly across the grass, which
+had already in the dusk lost its greenness, and was now nothing but a
+carpet of deep shade beneath her feet.
+
+She sat down on the ground beside the weeping woman and touched her
+hand.
+
+"You are in great trouble," she said gently.
+
+A moan was the only answer.
+
+"Have you lost your husband?" asked Gertrude tenderly.
+
+A decisive shake of the head.
+
+"Then perhaps it is a child?" asked the soft voice again.
+
+The woman turned away with a sudden sort of pang, but after a moment
+she said, as if in spite of herself—"My only one!"
+
+"That must be terrible," said Gertrude, thinking of Rose, and trying to
+match this woman's grief with what she knew of her sister's.
+
+The woman raised herself a little, but only to cover her head in her
+shawl more effectually, out of which her voice sounded far-off and
+thick.
+
+"Could you tell me?" said Gertrude tenderly, thinking about her Lord
+and Master, and trying to picture "His" great love and sympathy, so
+that she might copy Him.
+
+"Why do you care for a stranger?" flashed this woman from the depths of
+the shawl.
+
+"Because I love the Lord Jesus," answered Gertrude, "and He wept at the
+grave."
+
+"At the grave?" questioned the woman. "Whose grave?"
+
+But before Gertrude could answer, she had flung herself round again,
+and ended in burying her face in her hands on the girl's lap, where
+she shook with a paroxysm of grief such as Gertrude had never imagined
+could be.
+
+It was impossible to leave her, and yet what about those closing gates
+and the growing darkness?
+
+Then Gertrude noticed to her intense relief that some men were
+spreading gravel near the entrance, and were rolling it backwards and
+forwards without apparently any signs of giving up.
+
+So she turned her attention once more to the mourner, who was clasping
+her as if she were the only comfort left.
+
+She whispered words of the love of Jesus, of His sympathy, of His
+ability to save to the uttermost, of His love for the little children.
+And as she went on, feeling her way as it were, she began to understand
+what a mighty Saviour she had for her own, and a great longing came
+over her for this poor soul who, evidently, was a stranger to His great
+love.
+
+"I'm a wicked woman," groaned her listener at last. "You would not
+speak to me so if you guessed how wicked I have been."
+
+"Jesus our Saviour came to save sinners," whispered Gertrude.
+
+"That is what 'he' said," she exclaimed, her eyes raining down tears.
+
+"Your little boy?"
+
+"Yes; but—but he asked me to do two things, and I can't do either."
+
+"He wanted you to come to Jesus?" asked Gertrude eagerly.
+
+"Yes, but though I cannot do that, it was not the hardest thing. I
+promised him, and yet I am going to break my word!"
+
+"Break your word to him?" asked Gertrude reproachfully. "You will not
+do that."
+
+"I shall—simply because I never can do it! I thought I would when I
+promised, but I can't. No, I can't. Johnnie, it is of no use."
+
+Again she wept hopelessly, while Gertrude trembled, she hardly knew why.
+
+"Is it something you ought to tell?" asked Gertrude.
+
+A movement of the woman's head seemed to acknowledge that it was.
+
+"Then God will help you to tell it, if you ask Him."
+
+"I have never asked Him anything. Yes, I have; I asked Him that Johnnie
+might not die, and He did not hear."
+
+"Ask Him for this, and perhaps He will make the other plain to you by
+and by. The reason, I mean!"
+
+"I know the reason!" said the woman bitterly. "It was because of my
+sin!"
+
+"You do not know the reason. Perhaps the loving and merciful God could
+find no other way to show you your sin, and lead you to Himself to be
+forgiven."
+
+There was a long silence, while the woman's thoughts chased each other
+through her torn heart.
+
+Gertrude watched the men rolling the gravel; she heard their cheerful
+tones as they went backwards and forwards. Then she bent over the
+prostrate form once more.
+
+"Dear friend," she whispered, "shall I pray that God will give you His
+mighty help to keep this promise?"
+
+The woman pressed her hand, and Gertrude prayed a prayer, the
+earnestness of which had never perhaps passed her lips before.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+CHAPTER XXV.
+
+JOHNNIE'S JOKE.
+
+"WOULD it help you to tell 'me'?" asked Gertrude, bending over the
+woman as she still knelt with her head buried in her lap.
+
+She laid a tender hand on her head, and stroked her hair softly,
+wondering at herself that she could, and yet feeling an overwhelming
+pity in her heart. Was not she a sinner too, and did she not know that
+the seeds of all sorts of evil lurked in her own heart?
+
+"A sinner saved!" she thought. And then she said aloud, "I have learned
+what it is to be forgiven myself, you know, and so I can sympathize."
+
+"You have never done what I have," murmured the woman. "But—I do not
+know why, yet I trust you! I will, if I can, tell you about it. You
+will see then that I shall never be able to keep this promise."
+
+"You will, if you believe that the dear God is able to help you. Oh,
+if only you would, from your heart, ask Him to forgive you—whatever it
+is—I am sure, after that you would be able to keep your promise."
+
+The woman trembled, and after a minute or two's silence, she said in a
+low tone—
+
+"I never meant to—not at first. But before I say a word more, you will
+promise me that you will never tell 'any one'?"
+
+"No," said Gertrude; "I will keep your secret faithfully."
+
+Then the woman went on almost beneath her breath—
+
+"It was two years ago. I never meant to do it! I was as honest and
+straightforward a woman as you would find.
+
+"We lived—no matter where. My husband was a steward on board one of the
+steamers going to and from China, and was not at home then. I settled
+down in a seaside place, and hired a house and furniture, and set up
+lodging-keeping.
+
+"I had nobody but my Johnnie with me, and we were enough for each other.
+
+"By and by there came a lady and a little boy—a dear little fellow."
+
+She caught her breath for a moment with a sobbing sigh, and then went
+on in a low almost inaudible tone—
+
+"His mother was obliged to go away to Scotland, and I took care of him
+while she was gone. One afternoon I was called into a neighbour's to
+help with some one who had got a bad scald, and the time ran away, and
+I was gone longer than I had ought to have been. I know that—I'd no
+business to have left him so long."
+
+The woman wound her shawl round her face and wept bitterly.
+
+Gertrude's heart was beating so fast that she felt choked, while she
+breathlessly listened to the tale which matched—yes, yes it did!—that
+dreadful one of her sister's.
+
+Then a blank despair fell upon her. Why had she given that reckless
+promise not to tell any one? Ought she to hear the rest of the story
+and remain silent? And if she interrupted now, the secret might be gone
+for ever!
+
+In this terrible crisis, Gertrude could but breathe in her heart a
+swift prayer for guidance and help to her unseen but ever-present
+Friend. Afterwards, she knew that it had been given, but now she could
+only trust.
+
+Could this be indeed the clue to Rose's mystery? She knew not what to
+do, so she waited.
+
+"When I came back," the woman went on at last, though her words were
+choked and broken, "Johnnie—my Johnnie—met me in the passage full of
+excitement.
+
+"'I've had such a lark,' he said, in his cheerful little way.
+
+"I went into the parlour (we had no lodgers just then) with my mind
+full of the scalded girl, and I said—
+
+"'Where's the little one, Johnnie? I did not mean to be gone so long.'
+
+"'Come up and see,' he said. And he led me up-stairs and opened one of
+the bedroom doors.
+
+"I gave a great scream—I remember it all as if it had happened
+yesterday—for there before me was a great monster which Johnnie had
+dressed up for fun, with a big mask on and a candle behind it, shining
+out of the eyes. Of course it was only for a moment I was frightened,
+and I turned round to scold Johnnie about it, when I saw close to it
+the figure of the little boy I was taking care of, standing with his
+finger touching it.
+
+"He was such a wonderfully timid child that my heart gave a great jump
+when I saw him first. But after all, I thought, he was less scared than
+I was.
+
+"'Come along, dear,' I said, 'we will go down-stairs.'
+
+"But the little fellow did not move. He went on touching the great
+monster that Johnnie had made, and took not the slightest notice of me.
+
+"I went up to him and looked in his face.
+
+"'Ain't you tired of this ugly thing?' I said. 'Johnnie hadn't ought to
+have done it. Come along, dear!'
+
+"But though I took him up in my arms, he still looked with those
+startled big eyes, until I got him safe down into our parlour.
+
+"When I got there, I expected him to 'come to,' and perhaps have a
+little cry. But oh, miss! How can I tell you my feelings when he just
+sat where I put him, or stood where I stood him, without taking any
+more notice than a doll.
+
+"'Johnnie!' I said. 'What did you do?'
+
+"Johnnie was terrified enough. 'I only told him to go up-stairs and see
+something pretty in your room,' he said.
+
+"'And did he go?'
+
+"'He was mighty afraid at first, and then he ran up all at once, very
+brave-like, and I thought there was no harm!' said Johnnie.
+
+"And no more he did, miss; he loved the little fellow as much as I did.
+Only Johnnie was always one for those jokes; that's what it was."
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+CHAPTER XXVI.
+
+FLIGHT.
+
+GERTRUDE could hardly breathe, but she kept quiet, and the woman
+continued her narrative, still in the same dull, hopeless, heart-broken
+tone in which she had spoken all along.
+
+"I did everything I could think of. I gave him a warm bath—I poured out
+prayers and tears—I did everything to bring him back, but to no avail.
+
+"As to Johnnie, he hung over him too, and cried as I never wish to hear
+a child cry again; it wrings my heart now to think of it.
+
+"All night we watched him, and kissed him, and coaxed him, but it was
+of no use! At last, Johnnie fell asleep, kneeling on the floor by us,
+but no sleep came to my eyes.
+
+"Then I made my fatal mistake and committed a dreadful sin.
+
+"When the morning sun crept in, and still those wide-open startled eyes
+gave no sign of intelligence, I made up my mind for flight.
+
+"At first I only intended to gain time, perhaps to consult a doctor in
+London, or to try what change of air would do to restore him. But I did
+a dreadful thing—I robbed a mother of her child, and I prevented her
+doing what she might have done to repair the mischief.
+
+"You will blame me—I know you must—I feel your knees trembling beneath
+me. But oh! No one who has not passed through it can conceive what I
+suffered then, and what I have suffered since!"
+
+Gertrude's knees did tremble, but by a great effort she murmured some
+words of sympathy. While the woman raised her face to wipe from it the
+drops of perspiration which stood on her brow.
+
+One thought crossed Gertrude's mind of what they would think if she did
+not arrive at the confectioner's, but she was reassured that they would
+conclude that she had been persuaded to drive home with Mrs. Shaddock,
+and till both parties arrived, each would think she was with the other.
+This woman's story would be enough excuse when once she got home!
+
+"It was my terror of what would be done to Johnnie," the woman went on
+at length, "that made me fly. Ah! I had better have faced it all, ten
+thousand times! Better for myself, better for him. As to me, I have
+grown an old, broken-down woman; as to him—he lies here in the cold
+ground, and I shall never, never see him again!"
+
+"He is gone to Jesus," whispered Gertrude in a broken voice; "if you
+seek Him too, you will meet your boy again."
+
+She did not know how to articulate the words, and yet—still she thought
+of herself as a forgiven sinner, and must she not forgive too!
+
+The woman seemed to listen.
+
+"Oh, if I could!" she said, with a yearning cry.
+
+"'Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out,'" said Gertrude
+earnestly. And then she thought of the unfinished story, and how could
+she bear to speak of anything till that was told?
+
+But had she not in that brief prayer asked her Heavenly Father to take
+it all in hand? And was she going to slight "His" work, which He had
+given her to do, in order to take what she thought the best road to
+finding little Lester?
+
+"Those are the very words my Johnnie said!" exclaimed the woman,
+raising her face for the first time, and letting Gertrude gaze upon its
+haggard lines—at least upon so much of them as could be seen in the
+increasing darkness.
+
+"'In no wise cast out!' Those are good words!"
+
+She laid her head down again on the trembling knees, and did not speak
+for ever so long.
+
+"Why are you so good to me?" she asked at last.
+
+"Because I am so sorry for you," said Gertrude in a low tone.
+
+"I'm not worthy to come to Him," the woman went on; "and yet—yet I
+think I must try. Johnnie said he'd been forgiven—and he said I should
+be. And oh, though you may not think it, from such a dreadful thing as
+I am, but if I could be forgiven by God, and know that the poor mother
+I robbed—"
+
+She broke off and flung herself upon Johnnie's grave, and lay there
+with her face against the cold clay.
+
+"Dear friend," said Gertrude kneeling down beside her, "go to Jesus
+now! Do not wait any longer. You will never be happy without Him; you
+will be at peace even in the midst of this dreadful sorrow, if only you
+have Him for your Saviour. Do not wait another moment."
+
+And again repeating those words which have brought balm to thousands of
+hopeless hearts, Gertrude said, as Johnnie's nurse had done, "'Him that
+cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out.'"
+
+Perhaps Johnnie's persuasion had prepared her, perhaps the week of
+anguish she had just passed had softened her heart; at any rate, the
+woman believed the loving promise and acted on it.
+
+She "came" to Jesus, and found that she was not cast out! But, covered
+with the Atoning Blood, she was drawn into the circle of everlasting
+love!
+
+"I've done it!" she whispered at length. "I've come, and He has not
+cast me out! Oh, I never saw such love!"
+
+She rose from the ground, and taking Gertrude's hand, pointed towards
+the entrance, where the men were beginning to put away their tools.
+
+"I shall never be able to thank you, miss," she said brokenly, "but if
+ever there was a grateful heart!—To think that I 'shall' see Johnnie
+again now! Oh, miss! I'm lost in joy and wonder. I cannot think that I
+am the same woman that I was an hour ago!"
+
+Gertrude, amidst all the conflicting feelings of joy for this new-born
+soul, sorrow for her sister, and anxiety as to the future, could do
+nothing but weep.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+CHAPTER XXVII.
+
+A DARK RIDE.
+
+THE woman, still holding her hand, led her to the gates.
+
+"Dear miss," she said at last, "why do you cry? You, at any rate, ought
+to be very glad, for you have brought me, by your great kindness, what
+is worth the whole world to me! Why do you cry?"
+
+Again Gertrude could do nothing but pray a silent momentary prayer, to
+be taught to say the right words.
+
+"I am crying because I am glad for you; because I do not love our
+blessed Saviour half enough myself for all He has done for me. But I am
+crying, too, I think, because—because—I want you to tell me the rest
+about that poor little boy, and because I want you to give him back to
+his mother."
+
+The woman let go her hand suddenly, and there was a long pause. Their
+steps carried them through the gates into the dark road outside.
+
+"You have asked a very hard thing," said the woman, slowly.
+
+Gertrude was silent; her heart sank at the altered tone.
+
+"And yet—" the woman went on, "and yet—I see that it will have to come
+to that; I saw it as I lay with my face on my Johnnie's grave. The
+moment I had come to Christ to have my sins forgiven, I promised Him
+that for His great love to me I would show that little bit of love
+to Him, and do it for His sake. Yes, what I could not do for even
+Johnnie's sake, I will do for Jesus!"
+
+She clasped Gertrude's hand again, and covered it with kisses; while
+the poor girl, wholly overcome, sobbed convulsively.
+
+"I will tell you the rest as we go along," whispered the woman.
+
+"Where do you live?" asked Gertrude, when she could speak. "Shall we
+have a cab? I will drive you home if you will let me."
+
+"It is a long way," said the woman. "I live at Hampstead."
+
+At Hampstead! Gertrude started, and then she said quietly—
+
+"We will go together then, and you will tell me on the way? I know you
+will be kind now. I too have something to tell you!"
+
+They were quite silent till they were seated in the vehicle and driving
+down the long road that led from Highgate to Hampstead Heath.
+
+None too long, however, as Gertrude knew, for all she wanted to hear.
+
+The woman began of herself.
+
+"Dear miss," she said, "I have made up my mind; so now there is nothing
+to do but to carry it out. For His great love, I'm going to have just a
+little love, and try to do right—at last."
+
+"Tell me about the little boy!" whispered Gertrude.
+
+"Yes, yes, but I must find his mother! That is the next step, no matter
+what it costs. Do you think she will have me imprisoned?"
+
+"I should hope not—I should think not!" exclaimed Gertrude.
+
+"Well, well, no matter now. I must find her; life is but short, and
+soon I shall see Jesus and Johnnie! I cannot look at things as I did;
+it is all new and wonderful. What was very dreadful does not seem so
+dreadful, and this world seems far-away, and heaven very near."
+
+She looked up into the starry sky, and seemed lost in thought.
+Gertrude's touch recalled her.
+
+"Yes," she said, as if taking up the thread with an effort, "I must
+tell you the rest.
+
+"As I said, we tried everything we could possibly think of to bring the
+poor little dear back to his senses. Oh, it was a cruel, cruel trick,
+miss; you cannot say it more strongly than I did; but Johnnie did not
+mean to do harm. Never was a boy more bitterly sorry than my little
+Johnnie. I don't think he often had a happy moment after, till he
+died. Oh, tricks are dreadful things! This one has ruined my life, and
+Johnnie's, and—other lives too."
+
+Again she broke off with a gasp. Gertrude noticed that she could hardly
+speak of little Lester without it.
+
+"At last, my husband came home and found us hiding, as you may say, in
+a street in Bermondsey. He was dreadfully cut up about it, and wanted
+me to give the child back to his mother at once. But fear kept me from
+doing what was right, and I would not hear of it.
+
+"At last, we decided we could not live where we were. The little one's
+health grew very poor—" (Gertrude gave a shiver of pain, but she kept
+silent)—"and so at last we decided to send Johnnie to school, and to
+take a house near Hampstead, where my husband could employ himself.
+He used to be head-gardener at a gentleman's place before he went as
+steward, so that was what he turned his hand to. The little one and I
+lived at the top of the house, and there he is now."
+
+"Is he ill?" asked Gertrude, in a smothered voice, her heart sinking at
+what the answer might be.
+
+"Very poorly," answered the woman, in a low tone; "very poorly indeed."
+
+"If you could find his mother, would you let her see him?" asked
+Gertrude.
+
+"Yes," said the woman slowly.
+
+"May I help you to find her?"
+
+"Ah, miss, that will be a job. You see, it's two years ago, and I
+only know her name, and the name of the place where she did live
+once—Camptown."
+
+"I am sure I can help you if you will trust me," said Gertrude,
+trembling, "but what about my promise not to tell?"
+
+The woman was silent for a moment. Already the cab had crossed the
+broad Heath, and was rattling down the steep town of Hampstead. They
+would be home in five minutes.
+
+Then the woman took Gertrude's hand in hers again, and pressing it till
+it ached, she said, brokenly, "You may tell 'her,' if you can find her."
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+CHAPTER XXVIII.
+
+ALMOST.
+
+ON they drove, till the cab, as directed by the woman, turned up one of
+the openings leading from the main road, and at length stopped at the
+gate of a house, just as Gertrude had anticipated, next door to her own
+home.
+
+All along the way, she had been questioning with herself what she ought
+to do, but she could not form any definite plan.
+
+They got out, Gertrude paying the man, and then they paused and looked
+each other in the face, under the gas-lamp, Gertrude raising her eyes
+with an appealing look in them.
+
+The woman caught both her hands as if terrified, and drew her nearer
+the light.
+
+"Your face—something in your face brings back to me another face, which
+all these months I have fled from and dreaded to see."
+
+"But you do not any longer?" said Gertrude, with quivering voice.
+
+"I hardly know, dear miss. I owe you so much, but let me go in and have
+time to think! You seem—and yet it is impossible—as if you were some
+one belonging to that poor mother I have wronged, or else to be herself
+grown different!"
+
+She trembled all over, and Gertrude led her into her own garden and up
+to her own door.
+
+"May I come in too?" she asked, as the woman fumbled in her pocket for
+a key.
+
+"No, no!" she answered, turning round suddenly. "I must speak to my
+husband. Not but what he will be glad—this has pretty near worn him
+out. But I do not think I can let you in!"
+
+"Dear friend," said Gertrude, in an imploring tone, "if I go away now,
+you will not disappoint me afterwards, and refuse to see us if I find
+the little one's mother? You will remember then all we said and did at
+Johnnie's grave?"
+
+"Yes, yes, I will," said the woman. "Now go and leave me." Then,
+suddenly altering her mind, the woman pulled her into the dim,
+fire-lighted kitchen, and struck a match.
+
+"No, you are not his mother!" she said slowly.
+
+"But," added Gertrude, "I am her sister. I never guessed it when you
+began to tell me. I thought you were just a stranger out in the wide
+world—some one who needed Jesus! But now—oh, you will not refuse to
+let me bring my sister to her lost darling! You will let me go and
+fetch her, that she may once more clasp him in her arms, as you clasped
+Johnnie only a week ago!"
+
+The woman sank into a chair, and Gertrude knelt in front of her,
+pouring out entreaties, feeling as if in the woman's silence, little
+Lester were slipping away and away, just as she had grasped him.
+
+Then she thought of her Unfailing Refuge. Why was she so anxious and
+dismayed? Would not He, who had brought her thus far, bring her to the
+end?
+
+She buried her face in her hands in silent, earnest petition to Him who
+is ever near.
+
+"Dear miss," said the woman softly, "did I not say that I would give
+him up?"
+
+Gertrude looked in her face, and then she rose up from her knees, and
+bent her head to kiss the careworn cheek.
+
+"Then I will bring her," was all she said. "Shall you come to the door
+if I ring there?"
+
+"Yes," said the woman, "I'll come."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+In another two minutes Gertrude was standing in the Shaddocks' bright
+hall, with all the family crowding round her.
+
+"Where have you been?" exclaimed Mollie.
+
+"We have been so anxious about you," said Mrs. Shaddock.
+
+"We stayed at the confectioner's till we were ashamed to stay any
+longer," said Rose.
+
+"I expect you've had a spree!" said Randall.
+
+While behind stood tall Conway with his rather supercilious look, Hugh
+and Daisy filling up the rest of the circle.
+
+But Rose, more accustomed to Gertrude's ordinary aspect, saw something
+different in her sister's face.
+
+And just as Mrs. Shaddock was saying, "How tired you must be! I hope
+you have not walked all the way," Rose drew close to her, and said—
+
+"I am afraid you have been frightened. Is anything the matter?"
+
+"I have met some one who told me a very sad story," said Gertrude,
+meeting her sister's eyes, where in a moment came a startled look.
+
+"Who told you a sad story, dear Gertrude?" she asked breathlessly.
+
+A silence fell upon the whole group. That something had happened, every
+one saw.
+
+"You are worn out!" said Rose. "Come in here and tell us. Mrs.
+Shaddock, may I give my sister some tea?"
+
+The rest followed the sisters into the dining-room, while Mollie poured
+out some tea, and Rose put Gertrude into an arm-chair.
+
+"I want to tell you all!" she exclaimed, looking up at the eager faces,
+"but I am bound over to tell only one person at present. Dearest Rose!
+Can you bear to hear that I believe I have found a clue which will lead
+us to little Lester. But, Rose, darling, he is not very well—not very
+strong—"
+
+Rose's eyes were like burning coals as they tried to take in the
+meaning of her sister's words.
+
+"He is not—not dead?" she exclaimed.
+
+"No—no, but ill. I must not say more. Oh, how I wish I could! But the
+woman will let me by and by. I feel sure. Dear Mrs. Shaddock, forgive
+me, but if I had made any objection to her terms, I might have lost
+little Lester altogether!"
+
+"Do not be distressed on our account," said Mrs. Shaddock, heartily;
+"surely we can wait, when such a joy has come to you both!"
+
+"Ah! But it is not all joy," said Gertrude, remembering what had to be
+told to that sorrowful mother, of the cruel trick and its consequences.
+
+And then, looking up to thank Mrs. Shaddock, she found that they were
+all leaving the room, and she and Rose were alone.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+CHAPTER XXIX.
+
+AT LAST.
+
+"GERTRUDE! Where is he?"
+
+Left with her sister by the kind thought of their hostess, Gertrude
+tried hard to recover her firmness. To have such a joyful piece of news
+in her possession as that little Lester was found, and then to have to
+tell that poor mother that her darling had almost better be dead; how
+could she say it?
+
+"Dearest Rose, it is a very sad story, and I want to prepare you for a
+great blow—and yet I cannot do it as I would."
+
+"Oh, do not keep me in suspense!" exclaimed Rose. "Tell me the worst at
+once; I can bear anything better than this. If Lester is indeed found,
+what do I want more?"
+
+"Rose," said Gertrude earnestly, "you will have a great wrong to
+forgive—a greater wrong than you can picture—and yet—yet—you will
+forgive it when you realize the sorrow they have gone through."
+
+But what was so plain to Gertrude was all an enigma to poor Rose. Her
+expectant look was so imploring that her sister knew not what to say.
+
+"Tell me all," said Rose; "hide nothing."
+
+"Little Lester is, I believe, found, dear Rose, but through—through a
+sad accident, his mind is affected."
+
+"What?" exclaimed Rose, her eyes dilated with horror. "Where—where?"
+
+"Very near us," said Gertrude tenderly. "If you think you can command
+yourself, and bear what has to be borne bravely, I will take you to
+him, Rose."
+
+Her sister looked round mechanically for her bonnet, then left the room
+hurriedly to seek it.
+
+Gertrude hastened to the drawing-room, where she found the whole family
+waiting, almost breathlessly, having heard the opening door, and Mrs.
+Leigh running up-stairs.
+
+"I must hardly tell you a word," said Gertrude, "but I believe I have
+found her little boy. Do not ask me, for I may not answer! We will come
+back as soon as we can. Oh, how kind you all are!"
+
+She heard her sister returning down-stairs, and with an apologetic look
+she joined her in the hall, and they left the house together.
+
+"Where?" asked Rose, turning to her as they got to the gate. "Not—no,
+it is not next door, after all!"
+
+"Rose," said Gertrude, taking her trembling hand, "I must not take you
+till you are calm. When we remember, that if we find him, it will be
+all our Father's doing, that ought to calm us."
+
+Rose pressed her hand, and walked on with her slowly and steadily,
+entering the garden of the Strange House and walking up to the door
+without the agitation which had made Gertrude so anxious about the
+coming interview.
+
+They rang the bell, and there was a long pause. Gertrude's heart almost
+failed her, lest the woman should repent her bargain. But then she
+thought of the earnest promise she had given; she thought again of her
+great Helper, and took courage.
+
+"Will they let us in?" whispered Rose.
+
+"I think so; she said she would."
+
+"Who is she? Is it the landlady?"
+
+"Yes, dearest! She has suffered terribly for what she did; you will
+pity her by and by."
+
+"Ring again, Gertrude," said Rose. "How can I bear it?"
+
+But even as she spoke the door opened, and the woman stood within, cold
+and silent.
+
+"I have brought my sister," said Gertrude, putting her hand on her arm.
+
+"Have you told her?" asked the woman abruptly.
+
+"Some of it; I have not had time for all."
+
+"Will she ever forgive me? Does she forgive me?"
+
+"I am sure she will by and by. You remember she wants to see little
+Lester now; she has not seen him for two whole years."
+
+The woman turned slowly, and holding the flickering candle in her hand,
+led the way up the uncarpeted stairs to the very top, where she went
+through an open door, the sisters following her with beating hearts.
+
+"He is very poorly," said the woman, in a smothered voice, as she set
+the candle down and went to the little crib in the corner.
+
+All was scrupulously clean. The coverlet as white as snow, the sheets
+fresh and spotless.
+
+Rose took it all in, but as the woman drew aside the coverings, the
+little form brought to view was not what she had expected.
+
+There were the bright golden curls lying on the pillow, but the little
+face which she had pictured day and night since she lost him was quite
+different and altered.
+
+A tiny shrunken face now, with closed eyes.
+
+"Lester!" said Rose, in the cooing tone one would use to a half-waking
+baby. "Lester, here is mother come back!"
+
+The child stirred and opened his eyes dreamily.
+
+"Will you come on my lap, Lester?" she said, bending over him and
+kissing his cheek lightly, thinking not of herself but of him. "Will
+you come, Lester?"
+
+As she held out her arms, the child seemed to understand, and held out
+his. But before they reached her neck, they fell back weakly, and he
+remained with his eyes fixed on her face.
+
+She raised him up tenderly, and lifted him to the fireside, her heart
+failing her as she perceived that he was nothing but skin and bone.
+
+His little head lay on her breast. At last! At last! But not an answer
+could she get from his little pale lips, not a glance of intelligence
+from his quiet blue eyes.
+
+Gertrude stood by, and the woman stood by, their tears dropping one
+after another unheeded down their cheeks, while Rose seemed to see
+nothing, hear nothing, besides her child. She rocked him backwards
+and forwards, she kissed him softly, she smoothed his silky hair, she
+held his emaciated hand in hers, and ever and anon she said, as if to
+herself, "Lord, I thank Thee—I thank Thee—that I have him again. My
+little Lester, my little Lester!"
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+CHAPTER XXX.
+
+WRAPPED IN A CLOAK.
+
+THE first time Rose appeared conscious of the presence of any one else
+in the room, was after what seemed to the woman and Gertrude a very
+long time.
+
+She had been bending over her child examining his thin little limbs,
+seemingly trying to reconcile facts which were so contrary to her
+remembrance; apparently the joy of having him in her arms again had
+swept away all else.
+
+At last she raised her eyes to the woman, and spoke to her for the
+first time, still with a far-away look that had no realization of what
+all the present circumstances implied. She had got her child, as yet
+that was everything.
+
+"How long has he been ill like this?" she asked.
+
+"Nearly two years," the woman replied, in a low tone.
+
+"And I never knew," said Rose dreamily. "Gertrude, he ought to have a
+doctor."
+
+"Yes," said Gertrude, quickly wiping away her tears, and coming nearer.
+
+"Let us send for one," said Rose.
+
+But then her eyes caught the woman's shrinking look, and for a moment
+there was a breathless pause.
+
+"I see," said Rose slowly, rising with a dignified gesture. "My sister
+said I should have much to forgive. I did not understand her; I do not
+think I do now. But all I know is that I have my child again. I will
+take him away now. You have restored me my child, for that I thank you
+with all my heart. For whatever else, I pray God that I may forgive you
+when I understand it. To-night I can understand nothing."
+
+She moved from her chair, holding little Lester easily in her arms,
+then looking round for some covering, she took from her sister's hand
+the cloak she had thrown off on her entrance into the room, and wrapped
+it tenderly round her child.
+
+"But, dear Rose—" began Gertrude.
+
+"Do not hinder me," she said pathetically. "I have got Lester, nothing
+else matters!"
+
+She went swiftly to the door and began descending the stairs, the woman
+hastening to the landing to light her steps.
+
+"Good-bye!" said Gertrude, pressing the woman's hand, as she quickly
+prepared to follow her sister. "I will come to see you to-morrow. Oh,
+thank you, thank you for letting me bring her! If you could only guess
+what we feel!"
+
+"I'll love you for ever!" said the woman, weeping. "If I could do
+anything for you!"
+
+"Would you do it if I asked you?" said Gertrude eagerly.
+
+"Indeed, indeed I would!"
+
+"Then let me tell just my nearest friends about this. If you would do
+that, it would be the kindest thing you could do now."
+
+"To let it be in the papers to-morrow morning," said the woman. "I
+can't do that."
+
+"No—no, indeed; only ourselves. Oh, do let me!"
+
+For a moment there was a pause, then the woman let go her hand
+suddenly, and set the candle down on a box.
+
+They could hear Rose's steps had reached the hall, and Gertrude must go.
+
+"I owe you everything—everything; you may do what you like! I know you
+will do nothing but what is right."
+
+She turned into the desolate room, and Gertrude sped down-stairs.
+
+There stood Rose, leaning against the banisters for support.
+
+"How can we get out?" she asked hurriedly. "She will not stop us, will
+she?"
+
+"I do not think so—oh no. But see, I believe we can open this from the
+inside."
+
+While she fumbled at the lock with trembling fingers, they heard steps
+coming down the stairs, and saw the flickering light of a candle
+drawing nearer and nearer.
+
+"Oh, thank you!" exclaimed Gertrude, when the woman turned the last
+corner. "We do not know how to open this."
+
+The woman undid the fastenings in silence, but ere she opened the door,
+she turned to Rose with an appealing glance.
+
+"It's too soon to ask you, even if you ever can. But, ma'am, if ever
+you are able to say the word 'forgive,' it would be the most blessed
+word that my sad heart could hear. I don't ask you for it to-day, but
+if ever you can—"
+
+Rose looked up in the woman's eyes, then she looked on the little form
+in her arms which she was clasping to her bosom so tenderly.
+
+"I did love him and do all I could for him," whispered the woman; "all
+but giving him back to you,—and now you've got him."
+
+"Yes, I have got him," said Rose, still looking into those sorrowful
+eyes; "and I—" She waited as if thinking how far her words might be
+true, then added impulsively, "If it will comfort you, if it will show
+my thankfulness to my Lord who has heard my prayer, I will say it now—I
+do, yes, I do forgive you!"
+
+Then she turned and went through the hall door and stood out under the
+starlight with her burden in her arms. The door closed behind them,
+shutting in a sound of weeping, and then the sisters paused, looking at
+each other.
+
+"Hasten to Mrs. Shaddock's," exclaimed Rose, as if waking up to her
+natural self. "Ask her if I may bring Lester in, but I know I may. I
+must, till we can decide. I am sure they will not refuse."
+
+They hurried on, and in another minute were standing once more in the
+lighted hall, with that muffled bundle in the agitated mother's aching
+arms.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+CHAPTER XXXI.
+
+ANOTHER PROMISE.
+
+AT the slight bustle of their arrival, Mrs. Shaddock came to the
+dining-room door, and when she saw them, she exclaimed joyfully—
+
+"You have never got him?"
+
+But Rose's face was an answer, while Gertrude said, in a low, broken
+voice, which they would hardly have known to be hers, "We have got the
+shadow of what he was."
+
+Mrs. Shaddock said not another word, but led Rose into the bright warm
+dining-room, placing her in an arm-chair, the rest following in silence.
+
+Mr. Shaddock had returned from town, and when Gertrude saw him, she
+went up to him at once.
+
+"Mr. Shaddock, it is a terrible story, but if I tell it to you, no
+indignation—nothing—can justify any one in making the thing known
+without our permission. We have only got our darling back on those
+terms."
+
+She looked in his face appealingly. What if some stranger, who was
+bound by no promise, should take the matter up?
+
+"You may trust me, but what has happened?" asked Mr. Shaddock.
+
+While the rest gathered round Mrs. Leigh, too anxious to see her little
+boy to care, just then, to ask any questions.
+
+Gertrude gave him a few particulars, and then both followed the others
+to where Rose sat caressing her little boy, and trying to coax him to
+reply to her endearments.
+
+"'Why' does he not speak to me?" she asked at last piteously, meeting
+Gertrude's eyes.
+
+"He has been frightened," said her sister gently; "perhaps if we have
+first-rate advice—"
+
+"Frightened?" asked Rose. "Who—who could be so cruel—not Mrs. Swift?"
+
+"No, dear Rose; it was a playful trick of her poor little boy."
+
+"Poor?" echoed Rose sternly. "No wonder she asked me to forgive her!"
+
+"And you did, darling," said Gertrude, kneeling down by her and
+smoothing Lester's golden curls. "You will not take it back now! It was
+not Mrs. Swift's fault—not that—"
+
+"But Johnnie—that was his name, I remember now—where is Johnnie, who
+frightened my little Lester?" She laid her hand on Gertrude's shoulder,
+as if to impress her words.
+
+And Gertrude, just fresh from Johnnie's grave and the woman's grief and
+repentance, could find no voice to answer. She only looked in little
+Lester's face and tried to think of suitable words.
+
+"Where is he?" reiterated Rose.
+
+"He is dead."
+
+"Dead!"
+
+"I have been at his grave to-night," said Gertrude. "If poor little
+broken-hearted Johnnie had not been dead, nothing on earth would have
+drawn your secret from the woman's lips. Little dead Johnnie has given
+you back your child!"
+
+Rose's eyes fell, and as her glance once more rested on her child, the
+hard look which had for a moment clouded her sweet face passed away.
+
+"Oh, forgive me!" she said, bending down to her child's face. "And
+little Johnnie is dead, and I have you still—"
+
+Mr. and Mrs. Shaddock signed to the rest to follow them from the room,
+so that Mrs. Leigh might have time to recover from the shocks of the
+last hour. And Gertrude, seeing their kind intention, went with them,
+and was soon explaining all the circumstances to a breathless audience
+in the drawing-room.
+
+"But the child looks dying," said Mrs. Shaddock at last. "Can nothing
+be done for it?"
+
+"I hardly know," said Gertrude. "But, dear Mrs. Shaddock, I feel
+ashamed to trouble you—but my sister is not usually distracted like
+this—but if you could lend us a warm shawl, we will drive to the
+nearest hotel, and put him to bed. Can you tell me which to go to?—And
+may one of the maids get a cab?"
+
+"You shall not go out again to-night!" exclaimed Mrs. Shaddock,
+appealing to her husband. "We could not allow it, could we?"
+
+"No, indeed," he answered heartily.
+
+"I will go and prepare his bed at once," said Mrs. Shaddock, rising.
+
+"Oh, mother, let me help!" exclaimed Mollie.
+
+"And you, Daisy," said Mrs. Shaddock, turning at the door, "go and ask
+cook to make a little bread-and-milk quickly, and carry it to Mrs.
+Leigh, for the little boy. Oh, to think we should have the pleasure of
+doing anything for such sufferers!"
+
+Her eyes were tearful as she hastened away, and Gertrude thought that
+she had not given her credit for so much heart.
+
+Daisy sped on her errand, and waited while the order was carried out.
+After two or three minutes she came up again, bearing the cup in her
+hand.
+
+And just as she was hesitating at the dining-room door, Conway came
+across and opened it for her with an encouraging "Go in, Daisy; she
+won't bite your head off," which reassured her very much.
+
+Mrs. Leigh sat in the same position as before, but she had thrown off
+her bonnet, and was now chafing her little boy's feet at the fire,
+while traces of tears were on her cheeks.
+
+"This is for little Lester," said Daisy, advancing shyly; "perhaps it
+will help to make him warm."
+
+"Thank you, dear," said Rose, taking it from her hand.
+
+Daisy did not know whether she ought to withdraw, but Mrs. Leigh's next
+words showed that her presence was welcome.
+
+"Hold the cup while I put some in his mouth, dear. He was never like
+this in the old days. But they frightened him—my dear little boy. By
+and by, when he begins to remember mother, he will not be frightened
+any more!"
+
+She addressed the last words to the child, and he opened his quiet eyes
+and looked in her face. Then as he perceived the spoon held to him, he
+mechanically moved his mouth to receive the food.
+
+"See, he understood me!" exclaimed Mrs. Leigh joyfully.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+CHAPTER XXXII.
+
+A VIGIL.
+
+THE little one took but a few mouthfuls, and then seemed to tire of the
+food his mother was so eager to give him.
+
+"He has not eaten much, has he?" she said to Daisy, who was looking on
+earnestly.
+
+"Not very much," answered Daisy, "but, you see, it is all strange here.
+To-morrow, perhaps, he will know us better."
+
+Mrs. Leigh seemed lost in thought. "Where is Gertrude?" she asked at
+last.
+
+"She is helping mother and Mollie to get a bed for him. It is nearly
+ready now, I should think."
+
+"I am afraid I ought not to let you take all this trouble," said Mrs.
+Leigh. "But—how can I bear to take him out in the cold?"
+
+"Of course not," said Daisy simply. "Mother said so, and so did father."
+
+"I am afraid he is very ill, dear?" she asked appealingly. "His feet
+are so thin, and his hands—and so he is all over; nothing is the same
+but his eyes and his hair, and even his eyes do not look at me as they
+used."
+
+Daisy could not answer. She had heard a few words of Gertrude's
+description, and she feared, from her mother's looks of dismay, that
+the child's condition was far more serious than Mrs. Leigh supposed.
+
+"Shall I fetch Miss Ashlyn?" she asked in reply.
+
+"Ah, do, please, dear!" said Mrs. Leigh.
+
+She busied herself over her child again till Gertrude came in.
+
+"Ought we not to telegraph to Fritz?" she asked at once. "Poor Fritz!
+To think he does not know!"
+
+"I have been thinking so," said Gertrude. "What shall we say, Rose?"
+
+"Tell him he is found!" said Rose.
+
+"Shall I say he is ill?" questioned Gertrude, gently.
+
+"It is hardly worth while," answered Rose; "he will come directly, if
+he can."
+
+Gertrude was silent. She could not let her brother-in-law have the joy
+without suspecting the sorrow. So she went back to Mr. Shaddock.
+
+"My sister does not seem to take it in yet," she said, after she had
+told him about the telegram, "but I must tell Mr. Leigh cautiously—he
+is not very strong. I fear it will be a dreadful shock."
+
+So together they framed a message which they hoped would convey their
+meaning, and then Gertrude went back to her sister to say that the room
+which had been prepared for her was ready.
+
+Rose got up at once, and with her precious charge followed her sister
+up-stairs.
+
+On the landing stood Mrs. Shaddock and Mollie, who led the way into the
+spare room, where a bright fire gleamed.
+
+"We have warmed the bed," said Mrs. Shaddock. "Dear little man, I long
+for him to be in it!"
+
+Rose accepted it all in silence, laying her little boy in the soft,
+white sheets, and hovering over him in the luxury of having him once
+more to tend.
+
+"Lester!" she said, in her soft tone. "Shall I say your little prayer
+as I used?"
+
+She knelt down by the bed, and laid her cheek upon his little hand,
+whispering the childish requests which for two long years had not been
+on her lips, and then, kissing him tenderly, she covered him up and
+moved towards the fire.
+
+Mrs. Shaddock and Gertrude were standing there waiting; Mollie had gone
+behind the curtain, and was crying quietly, as if her heart would break.
+
+"I think I will go to bed," said Mrs. Leigh, dreamily. "I feel tired,
+somehow. Will you think me very ungrateful if I retire now?"
+
+"Not at all," said Mrs. Shaddock; "your sister will help you, and will
+bring you some tea if you will allow her."
+
+"Will you kiss me?" asked Rose. "I do not know how to thank you.
+To-morrow I hope I may be able."
+
+Mrs. Shaddock bent over her and gave her the desired kiss, and then
+quickly left the room, signing to Mollie to come too.
+
+And thus the eventful day closed for the poor young mother.
+
+She laid her head on the soft pillow, put her hand out to her child's,
+and fell at once into a profound and dreamless slumber.
+
+It was midnight when the striking of the clock on the staircase roused
+her with its unaccustomed sound.
+
+She sat up in bed, and saw Gertrude reading by the light of a shaded
+lamp beside the fire.
+
+"Dear Gertrude!" she said, in a wondering tone. "Is it not very late?"
+
+"Yes, dearest, but I am not tired. Do you want anything? See! Here is
+your supper all waiting for you. May I bring it to you?"
+
+Rose took the plate in her hand. But after a moment or two she said, in
+her usual natural tone, "Gertrude, I seem as if I had been dreaming,
+but it is not a dream that I have my little Lester. And yet, Gertrude,
+I wish it could be a dream, that—that—all that has happened!"
+
+She hid her face in her hands.
+
+"Dearest Rose, He who has found our darling will help us to bear all
+His will. He will make some way of escape for us!"
+
+"Ah, yes!" she said. "I know that. But oh, what will Fritz say when
+the little one does not know him? For me it does not so much matter,
+because I have him again. But poor Fritz—poor Fritz! Besides, I can
+trust my Lord even in this, but Fritz, he does not know what that
+means."
+
+"Good will come out of it," said Gertrude; "this has been so wonderful
+that I am sure of that."
+
+She went round the bed, and bent over the sleeping child.
+
+"I think we ought to give him some more food, Rose. Mrs. Shaddock says
+he should be fed every two hours. It was for that I stayed up."
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+CHAPTER XXXIII.
+
+"FRITZ IS COMING."
+
+ROSE sprang out of bed at once. She had quite come back to her old self.
+
+She threw her cloak round her, and went to her child's side.
+
+She raised his head and again tenderly fed him. But though he opened
+his mouth obediently, he did not respond to her love and attentions in
+any other way.
+
+Gertrude saw that now her sister was beginning to realize what in her
+joy at having her child again she had not noticed. But except for a
+little firm-set look about her sweet lips, she made no sign that as the
+shock passed away, so the certainty of continued sorrow grew upon her.
+
+When the little one turned away his head from the food, his mother
+covered him up again and went back to the fire, Gertrude following in
+silence.
+
+"Go to bed, darling!" said Rose, stroking her pale cheek tenderly. "I
+will sit up now."
+
+"Not all the time? You will need your strength so much to-morrow."
+
+"Yes," said Rose quietly, "I shall. But I must watch by him, Gertrude.
+Besides, I have to think what we must do."
+
+"We need do nothing till we hear from Fritz."
+
+"No—at least if you think these kind people will allow us to stay here
+till then."
+
+"I am sure they will. Nothing could be more hearty than they have been."
+
+"I shall rest here, dear Gertrude, till the morning; I shall have time
+to think. Go to bed now."
+
+Early the next morning there was a knock at Gertrude's door, and she
+started up with a strange impression of not knowing where she was, or
+what had happened.
+
+But in a moment it all came back to her. Lester was found! But—but—
+
+"Miss Ashlyn," said Daisy's quiet little voice, "mother has sent me
+to call you; she thought perhaps you might not wake, as you sat up so
+late."
+
+"Oh, thank you, dear!"
+
+"Here is a telegram come—" said Daisy.
+
+Just as she spoke, Mrs. Leigh came up from her room and entered behind
+her.
+
+As Gertrude glanced at her, she saw that she was her quiet self.
+
+She took the telegram in her hand, and stooping to kiss Daisy's
+upturned face, she said—
+
+"Would you like to stay with Lester while I read this, dear?"
+
+The child ran off joyfully, and Rose tore open the envelope. The words
+ran—
+
+   "'Shall be with you by six o'clock this evening.'"
+
+"Fritz is coming! Oh, Gertrude!"
+
+She stood silently holding the pink paper in her hand, as if in deep
+thought.
+
+"He will come here then?" questioned Gertrude.
+
+"Yes—I suppose you gave no other address. He will have started from
+Carlisle ere this, so it is of no use to telegraph back. Besides, I
+have no other address to give him."
+
+"We will consult Mrs. Shaddock after breakfast," said Gertrude.
+
+But no consultation was necessary. When Mrs. Leigh appeared in the
+dining-room, leaving Gertrude in charge of her little nephew, Mr.
+Shaddock came forward to meet her, and taking both her hands welcomed
+her heartily, telling her at once that they should not hear of her
+leaving the house for two or three days, in fact till her plans were
+quite formed, and that he should feel positively hurt if she and Mr.
+Leigh did not feel quite free to come and go as if the house were their
+own.
+
+Rose turned white with emotion and tried to answer, but her quivering
+lips would not get out more than a very broken "thank you." And she sat
+down where they placed her, trying to recover herself, but feeling as
+if to have a good cry was the only thing she could do.
+
+Mr. Shaddock seemed, however, quite to understand, and supplied her
+with an egg, while Mollie poured out some coffee, and the rest watched
+for opportunities of being of use.
+
+"Where is Miss Ashlyn?" asked Hugh.
+
+"She is sitting with Lester," said Mrs. Shaddock, "and Daisy shall take
+her some breakfast."
+
+"Shall we have school to-day?" asked Randall. "I'm sure I hope not."
+
+"No," answered his mother. "Miss Ashlyn will be busy with her sister."
+
+"That's a good thing!" said Randall.
+
+While Daisy looked shocked, and said reproachfully, "I am sure,
+Randall, you need not talk so, Miss Ashlyn makes school very
+interesting."
+
+Mrs. Leigh looked up now. "Do not allow my being here to interrupt
+lessons," she entreated. "I cannot but accept your great kindness—but
+it would indeed be a pity to make any difference."
+
+"Miss Ashlyn will say what she thinks best," suggested Mollie, which
+was decidedly nice of her, as she was longing to throw her influence
+into the scale of a holiday.
+
+"Yes," assented Mrs. Shaddock; "we will ask her."
+
+And when Gertrude was asked, as Mollie expected, she begged that
+lessons might proceed as usual for the morning, offering, however, to
+give a holiday in the afternoon if Mrs. Shaddock approved.
+
+"Then we can sit with little Lester!" said Daisy.
+
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+CHAPTER XXXIV.
+
+SET TO WORK.
+
+IT seemed a long morning to all concerned, if the truth must be told,
+to all at any rate but Mrs. Leigh, who found absorbing employment in
+ministering to the wants of her darling.
+
+At length school was over, and the children were released.
+
+"Oh, may we go?" exclaimed Mollie. "I do want to see little Lester so
+much!"
+
+Gertrude consented at once, hoping, however, that Randall would make
+himself an exception.
+
+But he had no such intention; curiosity overcame everything else, and
+he ran on tiptoe with the others across the landing to Mrs. Leigh's
+room.
+
+"Are we too many?" whispered Mollie, when, after her low tap, Mrs.
+Leigh came to the door.
+
+"Come in, dears," was her ready response. "I know, after all your
+thoughtfulness for us, that you will be longing to see my little
+Lester."
+
+The children advanced, Randall pushing in front of the others, so as to
+be able to see well; Hugh, who was kept at home by a cold, and was with
+the others, hardly getting a place at all.
+
+"Come here, Hugh," said Gertrude softly; "this chair will bring you
+close to Lester's pillow. You can stand here."
+
+The little boy looked up gratefully. Rose was uncovering her child, and
+showing them his bright, golden curls.
+
+"Can't he be dressed?" asked Randall.
+
+"He has no clothes," said Mrs. Leigh, smiling a little. Then her face
+resumed its quiet, grave expression as she added, "But I am afraid he
+has hardly strength just yet."
+
+"We have heaps of Randall's clothes up-stairs," said Mollie. "I shall
+ask mother if he could not have some of those."
+
+"Do not trouble her, thank you, dear," said Rose. "I can easily get
+some when I can go to a shop. He will do very well till the doctor has
+seen him."
+
+Mrs. Shaddock, however, had been before any of them in her thought for
+the little stranger under her roof. She came in at the moment, followed
+by nurse bearing a heap of dainty clothes, which a few years ago had
+adorned her youngest boy.
+
+"You are entirely welcome to these!" she exclaimed. "I have no use for
+them at all. I believe I ought to have given them away long ago, but
+you see I never have."
+
+But when she bent over little Lester, her manner changed, and she added
+gently—"Perhaps it would be kinder not to disturb him with clothes and
+fussing at present. What do you think, nurse?"
+
+Nurse was entirely agreed. "Let him be, ma'am, and give him as much
+nourishment as he is able to take," was her advice.
+
+The little clothes were folded together in a drawer, and no more was
+said about them.
+
+"Has he been out of bed yet?" asked Daisy shyly.
+
+"Only to be washed. Oh, he is so thin!" answered his mother, looking up
+at Gertrude. "I feel as if I could hardly wait till Fritz comes."
+
+"I am sure you must," said Gertrude, "but a few more hours will soon
+pass now, and perhaps Fritz may have some special doctor he wishes to
+consult."
+
+So Gertrude left the children with her sister, and put on her hat to
+make her promised visit to Mrs. Swift at the Strange House.
+
+She was quickly admitted, and the woman led the way into her kitchen
+without a word.
+
+"I have come," said Gertrude.
+
+"Yes, I knew you would. Have you any good news to tell me about the
+little boy? What does the doctor say?" she asked abruptly. She seemed
+as if she had strung herself up to ask those questions, for her lips
+looked dry and parched.
+
+"Not yet," answered Gertrude. "We are waiting for his father."
+
+The woman gave one of those gasps which Gertrude had noticed before,
+and then said hurriedly—
+
+"It seems funny to have kept him so long myself without a doctor, and
+now to be sorry that you are even waiting a single day! And yet I am,
+miss. I'm afraid whether the little dear is not dying!"
+
+Gertrude felt as if her blood grew cold to her finger-tips. But she
+answered after a moment quite calmly—
+
+"I hope not—I trust not. Our Heavenly Father, who has so lovingly given
+him back to us, will lead us straight on now."
+
+The woman glanced up with a faint smile. The first which she had seen
+on that woe-begone face, Gertrude thought.
+
+"Ah! What a thing it is to have God to trust!" she exclaimed. "Dear
+miss! I believe if I had had my Saviour to go to two years ago, this
+would never have happened."
+
+"I feel sure of that," answered Gertrude heartily. "Things will be
+different for you now, will they not?"
+
+The smile faded, but the woman answered steadily—
+
+"Yes, indeed, miss. But this is the last time you will see me. My
+husband says he cannot bear the house, and I am sure no more can I; so
+we have decided to go at once. You see, miss, we've got a little money
+coming in regularly, or we couldn't do it. We shall go somewhere where
+I can get to and from Johnnie's grave. That's all I care about now."
+
+Gertrude put her hand on the woman's arm gently.
+
+"Time will soften your sorrow," she said tenderly, "but there is
+something better for you than time. Jesus will soften your sorrow—nay,
+has He not already?—And will give you something to do for Him."
+
+"My working days are over," said the woman dejectedly; "I seem to have
+lived my life."
+
+"Yes, so you have, your past life. Now it is the new life you have
+to live; the life by faith in the Son of God, who loved you and gave
+Himself for you!"
+
+"Dear miss, I wish I could."
+
+"Ask Him, and He will show you how."
+
+"Now Johnnie and the little one are gone, I seem to have nothing to do!"
+
+"But there is your husband. There is everything to do for him, is there
+not?"
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+CHAPTER XXXV.
+
+OUTSIDE THE GREAT NORTHERN.
+
+WHILE Gertrude was away, Mrs. Leigh was surrounded by her audience of
+young people, who did not know how time passed in their interest in the
+beautiful young mother and her little invalid.
+
+"I cannot think how you can bear it all!" said Mollie, as they stood
+gazing at the little impassive face.
+
+"Do you really want to know, Mollie?" asked Mrs. Leigh, taking the tall
+girl's hand in hers.
+
+"Oh, I was only wondering. Some people can bear things better than
+others, I suppose."
+
+Mollie drew her hand away a little shyly.
+
+Mrs. Leigh did not reply, but continued to look down at her child
+thoughtfully.
+
+"I don't believe it is that," said Hugh in an undertone to Daisy. "Mrs.
+Leigh looks as if a breath would blow her away; it is not that she is
+stronger than most people."
+
+Daisy shook her head assentingly, but Rose had heard the remark, so she
+said—
+
+"It would be very wrong of me to take the credit to myself, Daisy. I
+could not bear it at all if it were not for looking up from moment
+to moment to Jesus. He is my refuge; were it not for Him I should be
+distracted."
+
+Hugh smiled brightly. In his own little difficulties he had found it
+the same. How wonderful it was that the Lord Jesus could be just the
+Friend for everybody!—he thought.
+
+When Gertrude came in from the Strange House, a telegraph boy was at
+the door, and handed in an envelope as the maid opened to her.
+
+"It is for my sister," she said, and ran up-stairs with it.
+
+"Fritz wants one of us to meet him at Euston," said Rose, when she had
+read it. "I cannot leave Lester. Will you go, Gertrude? Do you think
+Mrs. Shaddock would spare you?"
+
+"But he will be here half an hour after," objected Gertrude; "is it not
+almost a pity—"
+
+"Perhaps he wishes to hear all particulars before he gets here," said
+Rose. "At any rate, he says, 'Will Gertrude meet me, or you?' It is
+evident he wants one of us."
+
+So Mrs. Shaddock was again consulted. And soon Gertrude set off,
+Conway, who had just returned from school, volunteering to escort her
+if she wished.
+
+But she rightly guessed that her brother-in-law would prefer to hear
+all the sad story without a stranger being there, so she went alone.
+
+As she stood on the arrival platform of the great terminus, with the
+screaming whistles round her, the buzz of the coming and going trains,
+the roar of London outside, she felt as if the world of Hampstead and
+that quiet bedside were far-away and indistinct; as if she could hardly
+belong to both.
+
+She wondered vaguely what the next few hours would bring to her and her
+sister; what Fritz would decide about his invalid child; how he would
+bear the shock of her intelligence; and while she was thinking all
+this, she was conscious that the porters, who had been waiting about,
+suddenly seemed to be alert, the cabs made a move to draw up at the
+other side of the platform, and when she looked down the dim lines, two
+great eyes seemed to come creeping towards her, and in a moment the
+long train from the north was in the station.
+
+She stood back, almost bewildered, for in her quiet life at home she
+had never seen such confusion or bustle before.
+
+Where was her brother-in-law? Had he not come after all? She looked
+hopelessly up and down the emptying carriages, but no Fritz was
+emerging from them, that she could see.
+
+Then a hand was laid upon hers, and a voice said so like Fritz's that
+she thought it was his, and yet—no, it was not Fritz who said in that
+tone—
+
+"Gertrude! At last! Did you think we had not come?"
+
+"Otto!" she said.
+
+And then Fritz came hurrying up, too, followed by a porter with two
+portmanteaus.
+
+"I hoped you would come," said Fritz at once, "because Otto would have
+been so disappointed not to see you, and we must drop him at the Great
+Northern Hotel as we pass. I could not bring him on to Mrs. Shaddock's,
+could I?"
+
+"You 'could,'" said Gertrude, watching the portmanteaus being thrown on
+to the cab, and wondering what she ought to say. "But if you have made
+arrangements otherwise, perhaps it would be better. But they are the
+kindest people I ever saw."
+
+Otto was holding the cab door open; she got in, and in a moment they
+were off.
+
+"Tell me all!" said Fritz. "I felt as if I must bear it before I saw
+him. What is it?—What has happened to him?"
+
+Before Gertrude had said more than a few words, the cab drew up at the
+Great Northern, and Otto had come to his destination.
+
+"I cannot say good-bye yet," he exclaimed. "Have my luggage put in
+here, Fritz, and order our rooms. I will go on to Hampstead and come
+back again by and by."
+
+Fritz got out to give the desired order, and Gertrude and Otto looked
+after him.
+
+How well afterwards Gertrude remembered that ceaseless roar of
+omnibuses and cabs passing and repassing along the crowded street.
+
+"Gertrude," said Otto's voice, "can we not manage to go somewhere
+together to-morrow? I have one day in Town, and I feel as if I could
+not go home again without seeing you?"
+
+"I do not know, Otto. I cannot plan my own days now; already I feel I
+have run away from my pupils dreadfully."
+
+"Bring them with you," he said hastily; "we will go to the Kensington
+Museum, or somewhere, to-morrow afternoon. There will be the doctor in
+the morning. Oh, Gertrude! If you only knew—"
+
+Then Fritz came hurrying back and jumped into the cab, and they were
+off again.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+CHAPTER XXXVI.
+
+BY AND BY.
+
+BY the time the cab arrived at Hampstead, Fritz knew the extent of his
+grief—knew that his only son would not be able to welcome his father or
+respond to his love. Otto would not enter, but wished Gertrude farewell
+when she left the cab, and had himself driven back in it to his hotel,
+where his brother intended to join him later in the evening.
+
+Mrs. Shaddock met Mr. Leigh in the hall, and after a few words of
+kindly greeting, asked Gertrude to take her brother to his little boy's
+bedside.
+
+She led the way up-stairs and opened her sister's door, herself passing
+on to her own chamber; she felt as if she could bear no more.
+
+She did not know why, but the moment she was alone, she laid her head
+down on the window-sill and cried as if her heart would break. She
+thought she was crying over the sad scene that must be happening on
+the next floor; she pictured Rose's face as she uncovered their little
+Lester and showed what a shadow only was left of their bright darling;
+she pictured Fritz's anguish and indignation. But all the while, she
+wept with a nameless pain, as if for herself too, until she remembered
+that she would be expected down-stairs, and must not give way thus.
+
+This thought roused her, so taking off her bonnet and putting on some
+little evening adornment, she hastened to the dining-room, where she
+knew the whole family were just collecting for their late tea.
+
+On the stairs were her brother and sister, who explained that nurse had
+offered to stay with Lester, so they thought they would do well to join
+the family circle, and put aside their anxiety in deference to the kind
+wishes of their host and hostess.
+
+At tea the merits of various physicians were discussed, Mr. Shaddock
+recommending one of whom he had heard at his office, who had treated an
+analogous case most successfully.
+
+It was at last decided that Mr. Leigh should call in Harley Street on
+his way home to his hotel, and should if possible make an appointment
+for the morning with the physician, if he should advise little Lester's
+being brought to him.
+
+"And what am I to tell Otto?" he asked at last, when he rose to go.
+
+Gertrude had been dreading that question all the evening. How could she
+make Otto's proposition? And yet how could she refuse to do so?
+
+"My brother came up from Rugby with me yesterday," said Mr. Leigh,
+turning to Mrs. Shaddock, "and asks if you will allow Gertrude and some
+of your young people to visit the South Kensington Museum with him. He
+has never seen the Natural History collection yet, and if they would
+like to come, he would be so pleased."
+
+"I cannot come, because it is our 'at home' day," said Mollie. "Mother
+always wants me."
+
+"Would you like to go, Daisy?" asked Gertrude.
+
+"I should," said Randall; "it would be far nicer than school."
+
+"Thank you—" answered Daisy, hesitating, "if—I should 'like' it very
+much; Hugh and I have always wanted to go there."
+
+"I s'pose you wouldn't care to go without Hugh," said Randall, "but he
+ought not to miss school; he is always missing school for something or
+another!"
+
+"Oh, Randall!" exclaimed Daisy. "It is not his fault that he is not
+strong."
+
+Randall shrugged his little shoulders expressively; he was, however,
+too interested in the South Kensington plan to pursue the subject, so
+he asked—
+
+"Will you take me, Miss Ashlyn?"
+
+"Certainly, my dear, if your mother will let you go."
+
+Hugh's eyes were fixed on his mother's face, while his father was
+watching him unobserved.
+
+"To-morrow is your half-holiday, is it not, Hugh?" he asked.
+
+Hugh started and coloured. "Oh, I should like to go," he exclaimed,
+hesitating, "if Daisy is going, and if Miss Ashlyn does not mind."
+
+Randall was close to him, and nudged his arm now with a whispered
+comment, which, however, he did not hear.
+
+"What did you say?" he asked, as he received a second nudge.
+
+"Mother said you should have no treats nor anything because of your
+burning that five-pound note."
+
+Hugh crimsoned, and then, catching his father's eye, he went to his
+side.
+
+"Randall says I ought not to go because of that five-pound note."
+
+"That is forgiven," answered his father quietly; "do not trouble about
+Randall, my boy."
+
+Hugh raised his head, a light shining in his eyes.
+
+Gertrude was rapidly arranging times and trains with her
+brother-in-law, as he was anxious to be off. Then he ran up-stairs once
+more to kiss his newly-found child, and with a grateful adieu to the
+rest, he was gone.
+
+Rose remained with Lester; the boys were already busy down-stairs with
+their lessons; Daisy and Hugh hastened to their schoolroom to prepare
+theirs; and Gertrude, after a brief visit to her sister, sought them
+and settled down to lessons and work, feeling as if the last few days
+had been a dream.
+
+When Daisy rose to say good-night, she put her hand on Gertrude's
+shoulder: "Miss Ashlyn, Randall will love you by and by."
+
+"I hope so, dear."
+
+"I'm awfully sorry he is so disagreeable—but indeed if you go on being
+kind, he will by and by."
+
+"Yes, dear," she answered, "that is what I look for."
+
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+CHAPTER XXXVII.
+
+A NEW THOUGHT.
+
+IT was by the first post that Rose received a letter from her husband
+appointing to be with her at ten o'clock, bringing an easy carriage for
+their darling.
+
+The whole household could think of nothing else, and now Randall's
+dainty clothes, which he had grown out of a year or two back, were
+brought out, and Lester was taken from the bed and carefully dressed in
+them.
+
+Mrs. Leigh sat with him on her lap, her face very white and quiet, as
+each fresh thing done for her child made her realize more fully all he
+had lost.
+
+He passively suffered them to do what they would with him. But by the
+time the little outside coat had been buttoned up, his head dropped on
+his mother's shoulder, and he was tired out.
+
+Rose looked up at nurse beseechingly. "Ought I to have dressed him?"
+she asked anxiously.
+
+"It is hard to say, ma'am," nurse answered, "but another time I would
+not trouble about these last things, a shawl over all would have done
+as well."
+
+Then came the carriage, and Mr. Leigh was shut up in the dining-room
+with Mrs. Shaddock and Rose for what seemed a very long time, while
+Gertrude waited rather breathlessly up-stairs with the drooping child.
+
+At last they came out, Mrs. Shaddock wiping her eyes, and Mr. and Mrs.
+Leigh hastening up the stairs to where Gertrude sat, holding little
+Lester on her knee.
+
+In a moment more the young father came down carrying the little
+invalid, Rose and Gertrude following.
+
+"I can never, never thank you," said Rose, taking Mrs. Shaddock's hand.
+"Some day I hope we may come back and be able to do so better than
+to-day!"
+
+She nearly broke down, but, struggling for calmness, she bade a hasty
+adieu to the rest, and quickly got to the carriage, where already Fritz
+was seated.
+
+Gertrude went to the carriage-door, and kissed her sister through the
+open window.
+
+"Oh, how I wish you were going with me!" said Rose regretfully.
+
+"I could not, dearest; they have been so kind already. We shall meet
+this afternoon."
+
+"Yes, yes; good-bye till then."
+
+The carriage moved away, and Gertrude turned back to the house, wishing
+intensely that she could have gone to the physician's with them.
+
+Daisy and Mollie were waiting for her in the hall.
+
+"Miss Ashlyn, do tell us what makes mother cry. Does the physician give
+any hope? Mother does nothing but cry."
+
+"Go up-stairs, dears," answered Gertrude; "I will follow you in a
+moment. I expect your mother is rather upset with it all."
+
+She really felt great compunction when she saw Mrs. Shaddock sitting
+with her face buried in her hands.
+
+She advanced to her side and sat down by her, quietly drawing her white
+shawl over her shoulders, and said, in a soothing, comforting tone—
+
+"They got off very comfortably, thanks to all your kindness, dear Mrs.
+Shaddock. I hope that I may bring you a better account this evening."
+
+"Oh, that poor little mother's face!" said Mrs. Shaddock.
+
+"Rose?" questioned Gertrude.
+
+"Yes—if you could have seen her face when her husband was telling her
+what Dr. Blank said."
+
+"Did he give any opinion?" asked Gertrude eagerly.
+
+"Not on this case, of course," said Mrs. Shaddock, looking up, "but he
+gave a hope."
+
+Gertrude did not reply; this was almost more than she had dared to
+expect.
+
+"I could have wished that they might return here," Mrs. Shaddock went
+on, "but I can see that the distance is great, and that it will be well
+to be near Dr. Blank while things are not quite decided."
+
+Gertrude expressed again her earnest thanks for their hospitality, and
+then proposed that she should seek her pupils, and take up the lessons
+which had been so interrupted.
+
+"Do not worry over that," said Mrs. Shaddock; "their father says all
+this is the best education they could have."
+
+"Does he?" said Gertrude. "How very kind, and what a nice thought!"
+
+She had risen to go to her pupils, but Mrs. Shaddock seemed as if she
+could not bear to let her go.
+
+"Miss Ashlyn—my dear—your sister. I cannot forget your sister."
+
+"She will be better when all this is settled," said Gertrude
+consolingly.
+
+"Better?" echoed Mrs. Shaddock. "She could hardly be better! Her
+patience, her resignation, her trust—I never saw anything like it."
+
+"Yes, indeed it is," answered Gertrude heartily.
+
+She had become so accustomed to Rose's beautiful character that she had
+hardly noticed it.
+
+"You found me very upset," Mrs. Shaddock went on hesitatingly, and yet
+as if she must say it, "but she said something as we sat together last
+night, which made me feel different from anything I have ever felt
+before."
+
+Gertrude looked inquiringly at her.
+
+"I had just said to her, 'I never saw any one bear a trial such as this
+so bravely; I suppose you would say it is religion helps you, but I do
+not understand it.' And she answered, with such an earnest look, 'Mrs.
+Shaddock, it is not 'religion,' it is just Jesus! He is everything to
+me—everything!'"
+
+"What Rose said is the truth," answered Gertrude softly. "She would not
+have said it unless she had known it was true."
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+CHAPTER XXXVIII.
+
+IN THE MUSEUM.
+
+"AH! Here you are!" said Otto.
+
+There were Hugh, Daisy, and Randall, all eagerly peeping out of the
+train at Kensington.
+
+"Here is Mr. Leigh," exclaimed Randall, turning round to Gertrude. "You
+see he did not keep us waiting, did he?"
+
+This referred to a discussion Hugh and Daisy had carried on during the
+short journey, as to who would be at Kensington first.
+
+Otto helped them out of the carriage, and then pointed to the way out,
+telling the children not to get too far in front.
+
+"Randall, my dear, keep near me," said Gertrude; "you are 'mother's
+baby,' and must be taken care of!"
+
+She said it with a playful smile, but Randall did not respond
+pleasantly.
+
+"I can take care of myself," he said, with a shrug. "I don't want to be
+tied to girls' aprons!"
+
+He walked, however, just in front of her, close to the heels of his
+brother and sister, Otto and Gertrude bringing up the rear.
+
+"I will not tell you till we get out of these noisy streets," said
+Otto, "but I feel as if I had so many things to say, that I hardly know
+where to begin!"
+
+"I must not ask, then, whether they are back from Dr. Blank's?"
+
+"You may ask," he said, smiling, "but I shall not answer."
+
+"Then I had better not put the question," laughed Gertrude. "You are,
+however, cheerful to-day, Otto!"
+
+"That is because I am so glad to see you."
+
+"Are you? So am I glad, Otto. I never prized friends so much before."
+
+He had glanced up eagerly at the beginning of her answer, but as her
+voice took a more formal tone at the end, his eyes went back to the
+contemplation of the busy traffic.
+
+"I should be sorry to live in London," he said quietly.
+
+"So should I, unless—"
+
+"Unless?" he asked, rather eagerly.
+
+"Unless those I loved had to live here; of course that makes such a
+difference."
+
+"Yes," he said.
+
+They came now to the Museum, and here the children turned to them,
+asking what they were to see first, and which way was it to go?
+
+They were all so inexperienced that Otto told them they had better walk
+straight on for a little while, keeping their eyes open meanwhile.
+
+"Above all things, do not let us get separated," said Gertrude. "Keep
+close to us, Hugh and Daisy. Will Randall like to be with you or with
+me?"
+
+"We will take him," said Daisy.
+
+"Yes, I'll go with them," said Randall.
+
+They soon came to the large Hall, and here Otto proposed to sit down,
+while the children walked about examining the various objects of
+interest.
+
+He found a seat for Gertrude, and when some one moved away, he sat down
+beside her.
+
+"May I ask now?" she said. "Oh, Otto, do tell me!"
+
+"They have been, Gertrude! Dr. Blank has examined little Lester
+thoroughly."
+
+"And he says—"
+
+"That time, and care, and love 'may' restore him."
+
+"Oh, Otto! How thankful I am."
+
+"He says that one-room-business of Mrs. Swift's would soon have
+finished the story. But now, he hopes with plenty of sunshine, and sea
+air, and patience—Gertrude, he says he will need infinite patience."
+
+"Rose can give that."
+
+"Yes, no one better, unless it were you."
+
+"I? I should not be half as patient as Rose! Besides, she is his
+mother."
+
+"Oh, yes; that makes a great difference, of course."
+
+"Are they going home?"
+
+"Not for a few days."
+
+Gertrude sighed with relief. Then she might see Rose once more perhaps.
+
+"You are not happy here, Gertrude, are you?" asked Otto, suddenly
+turning and looking her in the face.
+
+"I was, oh, as happy as I could be away from you all, till this about
+Lester happened. That has unsettled me, I think. Why do you ask, Otto?
+I do not look unhappy, do I?"
+
+"You look different," he said consideringly. "Yes, as I thought, not so
+happy."
+
+"I shall feel all right again directly all this is settled, Otto. You
+can hardly believe all I have gone through."
+
+He was silent, his eyes following the three children as they slowly
+walked round the large room, coming nearer and nearer.
+
+"It is hard sometimes to square one's wishes with one's possibilities,"
+he said at length.
+
+"Very," she answered; "that is where discipline comes in, Otto. Like my
+text this morning, 'Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?'"
+
+"Was that your text, dear Gertrude? What did you answer?"
+
+"I asked that whatever He pointed out for me to do, I might do
+willingly."
+
+"Ah! That speaks to me."
+
+"Does it not speak to all of us?"
+
+The children had reached them now.
+
+"May we go into the next room?" asked Randall.
+
+"We will come too," said Gertrude, rising.
+
+"There's no need," said Randall, "but you can do as you like, Miss
+Ashlyn. I wish Mr. Leigh would come and explain this old furniture to
+us."
+
+"So I will," said Otto readily. "Gertrude, sit still and rest till I
+come back."
+
+He went off with them. And Gertrude sat down again and thought over the
+conversation which had just passed, wondering at Otto's manner, which
+had constraint in it which she had not remembered at home.
+
+Then once more, she thought of her text as settling all wonderings, and
+giving quiet and peace in the midst of every circumstance.
+
+"Lord, what wilt 'Thou' have me to do?" And in that will and that Lord,
+she took refuge and found her rest.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+CHAPTER XXXIX.
+
+HIDING.
+
+THE time seemed to her rather long before she saw Otto's thin face
+coming back through the doorway.
+
+He was closely followed by Daisy and Hugh, and came up to her at once,
+surprise in his tone as he inquired—
+
+"Where is Randall? Is he not with you?"
+
+"With me?" echoed Gertrude, starting up. "No, he has not been with me
+at all. He went off with you, Otto."
+
+"He was with me, but he asked if he might find you. And I brought him
+to the doorway and pointed you out, and left him. How very strange!"
+
+"I did not see either of you," said Gertrude, looking alarmed.
+
+"No—you were deeply meditating, and did not look up. Do not worry
+yourself, he'll be all right. Boys don't get run off with every—" He
+stopped short. He had touched too near home to their recent sorrow
+about Lester, to bear it yet.
+
+"At any rate," he added hastily, "he will be all safe. We must go and
+look for him."
+
+They quickly arranged a meeting-place, and Gertrude took Daisy with
+her, while Hugh volunteered to go with Mr. Leigh.
+
+But they wandered through the rooms, one after another, searching in
+every part fruitlessly, till they were utterly weary and footsore.
+
+Again and again they met, only to acknowledge that their search had
+been in vain.
+
+At length it grew dusk, and the Museum began to thin. People were
+leaving for their homes before the fresh accession would come in with
+the lights.
+
+Gertrude was worn out. She felt as if her feet would not carry her
+another step.
+
+"Did you ever know of his doing such a thing before?" she asked Daisy,
+as she sank on to a seat for an instant.
+
+"No—never," said poor Daisy, who could hardly keep back her tears. "He
+said this morning, 'I'm going to have a lark to-day, Daisy,' but I
+thought he meant coming to the Museum."
+
+"He meant to play us a trick," said Hugh decidedly; "at least I think
+so—he did say—don't you remember, Daisy?—that he would do something
+that really would tease Miss Ashlyn."
+
+Gertrude felt herself get hot from head to foot.
+
+"How can we go home and tell your mother?" she said piteously. "It is
+too dreadful. Otto, you have asked all the men at the doors to keep any
+little boy—"
+
+"Certainly I have. Not one has noticed such a child pass."
+
+"It makes it worse to think he could have been so cruel as to play
+such a trick," said Gertrude. "We must stay here, Otto, till the place
+shuts, and you must go home and tell Mrs. Shaddock. It is too dreadful—"
+
+"Come, do not give up," said Otto cheerily, though he little liked the
+errand on which he was sent. "If Randall has done it for a trick, he
+will probably turn up all right. Anyway fretting will not mend it. He
+has had his wish and spoilt our day!"
+
+He left them regretfully, and made his way with all speed to Hampstead.
+
+It was, however, nearly an hour before he reached the Shaddocks'
+comfortable home.
+
+To picture the dismay which spread through the house at his story would
+be impossible. Mrs. Shaddock gave up her darling for lost. And Mr.
+Shaddock, between indignation and real apprehension, hardly knew what
+he was doing.
+
+He set off at once with Otto, feeling as if trains were a slow mode of
+travelling, when the heart had reached the end of the journey before
+the whistle had more than sounded!
+
+Hurriedly they retraced their steps through the warm and crowded rooms,
+till they reached the one where Otto had left Gertrude.
+
+There, in front of the anxious father's eyes, sat the group he had come
+to seek, Randall in the middle of them looking flushed and sullen, the
+rest white and weary.
+
+"You have found him?" asked Mr. Shaddock.
+
+"Where? How?"
+
+Gertrude looked up, her eyes tearful, her lips trembling.
+
+"We cannot well explain it here," she said in a low voice. "He came to
+us of his own accord. I believe he is beginning to be sorry."
+
+"Beginning to be sorry?" echoed Mr. Shaddock.
+
+"What can you mean?"
+
+He took Randall's hand in his, and turned towards the door.
+
+"How is this, my boy?"
+
+"They left me alone—I got lost," said Randall, whimpering.
+
+Hugh had joined his father on the other side, and heard the last words.
+
+"Father!" he began urgently.
+
+"Hush—I will hear all about it at home."
+
+Mr. Shaddock hurried them into the train, Gertrude and Otto following.
+
+"He thinks we carelessly let him get lost," said Gertrude. "What shall
+we do?"
+
+"Stick to the truth," said Otto. "How did you find him, Gertrude, after
+all?"
+
+"He was hiding somewhere," said Gertrude in a low voice. "Just before
+the place was lighted up, not long after you had gone, he sauntered up
+with his hands in his pockets and asked how we were getting on."
+
+"What did you do?" asked Otto, almost too astonished to speak.
+
+"I asked him where he had been, and told him what a fright he had given
+us all, and was just bidding him to sit down by me, when he gave a
+strange little glance at Hugh—gone in a moment—and then sat down by me,
+pushing his hand away from mine. Then I guessed that it was a trick."
+
+"Shameful!" said Otto indignantly.
+
+"It breaks my heart that he could—" said poor Gertrude.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+CHAPTER XL.
+
+RANDALL'S MISCHIEF.
+
+THE trains were crowded, so that in the bustle of getting a seat at
+all, Otto found himself almost pushed by the guard into a carriage
+where were Gertrude, Hugh, and Daisy, while Mr. Shaddock and Randall
+found room in a compartment farther down the train.
+
+"It was not my fault, one bit," Randall began, when they were off.
+"They ought not to have left me."
+
+Though Mr. Shaddock had not intended to discuss the subject with his
+little son, he was taken off his guard by the last words, and asked—
+
+"Who?"
+
+"Mr. Leigh and Miss Ashlyn."
+
+"Left you, how?"
+
+"Mr. Leigh said I could easily find her, and I went where he said, and
+she was not there. Then I got lost."
+
+"Why did you not speak to a policeman? You have always been told to do
+that. You would have saved us all this fright if you had."
+
+"I did not think of that," said Randall.
+
+Mr. Shaddock was looking out of the window in anxious thought.
+
+"Hugh always tries to get me into trouble—" began Randall, "and so does
+Miss Ashlyn."
+
+"Nonsense!" said his father.
+
+"I wish I hadn't gone with them," pouted Randall. "I haven't had any
+tea, and I am as tired as anything, hunting everywhere for them."
+
+"Well, you had better keep quiet now," said his father. "I do not
+understand it. But I dare say we shall hear it explained when they tell
+me all about it. How you can have escaped meeting all these hours I
+cannot conceive."
+
+Randall did not reply to that.
+
+And by and by the journey was over, and they got out of the train and
+walked up the hill under the starry sky.
+
+
+"When do you leave London?" asked Gertrude of Otto. She felt as if she
+knew nothing of his plans; for they had been separated at different
+ends of the railway carriage, and the search for Randall had taken up
+all the rest of the day.
+
+"That is not decided. I had much to tell you, but there is hardly time
+to even begin it! Gertrude, Dr. Blank asked me a number of questions
+about myself and my future."
+
+Gertrude felt startled. Again came that strange tone of constraint into
+Otto's voice.
+
+"He was interested in you?" she asked falteringly. She hardly knew what
+to say, or how to question him, unless he wished to tell her. Did he
+wish to tell her? That was what she asked herself.
+
+"I think he was, though why I cannot imagine. I told him of my long
+struggle with my medical studies, and what exams I had passed, and so
+forth, and then he told me a sea voyage would do me a world of good!"
+
+"A sea voyage!" echoed Gertrude.
+
+"Miss Ashlyn," said Hugh, turning back from where he was walking with
+his father, "I wish you would tell me about those constellations again."
+
+"Never mind now," said Mr. Shaddock, "let Miss Ashlyn have a moment's
+peace. The constellations will keep, that's one good thing."
+
+Hugh did not press the matter further, but contented himself with
+going back to Daisy and pointing out to her the Great Bear and the
+"Pointers," which was the greatest astronomical achievement of which he
+could boast at present.
+
+Gertrude had echoed Otto's words, "a sea voyage," but the announcement
+seemed in some inexplicable manner to darken her life, and make
+everything dreary. She managed, however, to force herself to say, "And
+you are going—you think it necessary?"
+
+"Yes, not so much for my health, though that has not been very good
+lately, but for my prospects—"
+
+"Will that improve them? Otto, you are holding something back; you have
+some news you do not like to tell me."
+
+Otto did not reply to that. But after a moment he added, "Dr. Blank has
+taken a sort of liking to me. I think he will try to push me on in my
+profession."
+
+Gertrude could not ask her question again, but she felt hopelessly that
+they were nearing their destination, and then Otto would say good-bye,
+and their day would be over.
+
+"Gertrude, I have promised to go for this voyage if—if you do not
+object."
+
+"I?" said Gertrude.
+
+"It is to accompany a patient of his, who needs care and supervision.
+It will be for a year."
+
+"And then?"
+
+"Then I shall come home!"
+
+Oh, the rest that seemed to come into his voice as he said that! They
+had reached the turning to the Shaddocks' house. Still Gertrude knew
+that Otto was withholding some of his thoughts. How could she bear to
+part from her friend thus? She thought of their friendship at home, of
+all his brotherliness, of their constant interchange of thoughts and
+ideas, and she felt it very hard to be constrained just as they must
+part.
+
+"I am going to see Dr. Blank again to-morrow, and shall have a long
+talk with him. He has asked me to spend Sunday at his country house.
+After that I shall see you again, and tell you all."
+
+"You will tell me all?" asked Gertrude, in a relieved tone.
+
+"All—both bad and good. I might have done so to-day, but for this
+child's doings. That has spoilt everything. Gertrude, you did not
+answer me? Shall I go for the voyage?"
+
+"Am I to be the arbiter of your fate?"
+
+He smiled a sunny smile, while Gertrude could have cried.
+
+"Ah, our future is in Better Hands," he answered gently, "but if you
+thought I ought not to go, for any reason, I will not go."
+
+"I know of no reason; if it will do your health good, it would be
+everything you could wish!"
+
+They had reached the steps. Already Mr. Shaddock had let himself in,
+and Hugh was holding the door open for them.
+
+"Now for Randall's mischief!" said Otto.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+CHAPTER XLI.
+
+TWO SIDES OF A STORY.
+
+WHEN they entered, Randall was already in his mother's arms, and Mrs.
+Shaddock was pouring out questions and condolences as fast as she could
+speak. Her 'at home' day had come to an unpleasant end, as she had felt
+too ill and pre-occupied to enjoy her guests.
+
+"However was it?" she was asking him.
+
+"Mr. Leigh and Miss Ashlyn were talking and I got lost," was his
+response.
+
+"They were not!" exclaimed Daisy, following him into the drawing-room.
+"Mollie, don't let mother think so—"
+
+Mollie shrugged her shoulders. "I do think it was awfully careless,"
+she said, "and has given mother a dreadful fright!"
+
+"He gave us a worse one," answered Daisy indignantly, "but Miss Ashlyn
+will explain all about it."
+
+"I don't care about explanations," said Mollie. "I should have thought
+between you, you could have looked after Randall. You know how things
+upset mother."
+
+Gertrude and Otto had spoken to Mr. Shaddock in the hall, and then Otto
+bade Gertrude farewell and went to the door.
+
+"I wish you could stay to see me through with this," she said with her
+hand on the latch, and her eyes raised to his.
+
+"I wish I could—but I am not asked—"
+
+"No, we are in disgrace," she said, "and that is very hard."
+
+"It will come out all right in the end. I must go, but I would give
+anything to stay—"
+
+And then she opened the door, and his light feet sprang down the steps,
+and he was gone.
+
+She went slowly into the dining-room, feeling as if she could not bring
+her mind down to Randall and his doings.
+
+Otto had looked as white as a sheet, and had eaten nothing since an
+early lunch; how could she have let him go like that?
+
+Mr. Shaddock came in almost at once.
+
+"Where is Mr. Leigh?"
+
+"He is gone."
+
+"Gone! Why did you let him go? I expected him to have supper, or
+whatever meal it is. Have you had anything to eat?"
+
+"I bought some buns—"
+
+"Buns?" echoed Mr. Shaddock disdainfully. "Could you get no tea?"
+
+"I was afraid to spend any time over that. We did nothing but search."
+
+"Well, it cannot be helped now. I am very vexed Mr. Leigh has gone
+so soon. As to this matter, the children and Randall give different
+accounts. I suppose it often is so in a question of missing each other.
+So I suppose we must think 'all's well that ends well,' and be glad
+it has come right now. Pray sit down, Miss Ashlyn, you look ready to
+faint."
+
+"I never faint, thank you," Gertrude answered, "but we are very tired,
+almost too tired, perhaps, to look at the matter fairly."
+
+"Oh, I should let it drop," said Mr. Shaddock good-humouredly. "Randall
+got lost, and is found again, and now let us forget it, and eat some
+supper."
+
+Gertrude had been wondering in the train what dreadful punishment would
+be given the little delinquent, and only feared it might be too severe.
+She was therefore astonished to find that all was to be overlooked, and
+the matter left as if it had not happened.
+
+She determined to talk to Randall herself, and try to get him to
+confess his share of the spoilt day. But now nothing could be done but
+to accept the offered tea, and think again of poor Otto making his way
+back to the West End, tired and lonely.
+
+Daisy and Hugh came in at the sound of the gong, but Mrs. Shaddock had
+Randall's tea carried to him in the drawing-room by Mollie. And when
+they went there after the meal, he had gone to nurse to be put to bed.
+
+Gertrude soon went up to her schoolroom, and sat down in her arm-chair
+utterly wearied out.
+
+Daisy and Hugh came to wish good-night, and then she was left alone for
+half an hour.
+
+She tried to recall all the events of the day, all Otto's words and
+tones which had been so refreshing to her as part of her old home
+life, but nothing seemed to come before her eyes but that scene in the
+Museum, when he had appeared in the doorway without Randall, and then
+their frantic search afterwards.
+
+She was just coming to the conclusion that she should never be happy
+at the Shaddocks' any more if they were going to blame her for the
+accident, when a tap came at the door, and nurse's kind face peeped in.
+
+"I came to see if you might want anything, Miss Ashlyn," she said
+quietly, "and to tell you I am so sorry about the child being missed."
+
+"Thank you," faltered Gertrude. Her lips trembled, and she could not
+get out another word.
+
+"Don't you be upset, miss. The children have told me their different
+stories, and I can see how it is."
+
+"I wish I could be sure he did not do it on purpose—" began Gertrude;
+and then she wished she had not said so. She looked up quickly in
+nurse's face. "I hardly like to have said that," she added, "but—"
+
+Nurse nodded. "Time will show," she said. "Sometimes when we can't
+right ourselves, there's One takes it up for us, miss, and brings good
+out of bad!"
+
+"Oh, if He only would!" said Gertrude with a long breath.
+
+"Don't be afraid, miss; I've seen it over and over, and have reason to
+trust Him!"
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+CHAPTER XLII.
+
+CLOUDS.
+
+EARLY the next morning Gertrude was up, and was bending over her Bible
+to get refreshment before the day's work began. She dreaded what it
+might bring to her, for she had seen enough of the way Randall had
+carried through the misfortune of the bank-note, to hope that he would
+unsay any of his yesterday's story.
+
+Nurse's cheering words, however, had done her good, and she rose from
+her reading with a heart at rest in the promises which were so abundant
+and so full.
+
+Her eyes had rested on some words which seemed to fit into her
+perplexity and vexation, giving her fresh hope and courage.
+
+   "'I will love Thee, O LORD, my strength!'"
+
+So when Daisy peeped into her room, she met the child's inquiring look
+with a smile.
+
+"Here is a letter for you, Miss Ashlyn."
+
+It was from Rose, telling of their disappointment at her non-appearance
+the evening before, and saying how sorry Otto was to arrive alone
+without the bright party which Fritz had invited to tea at his hotel.
+
+Then Rose went on to say a few words about Lester, adding that time
+forbade her to write more, but if Mrs. Shaddock and Gertrude could call
+upon her during that day, she could better explain everything by word
+of mouth.
+
+"I shall not ask that," said Gertrude to herself, "though I suppose I
+must convey Rose's invitation."
+
+"Mother is not very well this morning," said Daisy, "and Randall is as
+cross as two sticks."
+
+"Never mind that, dear. He must be sorry he was so unkind."
+
+"I do not think he is. Miss Ashlyn, make haste, for the boys are ready
+for breakfast, and Mollie is not down. They want to get off to school
+in good time; they've got to meet a boy at the station."
+
+Gertrude felt her life had begun again in good earnest. She put away
+her Bible and followed Daisy to the dining-room, where Conway and Ned
+were already eating their breakfast in haste.
+
+When Mollie came in, she did not seem to have recovered her temper from
+yesterday any more than Randall had. She brought a message from her
+mother, however, that she begged Miss Ashlyn to spend the afternoon
+with her sister, but that she did not feel equal to any excitement, and
+was going to stay in her room all the morning.
+
+"Will you take your mother the letter I have had from my sister?"
+
+Mollie took the letter in her hand, but sat down to her breakfast
+without offering to carry it to her mother.
+
+By the time Daisy's music-lesson was over, however, she brought back
+the answer.
+
+"Mother thanks Mrs. Leigh, and if she is well enough in the afternoon
+she will drive to town and call upon her. At any rate, you are to go,
+Miss Ashlyn. Daisy and I are to go to see our cousins who live on the
+Heath, you know. Randall is to stay with nurse."
+
+Gertrude felt that the plan was very kind, and yet she would almost
+have preferred to remain quietly at home with her pupils.
+
+"Are you sure that is what your mother wishes?" she asked.
+
+"Yes, Miss Ashlyn. Mother would not like to be worried with any more
+questions. She had quite enough worry yesterday."
+
+Gertrude looked up steadily at the pretty girl as she stood before her
+with her little air of half-condescending, half-defiant politeness.
+
+"We all had a great deal of worry yesterday, Mollie. However, I will do
+as your mother so kindly suggests. I hope I may be able to thank her
+for all her kindness some day."
+
+Mollie looked rather surprised at the quiet answer, under which she
+could not but perceive a slight reserve. She, however, dismissed the
+matter with a light—
+
+"Well, let it be settled so, Miss Ashlyn. I am sure you must be longing
+to see Mrs. Leigh." And with a toss back of her long hair over her
+shoulders, she hastened away to fulfil the housekeeping duties before
+school, which devolved upon her when Mrs. Shaddock was ill.
+
+
+Gertrude rang the school-bell, but as Randall did not appear, she made
+her way to the nursery to inquire for him.
+
+He was there, leaning over the guard, with his chin on his hands. "Are
+you ready for lessons, my dear?" she asked kindly.
+
+"He does not seem quite the thing to-day, Miss Ashlyn," said nurse.
+"Perhaps he had better remain up here with me? He says his head aches."
+
+"If you think Mrs. Shaddock would wish that."
+
+"Yes, I am sure she would. She is so poorly this morning that I cannot
+worry her with telling her that he is not well. I hope an hour or two
+will see him better. I suspect he took a chill yesterday."
+
+So Gertrude went back to Daisy and Mollie, first, however, carrying
+Randall a puzzle from her box to amuse him, of which he took no notice
+beyond an abrupt "thank you," turning again to the fire as before.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+CHAPTER XLIII.
+
+"WAITING FOR YOU!"
+
+THE morning passed away peacefully.
+
+Daisy was angelic, and though Mollie had still her little supercilious
+air which chafed Gertrude inwardly, she kept it enough within bounds to
+avoid rebuke.
+
+When they came out from lessons, Mollie found that her mother was no
+better than she had been in the early morning, and nurse was busy with
+her.
+
+"It is one of her heart attacks," said Mollie in a reproachful tone to
+Gertrude. "That is how she always is when she has any excitement or
+alarm. She will be ill for days, I expect, and nurse will hardly be
+able to leave her."
+
+"I did not know she was subject to these attacks," said Gertrude.
+
+"No, I suppose you did not, or, of course, you would have been more
+particular about Randall—"
+
+"But, Mollie, it was Randall's own doing."
+
+"Oh, well, there are two opinions about that. At any rate, what with
+the excitement about Lester, and now this about Randall, mother is
+perfectly upset, and it is a great bother."
+
+Gertrude did not pursue the subject. She gathered her books together,
+wondering if she could be spared to go to her sister, but not liking to
+employ Mollie as her messenger to ask this question.
+
+Daisy came in at the moment and settled the difficulty.
+
+"Miss Ashlyn, mother is not well enough to visit your sister to-day.
+But would you please go and enjoy yourself. Mother hopes Mrs. Leigh
+will have good news for you, and that you will be able to help her."
+
+Gertrude sent a message in reply. And then the dinner gong rang, and
+they went down to their rather forlorn meal, Mollie presiding instead
+of her mother, and Randall sitting at the side, but eating very little
+and talking less.
+
+The moment after dinner, the girls dressed to go to their cousins,
+Randall went back to the nursery, and Gertrude was set free.
+
+
+When she went out, anxious as she was to get to her sister, as she
+turned to shut the gate, her eyes fell upon the Strange House, and she
+thought of Mrs. Swift.
+
+No, she must hasten on to see Rose, she thought.
+
+And yet—yet—it would not take five minutes to greet the poor, desolate
+woman who had so recently lost so much.
+
+A moment's indecision, and then she turned that way and walked up the
+garden path.
+
+Her ring at the bell brought Mrs. Swift very quickly to the door.
+
+A haggard face, with anxious, sunken eyes, met hers.
+
+"Mrs. Swift! You have been ill," exclaimed Gertrude.
+
+"It's my husband!" was her abrupt answer. "He will not have a doctor,
+and I'm at my wits' end!" She opened the door wide, and Gertrude
+stepped within it.
+
+"What is the matter?"
+
+"I do not know!"
+
+"Is he very bad?"
+
+"Well, not to say very bad, but he's too ill to leave his bed. We were
+going to move at once, but now we can't, and he says he shall stay till
+Christmas."
+
+"I will come and see him to-morrow, if I can," said Gertrude. "I am on
+my way to visit my sister and her little boy."
+
+"Little Lester, miss?" asked Mrs. Swift, forgetting for a moment her
+own anxiety.
+
+"Yes."
+
+"It was kind of you to tell me, miss. Has he been to a doctor yet,
+miss?"
+
+"Yes; I have not seen my sister yet, but I believe he has been."
+
+"I hardly dare to ask, miss,—I am sure I have no right; but—does the
+doctor give any hope, miss?"
+
+"I can hardly tell you, because I know so little myself. But I think he
+does hope that time may improve him. Time and care, and sunshine and
+sea air."
+
+Again Mrs. Swift gave one of her long, deep-drawn breaths. "Ah! He did
+not have all those with me," she said sadly.
+
+"No, Mrs. Swift. Shall you think me unkind if I say that the doctor
+gave it as his opinion that he was brought away just in time?"
+
+Mrs. Swift nodded sadly. "I knew it," she said. "Oh, miss, if you had
+not come along that night, and had not stopped to speak to me! Oh,
+miss, how can I thank you?"
+
+"Do not thank me, but God," said Gertrude gently. "Now I must go, but
+tell your husband from me that I do entreat him to have a doctor;
+perhaps he would accept a message from me?"
+
+"He thinks a deal of you, miss, in a quiet way—"
+
+"Then say so, and remember that you have a mighty Saviour now to help
+you in everything. Tell Him all about your husband, and He will do for
+you what you cannot do yourself."
+
+She hastened away, and sped to the high-road, where she hoped to meet
+with a cab or omnibus which might expedite her journey to the Great
+Northern Hotel.
+
+As she turned the corner, pacing up and down with quiet, patient step,
+was a figure which she instantly recognized.
+
+It was walking away from her, but when it came to the next road, it
+turned and came towards her slowly.
+
+"Otto!" she exclaimed. "Whatever brought you here?"
+
+"I have been waiting for you! Your note told Rose you would come in the
+afternoon. I have been waiting for you for a long time, Gertrude!"
+
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+CHAPTER XLIV.
+
+A SHORT DRIVE.
+
+THEY walked down the hill together, Otto looking out for a cab, but
+saying very little.
+
+"At last I can talk to you!" he exclaimed when they were seated.
+"Gertrude! I have accepted Dr. Blank's offer, and I am to go abroad for
+a year with his patient!"
+
+"It will do you good, Otto—you have been overworking for a long time."
+
+"I could not help that—it was so important for me to make the most of
+my time. But, Gertrude, he holds out a hope for my future which has
+made all the difference to me. But the greatest difficulty is, you said
+you did not care to live in London—?"
+
+"But that makes no difference to your plans, Otto, unless you meant
+that you wanted mother to come—"
+
+"I don't want mother! I want you. Of course it makes all the difference
+in the world. You know that well enough."
+
+Gertrude was silent. How could she answer such words?
+
+"What is the plan?" she asked, after a pause.
+
+"Dr. Blank thinks he will have work for me to help him with, while I
+complete my medical studies. I told him—Gertrude, I told him that there
+was a certain dear girl whom I loved with all my heart, and that my
+great object was to make a home for her. He bid me work and hope."
+
+"That is always best," said Gertrude, with a little smile.
+
+"Do you bid me work and hope?"
+
+"Certainly I do, Otto. Have I not always?"
+
+"Then at the end of the year (for he pays me well, Gertrude), if I can
+find a house, can you bear to come right into the heart of London and
+make a very small beginning with me?"
+
+"I never guessed you wanted that!" she said, turning her eyes towards
+his face. "Otto, do you really mean what you have said?"
+
+"I have meant it for years! At first I thought I must not, and put it
+away. But lately I found that it was a great blessing and a great gift,
+one I could not dismiss unless I ought. There is no ought about it, is
+there? Gertrude, you knew all this long ago!"
+
+Whether she had guessed it or not, it was very different to hear him
+saying it all. But the cab was nearing her sister's hotel, and there
+was one thing she did want to tell him, if she could say nothing else.
+
+"You must not think—oh, Otto, never think for one moment that living in
+London would be any trial to me if—"
+
+"Go on, Gertrude—if what?"
+
+"If you wanted me to."
+
+"Ah! Do I not? But you knew that, when you said what you did the other
+day."
+
+Gertrude shook her head.
+
+"It was what you said then that made me dare to accept Dr. Blank's
+offer."
+
+The cab had almost reached the hotel. In a moment it drew up abruptly.
+
+Otto sprang out; he handed her from their humble conveyance, and led
+her straight up to her sister's room.
+
+Gertrude felt once more as if all were a dream, all but Otto's hand,
+which did not let hers go till he had brought her right into her
+sister's presence, announcing, in a voice that was full of joy—
+
+"Rose! I've brought her. And though we have not had time to say a
+quarter of the things we would, yet she has promised to be my wife, and
+come and make me happy when I come home next year!"
+
+Of course Rose looked very glad too. And for a few minutes, Gertrude
+could do nothing but bend over little Lester, hiding her hot
+cheeks against his curls, while Otto and Rose and Fritz exchanged
+congratulations.
+
+Then Rose came over to where she sat, and knelt down by her and Lester.
+
+"How does he look?" she asked yearningly, laying her hand on her
+child's.
+
+Gertrude was gazing in his little face.
+
+"I think he looks decidedly less frail than two days ago. Not so
+pinched and weary."
+
+"That is what 'I' said!" exclaimed Rose joyfully. "Fritz was afraid it
+was my fancy."
+
+The child lay on the sofa with a light shawl thrown over him, his eyes
+open and turning to watch them as they moved about, but without any
+recognition in them.
+
+"When he knows me," said Rose softly, "I shall begin to hope—really."
+
+"Ah! You hope now, little mother," said Fritz tenderly. "Hope? Why if I
+had as much faith in some things as you have in Lester's knowing you by
+and by, I should be on the high-road to being all you want me to be!"
+
+He spoke lightly, covering an earnest thought beneath his jest.
+
+"I have faith in both," said Rose, looking up, "or rather, I have faith
+in God about you both."
+
+They all knew that she spoke truly. But what seemed such a very simple
+matter to some people was an insurmountable difficulty to Fritz.
+
+"I can't make myself a Christian," he thought. And forgot that Rose had
+often responded,—
+
+"No, dear Fritz, but He says, 'Him that cometh unto Me, I will in no
+wise cast out.' You have not tried to come yet."
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+CHAPTER XLV.
+
+TILL WEDNESDAY.
+
+"WE only wanted to see you before we went home," said Rose, when
+Gertrude, having taken off her hat, had settled herself into one of the
+luxurious arm-chairs, with Lester on her lap. "I am very anxious to get
+home, to say nothing of telling all to dear mother."
+
+"I shall see them off to-morrow morning, and then go down to Dr.
+Blank's country house," said Otto. "He says I am to be introduced to
+the invalid boy, and am to spend Sunday with them."
+
+"Them?" echoed Gertrude.
+
+"I did not tell you that it is his brother and sister who are going for
+this long sailing voyage, for the sake of their only son, who is heir
+to their fortune."
+
+"And what will you have to do with the boy?"
+
+"He needs constant care and watching, and yet bright companionship. I
+don't know that I shall suit in that latter respect. Perhaps I shall
+now."
+
+He smiled archly at Gertrude, but went on with his explanations, which
+were intensely interesting to her, as she had heard hardly anything
+that day at Kensington.
+
+"Then, when I have spent a year in going round the world, he says I am
+to come back and finish my studies. He says I shall have a good deal
+of time on board ship, for the boy's parents take his education upon
+themselves, and take infinite pains with him."
+
+"Is he mentally afflicted, then?" asked Gertrude.
+
+"It is of that nature; he is improving, and they have hopes that he
+will be quite restored eventually."
+
+"How sad it must be for them!" said Gertrude.
+
+"Yes, very. They do little else than go about with him from place to
+place. But they have boundless confidence in Dr. Blank."
+
+"No one who has been to him for advice could feel anything else," said
+Rose. "Gertrude, I should like you to have seen how he took to Otto
+from the first. His eyes seem to see everything."
+
+"Did he give any reason for his fancy?" asked Gertrude.
+
+"Only his treatment of little Lester. He said directly he saw his way
+with Lester, he knew that he was worth training in his special branch
+of the profession. Fritz says Otto's fortune is made."
+
+"It was made to-day," said Otto, smiling; at which all the others could
+not help smiling too.
+
+"When do they sail?" asked Gertrude, partly because she was very
+desirous of knowing, and partly to turn the subject.
+
+"Ah," said Otto, "I have not told you that! The fact is, I can hardly
+bear to think of it. Yet it must be said."
+
+"And it is—" said Gertrude, while her heart sank at the long parting.
+Her life had seemed nothing but partings lately.
+
+"On Wednesday."
+
+"We can bear it!" she said, looking up. "We have so much now."
+
+Otto did not answer. He had turned to the window, but after a moment he
+came back.
+
+"When must you go, dear Gertrude?"
+
+"I ought to be at home by seven, I thought. They did not name a time,
+but as Mrs. Shaddock is ill, and little Randall very poorly too—"
+
+"And shall I be able to see you again? Gertrude, do not shake your
+head—surely when they hear all they will spare you?"
+
+"They have been so kind already," said Gertrude, "but, Otto—"
+
+"No 'buts,'" said Otto. "I must call on Mr. Shaddock on Monday before
+I go down to Lanriffe to get some of my belongings. I shall ask him to
+allow you to come to Gravesend to see us off."
+
+"I can ask—" said Gertrude, hesitating. Her wishes pulled her one way,
+her objection to be further troublesome another.
+
+"That will be best," said Fritz, turning to Otto. "Nobody with any
+consideration would refuse such a request as that. A whole year!"
+
+The afternoon passed all too quickly. Gertrude sat and caressed little
+Lester, feeling as if she could never part with him. Rose hovered over
+the two as if too full of joy and sympathy to say much. Fritz paced up
+and down the room watching them all, and joining in whatever was said.
+Otto sat near Gertrude, content to be in her company, and to hear her
+talk to her sister.
+
+At six o'clock, Gertrude said she must go, and Otto prepared to
+accompany her to Hampstead.
+
+Rose did not know how to part from her. She clung to her and whispered
+words of thanks and blessing, for had not Gertrude been the means of
+restoring her child?
+
+"Look here, sister Gertrude," said Fritz, taking her hand, when at last
+she really was going. "You tell those people that Rose and I want you
+with Lester! Rose will have to have somebody to be out all day with
+him, why not you? She will slave herself to death else. You tell them
+so, and come home to us! I never thought of it before!"
+
+"And you must not now, dear Fritz," she answered gratefully, "indeed
+you must not. I could not leave them with my work half done. It is bad
+enough to think of only a year."
+
+"Well, that you will have to tell them," interposed Otto.
+
+"Yes," she said, "but not the other. I must stay with them a year, at
+any rate, if they want me. I have Randall to win yet!"
+
+An hour after, Gertrude walked into the house, having said good-bye
+to Otto; good-bye till the Wednesday which he assured her he should
+arrange for, and then a long good-bye such as they did not like to
+think of.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+CHAPTER XLVI.
+
+NURSE'S PLAN.
+
+GERTRUDE stood within the threshold.
+
+She heard Conway's voice speaking in a hushed tone on the stairs, she
+saw Mollie's skirts at the corner, and heard her reply In the same awed
+way, and then both turned and saw her, and came quickly down to her.
+
+"Miss Ashlyn!" Mollie whispered. "Mother has been so dreadfully ill all
+the afternoon, and we have been obliged to send for the doctor. And now
+he has come it is worse still, because he has seen Randall, and he says
+he has the scarlet fever."
+
+"What?" asked Gertrude in a startled tone, but she had heard well
+enough.
+
+"Yes," added Conway; "is it not dreadful? Father is not yet home, and
+we are not to even tell mother, her heart is in such a weak state—and
+Dr. Forde says either Randall must be taken somewhere to be nursed, or
+we must all go away from home."
+
+They had mechanically moved into the dining-room, and stood round the
+end of the table looking at each other.
+
+"Nurse says," pursued Ned, who was sitting with his lessons in his
+hand, "that if she could leave mother, she would take him somewhere.
+But then she cannot, or mother might die, and besides, we don't know of
+any place. And it must be done in a hurry, that is the worst of it."
+
+"Where is Randall?" asked Gertrude.
+
+"He is in the nursery at the top. Nurse would not have him put to bed
+till you came, because she wanted to consult you about a plan she has
+thought of."
+
+"I will go to her, then. Is she up there?"
+
+"Yes—but do not go in, Miss Ashlyn; call nurse outside."
+
+"Very well, but somebody must go in, you know."
+
+She ran up-stairs, and tapped lightly at the closed door.
+
+Nurse came out at once.
+
+"Oh, Miss Ashlyn!" she said in a low voice. "We are in trouble, and no
+mistake. If his mother could be asked—but the doctor absolutely forbids
+that. I have thought of one way out of it, but I hardly dare ask such a
+thing. Have you ever had it, miss?"
+
+"When a child, I believe I did."
+
+That was not the thing that nurse hardly dared ask.
+
+"Miss Ashlyn—if we could find a house—a cottage—or an empty house near
+where they would take him in, could you go with him there? I know his
+parents would not hear of a hospital, and I have heard of such things
+being done, if I only knew where—"
+
+"You want me to find such a place and take him—to-night?"
+
+"That is the only thing I could think of," apologized nurse. "I would
+go in a minute, but I should never forgive myself if my doing so caused
+his mother's death. The doctor says the slightest alarm might be fatal
+in her present state."
+
+Gertrude felt stunned, while nurse could do nothing but gaze anxiously
+in her face. How little she knew all that was passing in her mind!
+
+"May I have five minutes to consider it?" asked Gertrude, feeling as if
+all the world were turning round.
+
+She went to her room and shut the door.
+
+Slowly, with her hands pressing her forehead till it ached with the
+pressure, she knelt down by the side of her bed.
+
+She could not pray; she could only think of the five minutes at her
+disposal for her decision, and the numberless things which she must
+decide.
+
+Wednesday! Where would be her promise to Otto to come down to Gravesend
+to bid him farewell? If she were established as sole nurse to little
+Randall, she would not be able to leave him to go to Gravesend?
+
+And even if she could leave him, how about carrying a chance of
+infection to that out-bound vessel, which would contain so many
+precious lives? How about carrying infection to that only boy whose
+life was so infinitely precious to his parents? That boy whom Otto had
+already undertaken to guard and cherish to the best of his ability?
+
+And then, supposing she could undergo the sacrifice of not seeing Otto
+again, for whom was this sacrifice to be made? For Randall, whom in
+that moment of anguish she acknowledged as having almost regarded as
+her enemy!
+
+"I cannot do it," she moaned. "I cannot—it is too hard, too much. Oh,
+how could nurse ask it?"
+
+And then amidst her tears she bethought herself of praying.
+
+"Lord, what wilt 'Thou' have me to do?" she whispered.
+
+If she could have asked any one's advice! If Otto could be consulted!
+If he should bid her do it, would she not gladly, cheerfully?
+
+"Lord, what wilt 'Thou' have me to do?"
+
+Then she gave up all her questioning, all her disappointment, all her
+anxiety into His hands, and as she knelt, a wonderful peace stole over
+her.
+
+"If thine enemy—" Gertrude started at the word. Surely, surely, it
+could not be that she was cherishing such a thought! "'If thine enemy
+hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink.'"
+
+"O my Lord," she whispered, "I will do whatever Thou dost point out!
+Thou knowest best, only let me have Thee with me, whatever it is, and
+wherever I am!"
+
+She rose from her knees, and with the tears still wet on her face, she
+went back to nurse.
+
+At her soft knock nurse came back, looking intently in her face.
+
+"If his father wishes it, I will do it. I believe I know a house to
+which I could take him at once."
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+CHAPTER XLVII.
+
+THE STRANGE HOUSE AGAIN.
+
+"WHAT does she say?" asked Conway, coming to the foot of the stairs as
+Gertrude came down.
+
+"Will you come with me, Conway? I have a question to ask before I can
+propose nurse's plan to your father."
+
+She moved to the front door.
+
+"Now?" asked Conway.
+
+"Yes; it will not take us long."
+
+They went out into the darkness, and Gertrude turned towards the
+Strange House at once.
+
+"Here?" asked Conway, utter astonishment in his tone.
+
+"Yes; I believe Mrs. Swift will help us."
+
+Mrs. Swift came at once to the door, and, without noticing Conway in
+the dark, she exclaimed the moment she saw Gertrude—
+
+"Oh, miss! Such a wonderful thing! My husband has seen a doctor, miss,
+and he has told me what to do. It's bronchitis, miss; that's what it
+is!"
+
+"I am very glad you were able to prevail upon him—"
+
+"It was like this, miss. There was a doctor's carriage going up and
+down for ever so long this afternoon, and I watched it till I felt
+nearly frantic. Then I thought, dear miss, of what you had said about
+my Mighty Helper, and I did ask Him to make it all plain. Then I went
+straight to my husband, and told him there was a doctor outside, and
+might I call him in?"
+
+"I am so glad—"
+
+"He was awfully bad just then, and he said yes; so I told the coachman,
+and presently in he came."
+
+"I am truly glad," said Gertrude again; "I hope he will soon be much
+better."
+
+"I can never thank you, miss, for all you have done for me. As I have
+been helped so much in this, I shall go on to other things."
+
+"Yes," said Gertrude, thinking of the words which often ran through her
+mind, "Because Thou hast been my help, therefore under the shadow of
+Thy wings will I rejoice." "Yes, indeed, you will find it so over and
+over."
+
+"It is kind of you to come in, miss—"
+
+"I did not come just now for kindness," said Gertrude, feeling that
+her words were binding her at once to the plan which involved her
+imprisonment for weeks, "but to ask a great favour."
+
+"A favour of 'me,' miss?"
+
+Then Gertrude briefly explained the case, and made her request, which
+was, supposing of course that Mr. Shaddock approved the plan when he
+heard it, that Mrs. Swift should lend them two rooms in which to nurse
+little Randall, and help her by cleaning and cooking for her, and by
+communicating with the outward world for her.
+
+Mrs. Swift ran to ask her husband, and in a few minutes came back with
+her reply.
+
+And when she was gone, Conway drew nearer Gertrude, and said in a low
+tone—
+
+"Miss Ashlyn, I should like to shake hands. I do declare it is the
+kindest thing I ever heard. And considering my mother's state, and
+that all of us should have to turn out, nobody knows where, it is an
+admirable idea. But it is asking a great deal of you!" He held out his
+hand and shook hers warmly. "I feel I have not behaved to you as I
+should—not been right down jolly, you know."
+
+Gertrude understood, but she only said, "Thank you, Conway," very
+softly. Her heart was very full; for what would Otto feel when he
+realized that they should not be able to say good-bye?
+
+Mrs. Swift returned and brought an earnest consent with her. "My
+husband said, 'If we can do anything for the young lady that has been
+such a comfort to you, let us do it by all means.'"
+
+So Gertrude and Conway went back.
+
+"I wonder if your father will be at home yet?" she said as they entered
+their own garden.
+
+As they mounted the steps, a figure stood there holding a beautiful
+bunch of flowers.
+
+"Gertrude!" said a voice.
+
+"Otto!" she responded.
+
+"I got half-way home, and then I saw these flowers, and I felt as if I
+must bring them to you. I did not intend to come in."
+
+"This is Conway," said Gertrude, introducing him, "of whom you have
+heard. I have come home to find great trouble. I must not ask you in,
+but—"
+
+"I will leave you to speak to your friend," said Conway as the door
+opened. "Mr. Leigh, we are in sad trouble; my little brother has
+scarlet fever, and we dare not ask you in. Miss Ashlyn has been a
+brick, and has proposed—But she will tell you."
+
+And so what Gertrude had dreaded above all things—the fear of
+grieving Otto, and letting him go forth on that long voyage without a
+farewell—never came to pass!
+
+In the few minutes in which they stood on the doorstep, he gave
+his entire sanction to her plan. And, while making light of his
+disappointment at not seeing her again, so strengthened her in what
+both felt was right that she saw him finally walk away with a brave
+heart.
+
+And as she carried her bunch of flowers to her own room, she could only
+remember his brave, cheery words as he parted from her: "Gertrude, we
+have every reason to trust our Father!"
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+CHAPTER XLVIII.
+
+RANDALL'S REQUEST.
+
+ON the first landing, Gertrude met Mr. Shaddock.
+
+"I have seen Conway, and he has explained all about it," he said in a
+low tone. "And now nurse says the greatest thing is to get him out of
+the house as quickly as possible—because of the others."
+
+"Yes," assented Gertrude; "I will collect a few of my things, and then
+we will go. How shall we get him carried across to the other house?"
+
+"I can do that," said his father. "How long shall you be? Miss Ashlyn,
+I cannot express all I feel for your self-denying kindness. If it were
+not for my wife, I would not permit it. But if she were to miss all the
+children, or even nurse, I do not know what would be the consequence."
+
+"I quite understand all that," said Gertrude, "and indeed I am glad to
+be able to help you."
+
+For an instant her voice trembled; she thought of herself banished from
+all she loved, shut up with one who would rather have dispensed with
+her help or company. But it was only for a moment.
+
+Otto's words came back with a sense of strength. "It is quite right,"
+he had said.
+
+And, remembering this, she had looked up once more.
+
+"I shall not be much more than five minutes. Will you tell nurse so,
+and ask her to get Randall ready?"
+
+In less than half an hour a heavy bundle, muffled in a blanket, was
+carried down-stairs. And then the door of the Strange House opened,
+and Mr. Shaddock deposited his little son on the horsehair sofa in the
+kitchen, and turned to look into Mrs. Swift's face.
+
+"I have not done as much as I could have wished," she said, addressing
+Gertrude, "but the dear little boy's bed is ready, and I have lighted a
+fire up there. Dear miss, I will make you as comfortable as I can."
+
+Gertrude held out her hand to Mr. Shaddock.
+
+"Perhaps you had better not stay," she said, "because of the others. I
+will take all the care of him that I can, and be as kind to him as—as
+you were to our little Lester."
+
+"I am sure you will," said Mr. Shaddock huskily. "I will send the
+doctor in, in the morning, and will speak to you, Miss Ashlyn, in the
+garden every morning and evening."
+
+With a farewell touch on the head to his little son, and a smothered
+"God bless you," he turned away at last, and Gertrude was left in
+charge.
+
+She and Mrs. Swift lifted poor little Randall to his room, and
+then they set about making him comfortable, unpacking nurse's
+thoughtfully-prepared basket, and arranging all things so that he might
+miss home comforts as little as possible.
+
+He was very tired and miserable, and rolled himself up under the
+bedclothes directly, and would not respond to their questions. But when
+Mrs. Swift had gone out to get some necessary supplies, he opened his
+eyes, and seeing Gertrude's lovely bunch of flowers upon the table,
+said slowly—
+
+"Where did those come from?"
+
+"From a friend."
+
+"Who?"
+
+"Mr. Leigh."
+
+"Oh!"
+
+"Do you like them?"
+
+She got up to put them near enough for him to smell them.
+
+"Are they for me?" he asked.
+
+"You and I can enjoy them together."
+
+"I would rather they were mine. Can't I have them?"
+
+"Can you not share them with me?"
+
+He shook his head. "I hate sharing," he said irritably, closing his
+eyes.
+
+Gertrude's heart smote her. Did she hate sharing? Why did she mind
+Randall having her flowers?
+
+And then she thought of him as of one of the "little children" whom
+her blessed Saviour would call to His arms and bless. Could she grudge
+giving anything to one whom He would bless?
+
+But Randall seemed to sleep, and she sat in silence by him, thinking
+and praying, seeing herself in a light in which she had never seen
+herself before—she saw herself selfish!
+
+Would Randall never wake? How long would that heavy, restless sleep
+last?
+
+Then she heard a carriage drive up. And in a minute a bell rang, and
+she remembered, with a start, that she had promised to answer the door
+while Mrs. Swift was out.
+
+"Mr. Shaddock directed me here to see his little boy," said a
+gentleman, whom Gertrude rightly guessed was the doctor. She led
+the way up-stairs, and was thankful to receive all the necessary
+instructions, and to know exactly what to do.
+
+"I am to look in twice a day," he said on leaving, "and you need not
+feel that the anxiety rests on you, Miss Ashlyn. You are doing these
+people a great service, and you will be happy, I trust, in feeling
+that."
+
+He went rapidly down-stairs, and Gertrude felt that a load had been
+lifted from her shoulders.
+
+"How kind my dear Lord is to me!" she thought. "I felt as if I could
+hardly bear the anticipation of this long night, and now it seems quite
+different."
+
+Randall had been roused by the doctor's visit, and lay looking at
+Gertrude in silence.
+
+"I wish I were in my nursery," he said at length.
+
+Gertrude rose, and brought the flowers and put them on a chair close to
+his pillow. He looked at them without speaking.
+
+"They are for you, dear!" she said very quietly.
+
+"For my very own?"
+
+"For your very own!" she answered.
+
+And while he gave a little smile of pleasure, Gertrude felt that she
+had given away Otto's last gift!
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+CHAPTER XLIX.
+
+WEDNESDAY.
+
+THEN followed weary oppressed days for the little invalid, in which
+Gertrude watched and tended him with untiring patience.
+
+Four very slow days, during which she knew that Otto was near, and must
+be making his hasty preparations for his long journey.
+
+He and she had decided that no communication whatever must pass from
+her to him, because of the nature of the illness from which Randall was
+suffering, as well as the nature of the case which Otto was taking up.
+
+"If my boy took it, or any one had it on board, I should hardly be able
+to forgive myself," he had said, "so we will run no risk whatever. I
+can write to you every day; that will be my only comfort."
+
+"And I shall not have that comfort," she had answered sadly, "because I
+can send no letter to you!"
+
+Each morning Mr. Shaddock brought messages and dainty food from the
+next house, meeting Gertrude in the garden and hearing all particulars
+of his little son.
+
+"My wife keeps on asking for Randall, but I have told her that he has
+an infectious complaint, but is under your care, and that the doctor
+sees him twice every day."
+
+"That is the greatest comfort," said Gertrude.
+
+Wednesday came at last, and with the postman another bunch of flowers
+and a good-bye letter from Otto.
+
+"I felt last night as if I must come and look at you through the
+window, but I am glad that I did not give way to it. I feel our duty is
+plain, and though it costs us a great deal, we will try to be happy in
+it."
+
+Gertrude too was glad he had not come, though all that Tuesday she had
+hoped and feared alternately that he would.
+
+Now the last chance was over, and he was gone!
+
+She laid her head down on Randall's bed and wept her good-bye till she
+had no tears left.
+
+The child had been very ill all night, and she and Mrs. Swift had
+shared the watch, each taking half the night. To-day, however, she
+fancied there was a change for the better, and she anxiously waited the
+doctor's arrival to hear her hopes confirmed.
+
+She was just wiping away her tears, and was going to raise her head,
+when Randall's hot little hand was put out and touched her forehead.
+
+"Miss Ashlyn."
+
+"Yes, dear?"
+
+"Where am I? Oh, I remember! Is it morning yet? May I get up?"
+
+He tried to start up, but found himself too weak.
+
+"My flowers are very fresh this morning," he said with a little smile,
+as he saw the new bunch just where the faded ones had stood.
+
+"Are they not sweet?" she answered.
+
+"Were you sorry you gave them to me?" he asked wistfully. "I think
+you've been crying."
+
+"I was glad I gave them to you, dear. These are some fresh ones that
+Otto sent to me to-day, because he is gone away."
+
+There was a pause. Randall lay looking at the flowers meditatively, but
+he did not ask for them.
+
+"Where are the others?" he asked at last.
+
+"I have thrown them away. I could not keep them after they were faded
+you know, dear, because of the scarlet fever."
+
+He assented, adding, however, "Did they fade in one night?"
+
+"You have been ill four nights, dear."
+
+"Have I? Well, I thought it was a long time! Sometimes I saw you
+sitting there, and sometimes didn't know where I was. That was funny,
+wasn't it?"
+
+"Very funny, but people do feel like that when they are ill."
+
+"I s'pose they do. Then sometimes I felt very cross, Miss Ashlyn, and
+wished you would go away. But all the same, you seemed very kind to me,
+and did not turn cross, as I am sure anybody might."
+
+"You see, I knew you were ill, and did not know what you did," she
+answered gently.
+
+Again Randall was silent. He took his jelly, and bore her attentions
+as if used to them. But his eyes, which before had hardly seemed to
+recognize her, now were quietly looking in her face, with a look she
+had never seen in them before.
+
+"Am I getting better?" he asked presently.
+
+"I think you are, dear."
+
+"I'm glad of that. I did not want to die."
+
+"When the Lord Jesus is our Saviour, it does not matter whether we live
+or die," she responded. "If we live, it will be to try to please Him
+and be His; if we die, we shall be glad to go to Him: as glad, Randall,
+as a little tired child is to run to its mother's arms!"
+
+"I'm very tired, I think," he answered, "and I wish I could run into my
+mother's arms!"
+
+"I wish you could, dear," she answered, her eyes watering with
+sympathetic tears, "but though your dear mother cannot come to you
+because she is ill, the Lord Jesus is always near, and loves you so
+much, and will rest you so sweetly if you ask Him!"
+
+"I have never asked Him anything. Hugh has, but I always thought Hugh
+was a baby."
+
+"We cannot do without Jesus," said Gertrude earnestly, "and I would
+not—oh, for the world."
+
+"I see that," answered Randal wearily, "and I'm sorry I called Hugh a
+cry-baby—very sorry."
+
+"Oh, are you, dear? I am so glad."
+
+"Glad?"
+
+"Glad that you are sorry for it. Now, dear, you have talked quite
+enough. But just turn round on your pillow and rest your head on its
+cool softness, and say to yourself, 'Jesus loves Randall! He will rest
+me if I come to Him! Jesus loves me.'"
+
+The child did not answer in words. He gave one glance at her, and then
+turned as she had advised, nestling his head into his pillow, as if
+weary and satisfied.
+
+Whether he had taken the rest of her advice, she did not know. But from
+his deep peaceful sigh as he fell asleep, she thought he had.
+
+After all, that was a happy Wednesday.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+CHAPTER L.
+
+IN THE CABINET.
+
+MRS. SWIFT was sitting with Randall one morning while Gertrude went
+out for the constitutional which the doctor insisted on, and he had
+been chatting to her about all his affairs with great volubility, she
+listening, as she said to her husband afterwards, "with one ear," and
+meanwhile plying her needle and thinking her own thoughts as well.
+
+"Where's Miss Ashlyn?" he asked at length.
+
+"Out for a walk, or else she's gone in to see my husband."
+
+"Is he better?" asked Randall, with interest.
+
+"Yes!—a deal better. He's better every way since Miss Ashlyn came to
+see us."
+
+"Then you are glad I've been ill here?"
+
+"Very glad," answered Mrs. Swift heartily.
+
+"So am I—"
+
+Mrs. Swift looked up at him with surprise.
+
+"Yes, I'm very glad," said Randall. "Do you know, all that time that my
+throat was so bad, she used to read to me out of her little Bible, or
+say a verse now and then, till it got right into my head. Wasn't that
+funny? Now I can't forget it, and I don't want to either."
+
+"That is very nice, I'm sure, dear. What words was it that you can't
+forget?"
+
+"I think she said them oftener than any others. Sometimes I'd sort of
+wake up, and there she would be feeding me with little bits of ice, and
+saying so softly, it didn't disturb me a bit, 'Him that cometh to Me, I
+will in no wise cast out.' I've never forgotten it, now I'm better."
+
+"Those are beautiful words—she said them to me. Have you come to Jesus
+too, dear, and found He speaks true?"
+
+Randall did not answer. His eyes shone, but the "yes" which he murmured
+was hardly audible.
+
+"I made up my mind to tell her something yesterday," he said presently.
+
+"Miss Ashlyn?"
+
+"Yes,—I want to ask her something, and to tell her something too."
+
+"She is coming up-stairs, now," said Mrs. Swift, rising to leave the
+room, "so I'll go down to my husband and repeat to him your text, dear!
+It's always best to pass on good things!"
+
+Randall smiled, and as Gertrude entered, she caught the look.
+
+"What is it?" she asked brightly.
+
+"I want you to let me do something!"
+
+"To get up to-day? You may if you like; the doctor has permitted it."
+
+He shook his head. "It is not that," he said. "Only—I've got nobody but
+you here, and I want you to let me call you—Gertrude!"
+
+She bent and kissed his forehead, answering softly, "If you love me
+enough to wish it, I will let you, gladly, Randall."
+
+He put his two arms round her neck. "I do love you—now," he whispered.
+
+She sat down by him, still holding his hand and stroking it softly.
+
+"Do you love me—now?" he questioned with a comical little look which
+made her ready to laugh and cry both at once.
+
+"Indeed, I do."
+
+"You did not always? I don't wonder, because I was very nasty. But you
+didn't love me till lately, did you, Gertrude?"
+
+How could she answer? How could she acknowledge that there was a time
+when this child had seemed almost an enemy? Still he was gazing in her
+face expecting a reply.
+
+"I began loving you when I remembered how much Jesus loved you," she
+answered at length.
+
+He pressed her hand in both his. "Ah, that was nice!" he murmured.
+
+And Gertrude saw that the love of Jesus can bind together what else
+might never be bound, can make the crooked straight, and the rough
+places plain; so that each one of His loved ones may boast joyfully, "I
+can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me."
+
+Presently Randall started up with fresh energy.
+
+"Gertrude! Oh, how kind you are to let me call you so! Gertrude, I'm
+going to tell you about the Museum that day."
+
+"Are you, dear?"
+
+A week ago the thought would have made her shiver. Now she rejoiced
+that she could think of it calmly, almost without pain.
+
+"I didn't get lost—" began Randall.
+
+"I knew that, dear."
+
+"Did you? Why didn't you get me punished then? Well, I didn't get lost,
+I lost myself. When Mr. Leigh left me in the doorway to go to you, I
+waited till he was behind a big bit of furniture, and I just slipped
+into a corner, and when no one was looking, I got into one of the old
+cabinets! I could see you through the crack of the door searching about
+for me."
+
+"Oh, Randall!"
+
+Still he looked in her face with quiet eyes. "I did it on purpose to
+annoy you—I wasn't a bit sorry, I was very glad."
+
+"But you are not now?" she said anxiously.
+
+"Oh, no! Gertrude, you've been so very good to me that I ought to tell
+you what made me sorry. Shall I?"
+
+Her eyes were answer enough.
+
+"It was yesterday—at least I think I was rather sorry before—but when
+you told me to just say to myself, 'Jesus loves me,' all at once I
+thought, how could Jesus love such a naughty, wicked little boy? And
+then thought how kind He was not to cast out anybody, but to forgive
+them; and then I asked Him to forgive me; and after that I was so
+sorry—oh, so sorry for everything I have done wrong."
+
+And as Gertrude kissed him again, she felt more glad than she could
+say. Her prayer had indeed been answered abundantly.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+CHAPTER LI.
+
+AT LANRIFFE.
+
+AFTER that, Randall quickly recovered, and very soon was running about
+the Strange House, and even walking in Mr. Swift's well-kept garden,
+where Mr. Swift himself walked slowly round the paths, his hands in his
+pockets to keep them from trying to pick up the weeds, which as yet he
+was too weak to do.
+
+"Who'd think," he said to his wife, "that weeds would get ahead in
+three weeks as these have done! I'm a'most ashamed to say as this
+garden belongs to me."
+
+He watched the child wistfully, as day by day Randall gained strength
+and grew more and more such as their own Johnnie had been. But when
+his wife saw the sad look in his eyes, she would say, with unusual
+gentleness, "He's in better keeping than ours, husband, and I can
+hardly wish him back. There are no weeds and no sin in heaven!"
+
+When prudence permitted, and all the disinfecting was properly gone
+through, the doctor advised that Randall should be taken to the seaside
+before he mixed again with his brothers and sisters. So Gertrude was
+allowed to write to her mother at Lanriffe, asking her to find a
+cottage where they could be received. And in a very short time, she and
+Randall were standing on the beach, drinking in the autumn air, and
+feeling the salt spray dash in their faces from the restless sea.
+
+Mrs. Ashlyn prepared everything beforehand for their comfort, and,
+waiting just a day to allow the sea breezes to blow upon them, she came
+to see her child, who had passed through so much since they had parted
+only so few weeks ago.
+
+Randall was out on the beach in front of the cottage, when Gertrude was
+at last clasped in her mother's arms.
+
+There was so much to tell, and so much to ask, that at first they
+seemed to have nothing to say.
+
+"My dear, you look—as if you had been a long journey, and had come back
+different!"
+
+"The same in love to you," faltered Gertrude, for her mother's look was
+almost more than she could bear.
+
+"Ah! Absence does not make much difference in child-love and
+mother-love," answered Mrs. Ashlyn.
+
+"And your eyes?" asked Gertrude, looking lovingly in the patient face.
+
+"Not worse, my dear. I have been saving them up. Phyllis is such a
+treasure now you are gone; she does everything for me."
+
+"I guessed she would."
+
+"Yes; and Otto! Directly you were gone, Otto came to me and told me he
+intended to be my son."
+
+"Did he?"
+
+"Yes—not only in name, as a sort of pretence, but a son in real
+earnest. He told me of his love for you, and asked my consent."
+
+"Oh, mother! And you never told me! But of course you did not."
+
+"I left him to tell his own tale. And now he is gone abroad, Phyllis
+and I seem too lonely. You intend to stay in London, my child?"
+
+Did her mother speak wistfully?
+
+"I must—I think I ought; indeed, I wish it for every reason. You would
+not have me leave them, mother?"
+
+Mrs. Ashlyn did not at once reply.
+
+So Gertrude continued—
+
+"You see, mother, Mrs. Shaddock has learned to trust me, and I should
+like to go back and help her. There is much to teach the children that
+they have never even heard of! Hugh wants help—Mollie is so nice in
+many ways, but so indulged and independent. I do really think that it
+would be unkind to leave them now, after all their kindness."
+
+Mrs. Ashlyn did not press the matter further, and the conversation then
+turned on Mrs. Shaddock's health, which Gertrude explained was not yet
+satisfactory, though she was much better than she had been.
+
+"I did not know she was subject to such attacks," said Mrs. Ashlyn.
+
+"She has only had one other as serious as this," answered Gertrude,
+"but many slight warnings. Poor little Randall's piece of mischief has
+cost him and his mother very dear."
+
+"Have they any idea how he took this?"
+
+"We have no idea. People have suggested that there was some poison
+lurking in the old cabinet where he hid himself, but I am at a loss
+to guess what it could have been. He says he sat for ever so long on
+a form watching for us, by a woman who had a very funny smell in her
+shawl. Of course that may have been it; people are so careless about
+carrying infection!"
+
+"Rose is longing to see you," said her mother, "but will wait for a day
+or two. It was very kind of the Shaddocks to plan your coming here, my
+dear."
+
+"They are full of such kindnesses. I never saw people so thoughtful for
+others before—except you, mother; you are always everything!" she added
+fondly.
+
+"You have heard from Otto?" asked her mother, returning her kiss.
+
+"He writes by every mail that he can. His letters are full of incidents
+of the voyage—the strange people he meets, the amusing things they do
+and say, the dogs that people bring with them, the pets they patronize,
+the absurdities they perpetrate. It reads like a story, only more
+interesting!"
+
+"I expect it is," said Mrs. Ashlyn, smiling.
+
+"The boy has quite taken to him, and is improving every day. How I long
+to see Lester, to know if 'he' has gained anything!"
+
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+CHAPTER LII.
+
+RANDALL'S RETURN.
+
+"HERE is London!" said Randall, as the houses thickened fast, and the
+fields melted as it were into brick walls and chimneys, while the
+express train flew past them.
+
+"Where?" asked a girl with a beautiful face, who was sitting opposite
+to Randall, looking out eagerly.
+
+Randall gave a little laugh, at which Phyllis coloured vividly.
+
+"I have never seen London, you know," she said apologetically.
+
+"It is everywhere," said Randall, waving his hand about, "all these
+houses, and churches, and gardens, and factories, and Board Schools,
+and everything are London!"
+
+"I see," answered Phyllis.
+
+"Never mind, Phyllis," said Rose, who was seated by her, "you will have
+to be a little 'country cousin' for a few days. When you go back to
+Lanriffe, you will be 'the London young lady.'"
+
+"I do not wish to be anything but what I am," said Phyllis quietly.
+
+"I wonder what Dr. Blank will say of Lester?" remarked Gertrude,
+looking down at him as he nestled against her shoulder.
+
+The little boy glanced up at her as she spoke. They sometimes
+fancied—was it only fancy?—that he did look up when his name was spoken.
+
+Randall and Gertrude had been at Lanriffe for more than a month, and
+were now returning to spend Christmas at Hampstead.
+
+
+The weather had been unusually mild for the time of year, and Randall
+had passed most of his time out of doors, catching all the air and
+sunshine he could.
+
+Soon after their arrival, Rose had brought little Lester over from
+Camptown on a visit to her mother and Phyllis. And Randall had found a
+new delight in tending the little invalid, wheeling him about in his
+easy carriage, and talking to him of what he saw around him.
+
+Those looking on so anxiously and eagerly noticed that the child was
+more bright when Randall came near him, and would put out his arms to
+welcome him. That even sometimes there was a movement of his lips as if
+he were trying to speak; and once a rippling laugh broke from him at
+one of Randall's sallies.
+
+The boy was devoted to him, and one day when they were left for a few
+minutes on the beach together, he was seen to coax him from his little
+carriage, and tenderly to lead him a few steps along the firm sand. By
+the end of the month he had begun to run about, and each day strength
+of body seemed to be coming back to him.
+
+"Randall," Gertrude had said on the last evening before they were to
+return home, "you have been very, very kind to Lester, and Rose and I
+love you dearly for it."
+
+Randall threw his arms round her neck.
+
+"I never was kind to anybody before, but I thought now I loved the Lord
+Jesus—it seemed the only thing I could do for Him."
+
+If ever Gertrude felt happy and thankful, it was at that moment.
+
+
+So the train that bore Gertrude and Randall back to Hampstead, bore
+Mrs. Ashlyn to consult an oculist, as well as Rose and Lester to see
+Dr. Blank, Phyllis having been invited meanwhile to pay a visit to
+Mollie Shaddock.
+
+But Rose was not to stay long in London. She was to meet her husband
+from one of his frequent journeys. And after the physician had examined
+little Lester, she and her mother were to return home together.
+
+Rose and Fritz had arranged to take up their abode with Mrs. Ashlyn and
+Phyllis at their seaside cottage.
+
+This had been Rose's own thought.
+
+"Mother!" she had said one day. "Here am I lonely at Camptown when
+Fritz is away, and there are you lonely at Lanriffe. Suppose we pack
+up our furniture and come over to you? Gertrude will never come back
+for more than a brief visit, because she is going to stay with her
+Shaddocks till Otto comes back. And then, why, mother, Dr. Blank told
+me they would be married directly, as he needs Otto so much, and he
+wants to see them settled!"
+
+"But, my dear—" Mrs. Leigh had begun.
+
+"Oh, I know all about the furniture and all that! Fritz and I have made
+a grand calculation, and he wants you to give anything you can spare to
+Otto and Gertrude, and we will bring ours to your house. He was going
+to buy them some, but instead, he will put a hundred or two in the bank
+for you. That will be a little help all round."
+
+Mrs. Ashlyn was greatly astonished, but when she had time to think of
+Fritz's plan, she liked it the more she thought of it. To have Rose and
+Phyllis always near her, and to be able to cherish little Lester—well,
+nothing could be nicer.
+
+And Rose had whispered "that she never need think of care any more
+about money matters, because Fritz said he had enough for everybody!"
+
+So the party in the train were in very good spirits. And when they
+separated, Rose and her mother to the Great Northern Hotel once
+more, and Gertrude and her two young companions to Hampstead, it was
+difficult to say which was the happiest or most hopeful party of the
+two.
+
+When the cab stopped at the house at Hampstead, Conway sprang down the
+steps to meet them.
+
+"Welcome back!" he exclaimed. "Welcome back!"
+
+And there in the hall was Mollie, ready to greet Phyllis, while Ned and
+Hugh stood behind with Daisy, waiting for their turn.
+
+"How grown Randall is!" said Mrs. Shaddock, when, after tea, he stood
+within her arms for the twentieth time at least. "And how different!"
+
+"I 'am' different," whispered Randall. Then, as Gertrude passed near,
+he held out his hand to her and drew her close. "Am I not different,
+Gertrude?"
+
+And Gertrude thankfully answered, "Yes, indeed, darling."
+
+
+
+                             THE END.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 76759 ***
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+<html lang="en">
+<head>
+    <meta charset="UTF-8">
+    <title>
+      The Strange House; or, A Moment's Mistake., by Catharine Shaw │ Project Gutenberg
+    </title>
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+</head>
+<body>
+<div style='text-align:center'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 76759 ***</div>
+
+<p>Transcriber's note: Unusual and inconsistent spelling is as printed.</p>
+
+<p><br><br><br></p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter" id="image001" style="max-width: 33.8125em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/image001.jpg" alt="image001">
+</figure>
+
+<p><br><br><br></p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter" id="image002" style="max-width: 25.3125em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/image002.jpg" alt="image002">
+</figure>
+<p class="t4">
+<b>"Whatever is the matter?"</b><br>
+</p>
+
+<p><br><br><br></p>
+
+<h1>THE STRANGE HOUSE;</h1>
+
+<p class="t3">
+<b>OR,</b><br>
+</p>
+
+<p class="t1">
+<b>A MOMENT'S MISTAKE.</b><br>
+</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+<p class="t3">
+BY<br>
+</p>
+
+<p class="t1">
+CATHARINE SHAW<br>
+<br>
+</p>
+
+<p class="t4">
+AUTHOR OF "DICKIE'S SECRET," "THE GABLED FARM," "ALICK'S HERO,"<br>
+"NOBODY'S NEIGHBOUR," "SOMEBODY'S DARLING," ETC.<br>
+</p>
+
+<p><br><br></p>
+
+<p class="t3">
+New Edition.<br>
+</p>
+
+<p><br><br></p>
+
+<p class="t4">
+<em> LONDON:</em><br>
+</p>
+
+<p class="t3">
+JOHN F. SHAW AND CO.<br>
+</p>
+
+<p class="t4">
+48, PATERNOSTER ROW, E.C.<br>
+</p>
+
+<p><br><br><br></p>
+
+<p class="t3b">
+CONTENTS<br>
+<br>
+————<br>
+</p>
+
+<p>CHAPTER</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<p><a href="#Chapter_1">I. NEXT DOOR</a></p>
+
+<p><a href="#Chapter_2">II. POVERTY KNOCKS AT THE DOOR</a></p>
+
+<p><a href="#Chapter_3">III. LOVE DOES NOT FLY OUT OF THE WINDOW</a></p>
+
+<p><a href="#Chapter_4">IV. GONE</a></p>
+
+<p><a href="#Chapter_5">V. MOLLIE'S WELCOME</a></p>
+
+<p><a href="#Chapter_6">VI. ALL SIX!</a></p>
+
+<p><a href="#Chapter_7">VII. CONWAY'S DISCOVERIES</a></p>
+
+<p><a href="#Chapter_8">VIII. DAISY'S "CHUM"</a></p>
+
+<p><a href="#Chapter_9">IX. A CHAMPION</a></p>
+
+<p><a href="#Chapter_10">X. A SONG</a></p>
+
+<p><a href="#Chapter_11">XI. A SCRIMMAGE</a></p>
+
+<p><a href="#Chapter_12">XII. MARMALADE</a></p>
+
+<p><a href="#Chapter_13">XIII. THE OVERTURNED BASKET</a></p>
+
+<p><a href="#Chapter_14">XIV. "X. Y. Z."</a></p>
+
+<p><a href="#Chapter_15">XV. LITTLE LESTER</a></p>
+
+<p><a href="#Chapter_16">XVI. A LATE VISITOR</a></p>
+
+<p><a href="#Chapter_17">XVII. BEFORE DAWN</a></p>
+
+<p><a href="#Chapter_18">XVIII. SUNRISE</a></p>
+
+<p><a href="#Chapter_19">XIX. ROSE GUESSES SOMETHING</a></p>
+
+<p><a href="#Chapter_20">XX. UP THE CHIMNEY</a></p>
+
+<p><a href="#Chapter_21">XXI. BY THE NURSERY FIRE</a></p>
+
+<p><a href="#Chapter_22">XXII. NO THOROUGHFARE</a></p>
+
+<p><a href="#Chapter_23">XXIII. A HINDRANCE</a></p>
+
+<p><a href="#Chapter_24">XXIV. AT THE GRAVE</a></p>
+
+<p><a href="#Chapter_25">XXV. JOHNNIE'S JOKE</a></p>
+
+<p><a href="#Chapter_26">XXVI. FLIGHT</a></p>
+
+<p><a href="#Chapter_27">XXVII. A DARK RIDE</a></p>
+
+<p><a href="#Chapter_28">XXVIII. ALMOST</a></p>
+
+<p><a href="#Chapter_29">XXIX. AT LAST</a></p>
+
+<p><a href="#Chapter_30">XXX. WRAPPED IN A CLOAK</a></p>
+
+<p><a href="#Chapter_31">XXXI. ANOTHER PROMISE</a></p>
+
+<p><a href="#Chapter_32">XXXII. A VIGIL</a></p>
+
+<p><a href="#Chapter_33">XXXIII. "FRITZ IS COMING"</a></p>
+
+<p><a href="#Chapter_34">XXXIV. SET TO WORK</a></p>
+
+<p><a href="#Chapter_35">XXXV. OUTSIDE THE GREAT NORTHERN</a></p>
+
+<p><a href="#Chapter_36">XXXVI. BY AND BY</a></p>
+
+<p><a href="#Chapter_37">XXXVII. A NEW THOUGHT</a></p>
+
+<p><a href="#Chapter_38">XXXVIII. IN THE MUSEUM</a></p>
+
+<p><a href="#Chapter_39">XXXIX. HIDING</a></p>
+
+<p><a href="#Chapter_40">XL. RANDALL'S MISCHIEF</a></p>
+
+<p><a href="#Chapter_41">XLI. TWO SIDES OF A STORY</a></p>
+
+<p><a href="#Chapter_42">XLII. CLOUDS</a></p>
+
+<p><a href="#Chapter_43">XLIII. "WAITING FOR YOU!"</a></p>
+
+<p><a href="#Chapter_44">XLIV. A SHORT DRIVE</a></p>
+
+<p><a href="#Chapter_45">XLV. TILL WEDNESDAY</a></p>
+
+<p><a href="#Chapter_46">XLVI. NURSE'S PLAN</a></p>
+
+<p><a href="#Chapter_47">XLVII. THE STRANGE HOUSE AGAIN</a></p>
+
+<p><a href="#Chapter_48">XLVIII. RANDALL'S REQUEST</a></p>
+
+<p><a href="#Chapter_49">XLIX. WEDNESDAY</a></p>
+
+<p><a href="#Chapter_50">L. IN THE CABINET</a></p>
+
+<p><a href="#Chapter_51">LI. AT LANRIFFE</a></p>
+
+<p><a href="#Chapter_52">LII. RANDALL'S RETURN</a></p>
+
+<p><br><br><br></p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter" id="image003" style="max-width: 25.3125em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/image003.jpg" alt="image003"></figure>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<p class="t2">
+<b>THE STRANGE HOUSE.</b><br>
+<br>
+————<br>
+</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<h3><a id="Chapter_1">CHAPTER I.</a></h3>
+
+<p class="t3">
+<b>NEXT DOOR.</b><br>
+</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<p>"HARK! What's that, Ned?"</p>
+
+<p>"Nothing!"</p>
+
+<p>"It isn't nothing! Do hush, Ned; there is something wrong outside!"</p>
+
+<p>It was a still night at the end of September, unusually mild for the
+time of year, and the boys were just in bed, having left their window
+thrown wide-open, so that every noise in the road came up distinctly.</p>
+
+<p>Conway, having just laid his head on his pillow, heard some one say in
+a clear, abrupt undertone—</p>
+
+<p>"I've got you!" followed by a scuffle, in which, now that Ned was
+quiet, holding his breath too, there were words exchanged of angry
+expostulation.</p>
+
+<p>The boys were out of bed in a trice, and were leaning out of the window
+breathlessly.</p>
+
+<p>"Let go, I say," said the second voice angrily.</p>
+
+<p>"Not I! I've got you, now! I've been watching you for this half-hour."</p>
+
+<p>"Let go, I say! What do you want with me? I'm in my own garden, I tell
+you."</p>
+
+<p>"A likely story," answered the gruffer voice, which the boys took to
+be a policeman's. "And if you stir till I can get help, you'll feel my
+truncheon."</p>
+
+<p>"I say," said Conway, "don't you think we ought to go down, Ned?"</p>
+
+<p>He was getting into his garments in breathless haste, followed by Ned.
+And just as they rushed down-stairs, two or three heads were put out at
+various doors, and their mother asked—</p>
+
+<p>"Whatever is the matter?"</p>
+
+<p>The boys did not wait to explain much, but called out, "There's
+something going on in the next garden; tell father to come," and rushed
+off.</p>
+
+<p>"What is it, mother?" asked Mollie, peeping from her room.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Shaddock shivered, her teeth chattering with nervousness. "I don't
+know," she answered, "only I heard a noise in the road."</p>
+
+<p>"Why have the boys gone down?" asked Mollie. "And oh, here's father
+going too!"</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile the boys had reached the garden, and had sprung over the
+hedge which separated them from their neighbour's grass-plot, and were
+already standing by the policeman, who was grimly holding on to a
+crouching figure under the front hedge.</p>
+
+<p>As the policeman's lantern was turned on the boys' faces, the
+imprisoned man looked up and exclaimed—</p>
+
+<p>"Speak for me, young sirs; you know me, don't you? These young
+gentlemen live next door to me, and they know I live here!"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't believe you," said the policeman; "you're here for no good,
+that I do know. Get up and come along with me."</p>
+
+<p>"I'm not going to," said the man stoutly. "I live here. And if I like
+to be in my garden at this time of night, I shall please myself."</p>
+
+<p>"We'll go and rouse the house and see if you belong there. Who else
+lives here?" asked the constable suspiciously.</p>
+
+<p>"No one else," said the man, springing to his feet, and releasing
+himself, though he did not attempt to move away. "I live alone, and
+it's no business of any one's if I do. What sort of a policeman can you
+be not to know me who has lived here for this past year, and worked in
+my garden day and night?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, it 'is' our neighbour," broke in Conway, while Mr. Shaddock, who
+had now come out, assured the officer of the law that this was the case.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I'm new on this beat," said the man, letting go unwillingly.
+"But when I see a feller poking along by a hedge, and hiding down
+beneath it when he hears a footstep, I sez to myself, 'He ain't up to
+no good.' And no more he isn't, be he neighbour or no neighbour to
+respectable folks!"</p>
+
+<p>He stood aside angrily, while the man, with curt thanks to his
+releasers, strode up the garden path and let himself into the house
+with a latch-key.</p>
+
+<p>"Rum," remarked the policeman; "for when I first took hold of him, I
+could swear I saw a light in the bottom room. And how should it go out
+and all be black and dark now, I should like to know?"</p>
+
+<p>He moved off, shaking his head, while Mr. Shaddock and his sons made
+their way back to their home.</p>
+
+<p>On the doorstep stood Mrs. Shaddock and her eldest daughter, Mollie,
+who had been looking on in great excitement, fearing, or perhaps
+hoping, that a veritable thief had been caught.</p>
+
+<p>The disturbed household gathered in the deserted dining-room, a motley
+group in their quickly-donned costumes.</p>
+
+<p>Ned could not help laughing as he pulled Mollie's long hair, and asked
+her if she were sure her head was not chopped off?</p>
+
+<p>"After that tug, I 'am,'" she answered. "But, father, what did he say?
+We could not hear."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said Mrs. Shaddock, "do tell us."</p>
+
+<p>"I've nothing to tell," answered her husband. "Our strange neighbour,
+it seems, was meandering about outside, and a new policeman took him up
+in mistake for a thief; that's all!"</p>
+
+<p>"All!" echoed Mrs. Shaddock. "Suppose you had been taken up when you
+were smoking a cigar."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, he wasn't smoking," said Conway; "he was hiding apparently.
+Besides, he says there is no one living in the house with him, and yet
+the 'Bobby' saw a light put out."</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Shaddock turned white. "'I' saw a light put out," she said, "just
+after your father went out. We were standing on the doorstep when a
+light was slowly moved a few yards, and then it went out."</p>
+
+<p>"That can't be, my dear, if nobody besides lives there," said Mr.
+Shaddock.</p>
+
+<p>"It is very queer though," she said, turning to Mollie, "for we both
+thought it was strange the person did not come to the door."</p>
+
+<p>"What a good thing it is we had been up so late!" said Ned, yawning.
+"If we had not been at that concert, this would not have happened!"</p>
+
+<p>Conway laughed. "Or we should have slept through it," he said.</p>
+
+<p>"I feel scared," remarked Mollie. "I wonder if Daisy is awake?"</p>
+
+<p>"There is nothing to be scared at," said Ned, "and father is next door
+to you. Anyway, I love excitements. We will watch the Strange House,
+Conway, and see what comes of this."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," assented his brother, "if it is worth while. That feller next
+door has told a lie, anyway!"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, that's nothing," said Ned carelessly. "It's more than that, I
+think. I shall keep my eyes open."</p>
+
+<p>"And I shall shut mine," said Conway, "if they aren't shut already!"</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter" id="image004" style="max-width: 25.3125em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/image004.jpg" alt="image004"></figure>
+
+<p><br><br><br></p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter" id="image005" style="max-width: 25.3125em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/image005.jpg" alt="image005"></figure>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<h3><a id="Chapter_2">CHAPTER II.</a></h3>
+
+<p class="t3">
+<b>POVERTY KNOCKS AT THE DOOR.</b><br>
+</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<p>"HOW does it look, Phyllis?"</p>
+
+<p>The child glanced up from her lessons, and stretched out her hand
+across the table for a fine piece of cambric which her mother was
+holding out to her.</p>
+
+<p>She took it under the lamp, and examined it critically.</p>
+
+<p>"I've seen you do it better, mother."</p>
+
+<p>"I was afraid so," answered Mrs. Ashlyn slowly. "I can do no more work
+by candlelight."</p>
+
+<p>"Mother!" exclaimed the child, with an accent of dismay.</p>
+
+<p>"I have feared it for a long time," she said, passing her hand over her
+eyes, and leaning back in her chair rather wearily.</p>
+
+<p>Phyllis looked in her face consideringly, and then her eyes met a pair
+of dark ones opposite—those of a young man seated with a pile of books
+before him, in the study of which he had been buried, till interrupted
+by the serious nature of the conversation between his two companions.</p>
+
+<p>For that it was a serious conversation both knew.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Ashlyn was a widow with very limited means, and had been
+accustomed to eke out her income by fine needlework for a large
+baby-linen warehouse in the neighbouring town.</p>
+
+<p>If this source of income should fail, what would become of them? So
+thought the three seated in that cosy little room.</p>
+
+<p>From outside came the subdued roar of the sea, as its ceaseless waves
+broke on the beach near; while inside the clock ticked on audibly, and
+the lamp shone on Phyllis's shining hair and on Otto's curly head,
+both bent over their respective books, though their thoughts were busy
+elsewhere.</p>
+
+<p>Otto, the son of an old friend, had lived with Mrs. Ashlyn for three
+years, while preparing for his medical examinations, and had become,
+as Phyllis expressed it, "quite one of the family." But at any rate,
+he shared all their interests, and, so far as he understood them,
+sympathized in their cares.</p>
+
+<p>What would happen now, if one of the chief sources of income should be
+permanently dried up?</p>
+
+<p>The meditations of the three were broken in upon by a light step coming
+swiftly up the little garden path, and by the turning of the handle of
+the front door.</p>
+
+<p>"There's Gertrude!" exclaimed Phyllis rather unnecessarily, for both
+her companions knew that quite well.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Ashlyn rose, folded her work carefully into a spotless
+handkerchief, and placed it in a dainty, covered basket which stood at
+her side. Then she looked up with a smile as the door opened to admit
+a girl of about twenty-two, who came in with a bright look and manner
+that seemed like a May breeze.</p>
+
+<p>"You look like news!" said Phyllis. "Are they going to keep you on?"</p>
+
+<p>"No," answered Gertrude.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Ashlyn's eyes were fixed on her face inquiringly, with an anxiety
+in her answer which the others understood, if Gertrude did not.</p>
+
+<p>"No," pursued Gertrude, "they are not. They want to make other
+arrangements. So now there is nothing to be done but to look out for
+something else!"</p>
+
+<p>"That is not so easy," said Mrs. Ashlyn. "Camptown is not so very
+large, and the schools there are limited in number. But I dare say we
+shall find something in time."</p>
+
+<p>"Of course we shall," said Gertrude heartily. "Why, mother, do you not
+'know' that all our ways are in our Father's hands?"</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Ashlyn was leaving the room, and received her daughter's kiss with
+a sweet, patient smile, the patience of which was not noticed by her
+child so much as its sweetness.</p>
+
+<p>"Mother! I had something to ask you. Now Phyllis is so 'competent'
+and—well—everything, would you spare me if I heard of a situation near
+London—at Hampstead?"</p>
+
+<p>"Have you?" asked her mother, starting. And she was not the only one in
+that room who started too.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, Miss Timely told me of one—"</p>
+
+<p>"I will think of it," said Mrs. Ashlyn quietly.</p>
+
+<p>And then the door closed and the three young people were left alone.</p>
+
+<p>Gertrude looked after her mother with a puzzled look. Then she said to
+Phyllis—</p>
+
+<p>"Is mother not well?"</p>
+
+<p>But Phyllis did not answer at once, so Otto said quietly—</p>
+
+<p>"Her eyes have troubled her again to-night, and I think she has gone to
+bathe them."</p>
+
+<p>"You speak in a different tone from what you do generally, Otto," she
+said, going to his side. "Has anything happened while I have been gone?"</p>
+
+<p>"Nothing but what I said—nothing fresh," he added in a quick undertone.
+"But I think it has come over your mother more than ever before—what
+I have long foreseen—that the work which she does so beautifully is
+injuring her sight, and that she will soon be unable to do it."</p>
+
+<p>"Otto!"</p>
+
+<p>There was a pause. The young man was gathering his books together, as
+if he had finished.</p>
+
+<p>"Have you done?" asked Phyllis, surprised.</p>
+
+<p>"For to-night," he answered. "I am going for a walk along the beach."</p>
+
+<p><br><br><br></p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter" id="image006" style="max-width: 25.3125em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/image006.jpg" alt="image006"></figure>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<h3><a id="Chapter_3">CHAPTER III.</a></h3>
+
+<p class="t3">
+<b>LOVE DOES NOT FLY OUT OF THE WINDOW.</b><br>
+</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<p>OTTO let himself out into the darkness, leaving the two girls looking
+at each other.</p>
+
+<p>"He said he had heaps to do!" exclaimed Phyllis.</p>
+
+<p>"He has altered his mind. But what is this, about mother's eyes?"</p>
+
+<p>Phyllis explained, and then Gertrude ran up-stairs to find her mother.</p>
+
+<p>The rooms were all dark, but as she peeped into her mother's, across
+the strip of moonlight was a kneeling figure.</p>
+
+<p>The figure rose on hearing her step, and her mother came to her side
+and drew her to the window. Neither spoke for a moment, then Gertrude
+said gently—</p>
+
+<p>"Your eyes may be better again, mother!"</p>
+
+<p>"I hardly expect that my dear, but—"</p>
+
+<p>"You have seen a way?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; 'I will never leave thee nor forsake thee.'"</p>
+
+<p>"That is the best help there can be."</p>
+
+<p>Again they stood in silence, watching the bright rippling sea,
+sparkling like diamonds in the moonlight.</p>
+
+<p>"What is this situation you have heard of, my dear?"</p>
+
+<p>"It is near Hampstead; Miss Timely knows the people well, and says I
+should be very comfortable. There are four boys and two girls—"</p>
+
+<p>"Boys?" asked Mrs. Ashlyn.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, not all for me to teach! One little boy, I think, and the two
+girls."</p>
+
+<p>"When do they want you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Directly. But, mother, the salary is good, much better than what Miss
+Timely gave me. And then you will not have my board, you know!"</p>
+
+<p>"Your board!" said her mother fondly. "But, Gertrude, how shall I part
+with you, and how shall you bear to go?"</p>
+
+<p>"That I do not know," she answered, in a tone that had a sort of
+huskiness in it. "But sometimes I have wished for a change—"</p>
+
+<p>"Have you, dear?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," answered Gertrude slowly, her voice growing clear and calm
+again, "yes, I have. I thought it would be good for us all. I shall
+come back again, God willing. But—if you do not mind, I should like to
+go."</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Ashlyn was very thoughtful for a few moments, still with her arm
+round her daughter's waist, and still looking out on the sea.</p>
+
+<p>She opened her mouth to speak, but the question got no farther than her
+lips.</p>
+
+<p>Perhaps Gertrude did not desire to prolong the interview. At any rate
+she drew herself away gently, and said in a would-be sprightly tone—</p>
+
+<p>"I must write about this at once, mother, and then set to about some
+adornments! What a good thing it is you have made me keep my clothes in
+such good order!"</p>
+
+<p>"I never thought it would be for this," said her mother ruefully.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah! We do not know what good things are in store for us, by and by,
+mother. Let us trust on; we have been cared for hitherto."</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Ashlyn followed her down-stairs, and superintended the letter to a
+certain Mrs. Shaddock, living in a certain road near Hampstead; which
+letter got written and posted before they went to bed.</p>
+
+<p>"I'll run over and put it in the box," said Gertrude, throwing a light
+shawl over her head. "Mother, I shall not be able to be so primitive at
+Hampstead!"</p>
+
+<p>"No, my dear. You will miss the freedom."</p>
+
+<p>"I shall miss a great many things," she answered soberly.</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile Otto had made his way from the houses of the little village,
+and had found a sheltered nook among the rocks where he could be alone,
+and yet could see the sea and the moon.</p>
+
+<p>But though his eyes were fixed upon it, his thoughts were elsewhere.</p>
+
+<p>He felt conscious of having received a blow. He was unwilling to
+acknowledge it to himself, and yet he felt it was there.</p>
+
+<p>He had been sure two years ago that he had buried something—a very dear
+hope—safely and securely in the depths of his heart, never again to
+rise, he had assured himself. And yet—yet the imprisoned hope was not
+dead! It had burst its chains, and was there by his side, with more
+life than ever!</p>
+
+<p>When he had first come to Lanriffe, the pretty little fishing village
+near to the larger town of Camptown, and had settled down in Mrs.
+Ashlyn's happy little cottage, he had found out after a few months that
+there was one in that cottage who had become worth all the world to him.</p>
+
+<p>Then had come thoughts of prudence and necessity—his unfinished
+studies, his uncertain future, his poverty, everything.</p>
+
+<p>He had had a sore struggle, but he had considered he had conquered.</p>
+
+<p>"As sisters henceforth," he had assured himself. And till to-night he
+had believed it true.</p>
+
+<p>Now she was going away! Uncertain?—Nonsense, of course she would go!</p>
+
+<p>All his patience and self-control were cast to the winds. He bent his
+head to the blast, and felt as if there were nothing in the world of
+any use now! Gertrude was going away!</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter" id="image007" style="max-width: 25.3125em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/image007.jpg" alt="image007"></figure>
+
+<p><br><br><br></p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter" id="image008" style="max-width: 25.3125em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/image008.jpg" alt="image008"></figure>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<h3><a id="Chapter_4">CHAPTER IV.</a></h3>
+
+<p class="t3">
+<b>GONE.</b><br>
+</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<p>THE answer from Mrs. Shaddock had come. Gertrude was to go as soon as
+she could arrange to set off, and Mrs. Ashlyn and the two girls were
+very busy during the days which elapsed, stitching and planning and
+packing.</p>
+
+<p>When they were together, all tried to face the impending parting with
+as much cheerfulness as possible. But the nearer it got, the worse it
+seemed.</p>
+
+<p>Otto, after that one lonely walk on the shore, buried himself in his
+studies with more diligence than ever, seldom looking up to joke with
+Phyllis or fall into one of those talks with Gertrude that had been
+such a happiness to him before.</p>
+
+<p>The last day seemed a very long one. In the afternoon, when they were
+up-stairs putting the final things into the box, the door opened and a
+sweet face peeped in.</p>
+
+<p>"Rose!" exclaimed Phyllis.</p>
+
+<p>Any one could see that the lady whom Phyllis addressed was her own
+sister, but the sad eyes and ethereal mournful look did not match
+Phyllis's bright face at all.</p>
+
+<p>"My dearest!" said Rose's mother, rising. "Have you come home?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, we came last night. To-day I have done nothing but set my house
+in order."</p>
+
+<p>She sighed heavily, as she put her bonnet on the bed and turned to
+smooth her hair at the glass, which reflected back a singularly lovely
+young face set in wavy hair, which at thirty was already almost white.
+She smoothed it back with careless grace, and turned to her mother with
+a faint smile, saying, "I have come to tea!"</p>
+
+<p>"I am so glad," said Gertrude. "It would have seemed worse to go
+without seeing you, Rose."</p>
+
+<p>"I need not ask?" said Mrs. Ashlyn, tenderly. "You have had no tidings?"</p>
+
+<p>"None," answered Rose, sadly. "We spent all our holiday in searching,
+and could gain not the slightest clue."</p>
+
+<p>When they went down-stairs, Otto sat in the window still buried in his
+books. But on their entrance, he closed them and rose to greet the
+new-comer, glancing in her face inquiringly, as the others had done,
+knowing that the answer was to be read plainly enough without any words.</p>
+
+<p>Rose and her husband had passed through a terrible sorrow—one so
+dreadful that life had seemed a blank to them from the moment, two
+years ago, when they had become childless!</p>
+
+<p>No little grave belonged to the sorrowful parents; no last days of love
+and tenderness could be remembered; no little clothes in which their
+darling had died were left for that broken-hearted mother. Their child
+had been snatched from them, and had left no mark behind.</p>
+
+<p>The young mother, when lodging for a few weeks at the seaside, had
+suddenly been called away to attend her husband, who was dangerously
+ill.</p>
+
+<p>The landlady, who had only one boy, offered in the kindest way to take
+charge of their four-year-old darling. And in an agony of doubt, torn
+between love for husband and child, Rose left the child in her charge,
+and set off on her long journey to Scotland.</p>
+
+<p>While she was there, she received one letter from the landlady to say
+all was going well. And then a week elapsed and no further tidings came.</p>
+
+<p>She wrote to inquire, and on receiving no answer, she left her
+convalescent husband and hurried south.</p>
+
+<p>When she arrived at the lodgings, all things were as she had left them
+a fortnight before, but the house was empty!</p>
+
+<p>No landlady, no boy, no child!</p>
+
+<p>The neighbours said she had hurriedly set out ten days ago, saying the
+little visitor was ill and must be taken to his mother. And this was
+all any one knew. They had taken tickets to London, and there all trace
+of them ceased.</p>
+
+<p>That was Rose's story: no wonder that Otto looked in her face to see if
+in their weary search any hope had crept in.</p>
+
+<p>No earthly hope had entered, but in that depth of desolation, when
+their hearts had been almost broken, the One who healeth the broken in
+heart had drawn near to them to bind up their wounds.</p>
+
+<p>"He belonged to Jesus," Rose had said to her mother; "he loved Jesus,
+even though he was so little. By and by we shall meet again, either
+here or in heaven, and I can trust Him!"</p>
+
+<p>Oh, the depth which that loving heart had reached before she could say,
+"I can trust Him!"</p>
+
+<p>Otto knew all the story. Besides, Rose's husband was Otto's own brother.</p>
+
+<p>So they sat down to tea, and Rose put away her own sorrows while she
+entered into all the interests at the cottage.</p>
+
+<p>At last it was time to go, and Otto offered to accompany his
+sister-in-law home.</p>
+
+<p>"To-night?" she asked, surprised. "I can easily go back in the omnibus,
+Otto, and you would rather not be away this last night?"</p>
+
+<p>"I shall come with you," he answered; "there will be all too much time
+for good-byes even then. Goodbyes are wretched things."</p>
+
+<p>His eyes met Gertrude's, and then looked away again. "Shall you be up
+when I come home?" he asked.</p>
+
+<p>"That depends on what time that will be," she answered, smiling a very
+little.</p>
+
+<p>"Then I will come in time to see you," he said.</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter" id="image009" style="max-width: 25.3125em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/image009.jpg" alt="image009"></figure>
+
+<p><br><br><br></p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter" id="image010" style="max-width: 25.3125em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/image010.jpg" alt="image010"></figure>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<h3><a id="Chapter_5">CHAPTER V.</a></h3>
+
+<p class="t3">
+<b>MOLLIE'S WELCOME.</b><br>
+</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<p>THE train was speeding towards London, bearing Gertrude to her new home.</p>
+
+<p>The partings had all been said. Oh, the terrible wrench it was to leave
+her mother, to know that henceforth she must be left to Phyllis's care
+and thoughtfulness!</p>
+
+<p>Then Phyllis! How her large eyes had filled with tears, and how sober
+her sweet face had looked as she realized for the first time her
+responsibilities as sole home-daughter!</p>
+
+<p>And then the third parting had perhaps been the worst of all, because
+the feeling on both sides had not been able to be expressed.</p>
+
+<p>"Will you think of me and trust me, Gertrude?" was all that Otto's dry
+lips had been able to falter.</p>
+
+<p>And Gertrude had put her hand in his, and had answered a very quiet,
+"Yes, Otto," as their eyes met.</p>
+
+<p>Now, seated in the train, she felt as if she would like to have been
+able to live the last twelve hours over again.</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<p>Towards afternoon a cab drove up to that certain road near Hampstead
+where the Shaddocks lived, and Gertrude and her two modest boxes were
+deposited within the hall of her new home.</p>
+
+<p>"Good afternoon, Miss Ashlyn," said a tall, pleasant-looking girl of
+about thirteen, coming out of the dining-room, where she had been
+waiting on purpose to receive her governess. "Mother is out just now,
+but told me to make you welcome."</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you," said Gertrude. "Are you Mollie?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes. Will you like to remove your things, or will you have some tea
+first?"</p>
+
+<p>The prospect of a cup of tea after her long journey looked very
+inviting, and gave Gertrude a pleasant impression of her new
+surroundings that such a thing should have been thought of.</p>
+
+<p>"Stay!" said Mollie, ere she could reply. "I will have it brought to
+your room; you will feel more at home so."</p>
+
+<p>"She won't!" said Ned, peeping in at the door and hearing his sister's
+remark. "People don't get at home in their bedrooms! Besides, I want to
+see Miss Ashlyn, and if you shut her up there, I shan't."</p>
+
+<p>Mollie tossed her head at this advice. While Ned came forward on
+Gertrude's holding out her hand, with an awkward attempt to be at his
+ease.</p>
+
+<p>"I shall soon be at home, I dare say," said Gertrude, as brightly as
+she could, though her heart felt like a lump of lead, and she would
+like to have hidden her face and had a good cry.</p>
+
+<p>"Come up-stairs, Miss Ashlyn," said Mollie then, "and do not mind Ned.
+He is always rude."</p>
+
+<p>The matter-of-fact tone of this revelation was very astonishing, but
+Mollie left no time for Ned's rejoinder, as she tripped on before,
+having taken up Gertrude's umbrella and waterproof in her hand.</p>
+
+<p>"This is your room," she said, when they had gained the top floor. "You
+will find a nice view from the windows, which 'I' think compensates for
+the stairs!"</p>
+
+<p>"Beautiful!" said Gertrude.</p>
+
+<p>"Susan will bring up your boxes in a moment. Oh! Here she is with your
+tea. We shall have high-tea at seven o'clock. When you are ready, if
+you will ring, Susan will tell me, and I will come up to show you the
+way down."</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you, Mollie," said Gertrude gratefully. "You seem to have
+thought of everything!"</p>
+
+<p>The girl looked rather astonished, but answered, abruptly, "Oh, that is
+nothing. I hope your tea will be good."</p>
+
+<p>She left the room, and Gertrude laid her bonnet down and threw off her
+jacket, just as two maids came to her door with her boxes.</p>
+
+<p>They were soon uncorded, the servants glancing at her a little
+curiously, though not unkindly. And then the door was shut and she was
+alone.</p>
+
+<p>She looked round; her room was large and well-furnished, with a
+somewhat low ceiling, but the window was wide and low too, giving an
+impression of space and expanse very cheering to the country girl, who
+had dreaded brick walls and endless roofs.</p>
+
+<p>No walls or roofs, at least near ones, obtruded themselves on her view.
+Before her stretched the gardens of neighbouring houses, and beyond
+these were a few more distant streets of villas, shut in finally by
+green hills and fields, with Highgate spire in the distance.</p>
+
+<p>Then she turned her attention to her tea. On the dainty tray was
+a pretty tea-set with a plate of sandwiches and some cake for her
+refreshment.</p>
+
+<p>So she sat down to partake of it, leaving her boxes and all else till
+she should have tasted that fragrant cup which had been prepared.</p>
+
+<p>Greatly revived, and feeling that the world looked decidedly less dark
+than it had done a quarter of an hour ago, she rose and prepared to
+unpack her boxes, having gathered that this was what Mollie expected
+her to do.</p>
+
+<p>The things which had taken so long to work at and pack at home, took
+but little time to take out of the box and arrange neatly in the
+wardrobe. All was done very quickly, and then she stood ready to begin
+her new life.</p>
+
+<p>"This is the last time I shall be mistress of my own time," she said to
+herself with a little smile on her lips. "How strange it will seem!"</p>
+
+<p>Then she knelt down by the bed, and asked that she might be blessed in
+this home and be made a blessing.</p>
+
+<p>Then she rang her bell, as directed, and waited Mollie's appearance
+with beating heart.</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter" id="image011" style="max-width: 25.3125em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/image011.jpg" alt="image011"></figure>
+
+<p><br><br><br></p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter" id="image012" style="max-width: 25.3125em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/image012.jpg" alt="image012"></figure>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<h3><a id="Chapter_6">CHAPTER VI.</a></h3>
+
+<p class="t3">
+<b>ALL SIX!</b><br>
+</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<p>MOLLIE looked round on her governess's room with approving eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"You have found out where to put your things," she remarked. "Do you
+like your room?"</p>
+
+<p>"Very much indeed, thank you."</p>
+
+<p>"We have only had one governess before," said Mollie, "but the boys go
+to school now, all but Randall, and he's spoilt." She laughed lightly
+as she led the way down-stairs once more.</p>
+
+<p>"Will you make acquaintance with the schoolroom first, Miss Ashlyn?"</p>
+
+<p>"Anywhere you like, dear."</p>
+
+<p>"Then here it is," she said, pausing on the landing of the first floor.
+"That is mother's room, that is mine and Daisy's; there is the spare
+room, and this is our own special study, where we 'grind,' and play,
+and practise."</p>
+
+<p>The view from the window looking towards the front, though different
+from her room up-stairs, Gertrude considered very good "for London,"
+for it was over the well-kept grounds of a gentleman's house, which was
+nearly hidden in the autumn-tinted trees.</p>
+
+<p>But only a glance did she give at that, for at the table sat her
+pupils, who would henceforth be everything to her.</p>
+
+<p>Daisy was a plain little girl with a dark, sober face, who looked up
+quietly and even calmly into her face, murmuring, "Good afternoon, Miss
+Ashlyn."</p>
+
+<p>So different was the child from bright, energetic Mollie, that Gertrude
+almost felt abashed by her reception. She shook her little hand,
+however, and looked round at the other occupants of the room.</p>
+
+<p>Ned, whose acquaintance she had already made, sat perched on the end of
+the sofa, swinging his legs backwards and forwards.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm not one of 'em," he announced with a wink at the others, at which
+Randall winked back and gave a giggle.</p>
+
+<p>"I know that," answered Gertrude pleasantly, "so now I must put names
+to these two. This is Randall, I am sure, by what I have heard; and
+this must be Hugh."</p>
+
+<p>She bent towards the boy—rather taller than Randall, but not so
+robust—and looked into his face.</p>
+
+<p>Did something in him remind her for an instant of that little nephew
+who had gone out of their life so mysteriously? For a moment she felt
+as if she were speaking to him. Then her eyes nearly filled with tears,
+and very tenderly she said, "I hope Hugh and I shall be friends."</p>
+
+<p>The child, for he was about nine years old, looked up with great
+astonishment. While Randall burst out—"He's a cry-baby; you won't care
+for him."</p>
+
+<p>"Shall I not?" answered Gertrude. "We shall see."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, fie!" said Daisy, colouring. "You should not tell tales out of
+school."</p>
+
+<p>"We haven't begun yet," said Randall, nodding.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, there's mother; she's coming in."</p>
+
+<p>He ran to the window to make sure, and then bounded down the stairs.</p>
+
+<p>"What are you playing at?" asked Gertrude, turning to Daisy and Hugh.</p>
+
+<p>"A word game," said Daisy, rather curtly.</p>
+
+<p>"Would you care to join?" asked Mollie. "But I do not think it is worth
+while, for mother is come in, and she will want to see you, she said."</p>
+
+<p>"I will look on then," answered Gertrude.</p>
+
+<p>She stood by the table watching the game till Randall came tearing
+back to say that Mrs. Shaddock was in the drawing-room, and would Miss
+Ashlyn go there to her.</p>
+
+<p>She found Mrs. Shaddock a woman evidently accustomed to society,
+apparently with but little in common with the life which Gertrude had
+left—a life full of Sunday-school work, Church interests, and desires
+after pleasing God above everything else.</p>
+
+<p>"I am sure you will satisfy me," Mrs. Shaddock concluded, after they
+had talked for half an hour; "so do not be discouraged if you find
+things difficult at first."</p>
+
+<p>She rose as she said these words, and Gertrude found herself dismissed,
+with all the load of her six charges on her hands.</p>
+
+<p>"I am out a great deal," Mrs. Shaddock had said, "and I require a
+governess who will act in my absence as if she were an elder daughter."</p>
+
+<p>She went up-stairs pondering deeply. So she was expected to "manage"
+the whole six! What if they should prove too much for her?</p>
+
+<p>Then she remembered a promise which she had often "tried and proved."</p>
+
+<p>"'As thy days so shall thy strength be.'"</p>
+
+<p>So she entered the study with a peaceful face.</p>
+
+<p>"Here is Conway," said Mollie, looking up. "Now you have seen all of
+us! And, Miss Ashlyn, Conway said he had something to tell us, when you
+came up. Do you know we have a Strange House next door?"</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter" id="image013" style="max-width: 25.3125em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/image013.jpg" alt="image013"></figure>
+
+<p><br><br><br></p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter" id="image014" style="max-width: 25.3125em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/image014.jpg" alt="image014"></figure>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<h3><a id="Chapter_7">CHAPTER VII.</a></h3>
+
+<p class="t3">
+<b>CONWAY'S DISCOVERIES.</b><br>
+</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<p>CONWAY was a tall boy of between fifteen and sixteen, and acknowledged
+Gertrude's salutation with not over-ceremonious courtesy. He was,
+however, full of some news he was anxious to bring out, and directly
+the door was shut and Gertrude had taken the seat Mollie pushed towards
+her, he began—</p>
+
+<p>"I say! Such a lark as I have had!"</p>
+
+<p>"When?" asked Ned. "What do you mean?"</p>
+
+<p>"I went just now to the Strange House. I thought as it was the last day
+of the holidays that I would signalize it!"</p>
+
+<p>"Miss Ashlyn does not know anything about the Strange House,"
+interrupted Mollie.</p>
+
+<p>"Then I shall tell her," said Ned, "so that Conway can gather breath
+for his story."</p>
+
+<p>"Pooh!" laughed Conway. "But, anyway, Miss Ashlyn must be told about
+our episode the other night, or she will not see why I was so anxious
+to find out about our mysterious neighbour."</p>
+
+<p>"First, then," said Ned, "about a year ago the next house (which you
+perceive is a somewhat old-fashioned one, and is not nearly such a good
+one as ours) was taken by some one, and a van with furniture came in
+the evening just before dark.</p>
+
+<p>"We did not take much notice, but thought one van was but little
+for the size of the house. We were somewhat curious about our new
+neighbours, but never could see any of them about, except a man, who
+could not be called a gentleman, whom we dubbed 'Mr. Eccentric.'</p>
+
+<p>"No tradesmen seem to call. No postmen bring letters. Except for that
+one man who continually works in his garden, the house might be empty."</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps he likes solitude," suggested Gertrude, as Ned paused.</p>
+
+<p>"But," said Mollie eagerly, "that's the strange part of it. Mother
+and I certainly saw a light moved and put out that night when the new
+policeman took the man up for a burglar."</p>
+
+<p>Conway now took up the thread and explained all about the events
+recorded in the first chapter, gratified to find a fresh listener in
+the governess, and to see that her attention did not flag.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, let all that be," said Ned at last. "Now tell us what you have
+found out more. You do not mean to say that you went up to the house,
+Conway? But you've got cheek for anything."</p>
+
+<p>"I had cheek enough for that," laughed Conway. "I went just now and
+knocked at the door, intending to ask the old fellow how he felt after
+his apprehension the other night. But I knocked and I rang, I knocked
+and I rang, till I was tired of that game. Nobody came to the door, for
+the very reason that nobody was at home to do so, I suppose. Just as
+I was turning on my heel, the old fellow came up the garden path and
+asked stiffly what I might want.</p>
+
+<p>"I told him I had come to make inquiries as to his health—"</p>
+
+<p>"You never did!" exclaimed Ned.</p>
+
+<p>"I did! I sympathized with him in the bobby's rough handling, et
+cetera, et cetera, and got him round into a good temper before I had
+done with him."</p>
+
+<p>"That's like you!" said Mollie.</p>
+
+<p>"He told me that he lived by himself, that he might be perhaps a little
+peculiar, but that gardening was his hobby. And that if only folks
+would let him alone, he did not wish to meddle with any one. He would
+go his way, and they could go theirs."</p>
+
+<p>"How funny!" said Ned.</p>
+
+<p>"But for all his peculiarity, there was a certain uneasiness about
+him," Conway went on, "that made me suspicious. He's got heaps of
+vegetables and fruit in that back garden!"</p>
+
+<p>"Of course he has," said Mollie; "any one with eyes can see that from
+our back windows! Why yesterday there were half a dozen beautiful
+marrows on trellis-work, and to-day they are all gone."</p>
+
+<p>"He's eaten them all," said Ned.</p>
+
+<p>"They were gone when I got up this morning," said Mollie, "for I
+noticed. I believe he sells them."</p>
+
+<p>"Who to?" asked Conway scornfully.</p>
+
+<p>"At Covent Garden, or somewhere. He sauntered in at the front gate
+about eight o'clock this morning. 'I' believe he gets up and goes to
+market early when no one is about."</p>
+
+<p>"There's something queer about it," said Conway; "don't you think so,
+Miss Ashlyn?"</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter" id="image015" style="max-width: 25.3125em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/image015.jpg" alt="image015"></figure>
+
+<p><br><br><br></p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter" id="image016" style="max-width: 25.3125em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/image016.jpg" alt="image016"></figure>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<h3><a id="Chapter_8">CHAPTER VIII.</a></h3>
+
+<p class="t3">
+<b>DAISY'S "CHUM."</b><br>
+</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<p>GERTRUDE looked from one to the other, listening and trying to
+comprehend in quick succession the different statements of her various
+entertainers.</p>
+
+<p>Daisy said no word, but she followed all that was said with keen
+interest, her dark face changing and varying as one after another gave
+out their opinions.</p>
+
+<p>Conway had got so friendly over his interesting news that he ceased to
+feel Gertrude quite such a stranger, and now began telling her about
+their school, to which he, Ned, and Hugh went daily by train, and which
+ought to have begun a week ago, but had been postponed owing to a scare
+of illness.</p>
+
+<p>"Have you got your books together?" asked Mollie. "For there's such a
+hunt the first morning, Miss Ashlyn, generally."</p>
+
+<p>"Don't you bother," said Conway. "I can mind my own affairs, thank you."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, don't ask me to get them, then," said Mollie.</p>
+
+<p>"I shall be sure to remember," said Conway, crossly. "Come, Ned, let's
+go down now."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; we've had enough of the girls," said Ned.</p>
+
+<p>They went off, Gertrude looking after them with some surprise in her
+eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"Did you ever see such boys?" asked Mollie, vexedly. "But they always
+are worse with strangers; they will be pleasanter when they get used to
+you."</p>
+
+<p>Gertrude did not answer. Her heart sank; she busied herself over her
+work-basket, which she had brought down in her hand, in silence, though
+her eyes were too blinded to see what she was doing. At length she drew
+out a piece of crewelling on which she had been engaged at home, and
+spread it out before her.</p>
+
+<p>The familiar pattern brought back with a rush all the circumstances
+in which she had put in those last leaves: the lamplight, the red
+table-cloth at home, Phyllis's beautiful little oval face bent over her
+lessons, her mother's presence so restful as well as cheering, Otto's
+quiet friendliness.</p>
+
+<p>It cost her a great effort not to let a sob escape her.</p>
+
+<p>She put down her work, and murmuring something about "up-stairs,"
+hastened to her room.</p>
+
+<p>For one instant she felt as if she 'must' fly home again! Oh, the
+dreadfulness of this home-sickness which swept everything before it!
+Why had she wished, sometimes even longed, to get away from the little
+daily round of getting the breakfast ready, going to Camptown, walking
+home again, getting the tea ready, and then spending the evening in
+reading and work!</p>
+
+<p>Now she would have given everything to be back again!</p>
+
+<p>She hastily bathed her eyes, which she knew must be red with the unshed
+tears, which she was keeping back so resolutely. And then with one
+swift prayer for help and comfort, she gulped down her sobs, and slowly
+made her way back again to the study.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile, when the door had been shut after her, Daisy had volunteered
+a remark.</p>
+
+<p>"Miss Ashlyn will hate us all if the boys go on so."</p>
+
+<p>"Let her," said Randall, pouting; "I don't care if she does."</p>
+
+<p>"I do," said Mollie; "it is not ladylike to behave badly, and I don't
+mean to. What is more, Randall, I shan't let you, either."</p>
+
+<p>Randall's round face put on an ugly frown. But after a moment's
+thought, he nodded defiantly. "You won't be able to help it," he said.</p>
+
+<p>"Shall I not?" asked Mollie. "I have ways and means."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, hush," said Hugh. "I do hate to hear you quarrel."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you, cry-baby?" asked Randall, turning upon him with his little
+bold, lionlike face.</p>
+
+<p>"Never mind, Hugh," whispered Daisy; "'handsome is, as handsome
+"does."' You can always behave the best, in spite of what anybody says."</p>
+
+<p>Hugh had flushed scarlet, and his small, thin hand was clenched into a
+fist beneath the table. But at his little sister's soothing whisper, it
+relaxed, and he gave a slight laugh, which however, angered Randall far
+more than a blow would have done.</p>
+
+<p>Just at the moment, however, Gertrude's step was heard at the door, and
+Mollie hastily rose, saying—</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Miss Ashlyn, shall we go and get ready for tea? You have not seen
+my room yet."</p>
+
+<p>Mollie's room looked over the gardens at the back, as she had said.
+And while she brushed her abundant hair, she explained about their
+neighbour's doings, and how his garden, both back and front, was kept
+in the best order of any in that suburb.</p>
+
+<p>After that they went to the drawing-room, where they found Mr.
+Shaddock, listening to Conway's account of his visit next door.</p>
+
+<p>Tea was rather formidable to poor Gertrude among such a number of
+strangers, though Mr. and Mrs. Shaddock exerted themselves to find
+topics of conversation, while Mollie did her best to join in, and to
+interest her governess in what went on.</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter" id="image017" style="max-width: 25.3125em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/image017.jpg" alt="image017"></figure>
+
+<p><br><br><br></p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter" id="image018" style="max-width: 25.3125em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/image018.jpg" alt="image018"></figure>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<h3><a id="Chapter_9">CHAPTER IX.</a></h3>
+
+<p class="t3">
+<b>A CHAMPION.</b><br>
+</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<p>AFTER tea, Daisy and Hugh went back to the study, only waiting to beg
+Ned not to come. And Gertrude asked if she might go with them.</p>
+
+<p>Perhaps the children looked a little disappointed. But very soon,
+when they were all shut in with the curtains drawn and the cheerful
+lamplight, they drew near to her, and condescended to examine her
+photograph album, which she had brought down for their inspection.</p>
+
+<p>"The boys learn their lessons in the little library," they told her;
+"and Mollie stays with mother and father. Randall goes to bed if he
+will, or stays up till nurse makes him come; or else he comes in here
+and bothers us."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you always spend your evenings together?" asked Gertrude.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said Daisy; "they do not want us down-stairs, and I am sure we
+do not want them!"</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<p>After a time a motherly-looking woman entered, greeting Gertrude with a
+respectful manner, and asked if Hugh were not ready for bed.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, nurse, I 'am' so happy," said Hugh. "Is Randall up-stairs yet?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not yet, my dear. But you know how tired you will be for school if you
+sit up."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," urged Daisy, "do go, Hugh. You can have Miss Ashlyn's company
+to-morrow, and nurse says quite true. Do go!"</p>
+
+<p>The boy put away his things-without another word, and wishing Gertrude
+good-night, left the room. When the door was shut, and Daisy had
+watched the handle for a moment, she got up and softly drew near to
+Gertrude's side.</p>
+
+<p>"You will not notice what Randall says, will you, Miss Ashlyn?"</p>
+
+<p>"How do you mean, dear?"</p>
+
+<p>"About Hugh." She hesitated, then went on hurriedly, "He calls him
+cry-baby. But perhaps you didn't hear? Anyway, you will not be long
+before you do hear it, for he tells everybody."</p>
+
+<p>"I did hear it," said Gertrude, "but I thought I would judge for
+myself."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, that's all right, then," said Daisy eagerly. Then, as if she could
+hardly leave the subject there, she added—</p>
+
+<p>"He isn't strong—Hugh, but he's not a cry-baby! He does cry sometimes,
+and they tease him dreadfully. But not one of them can do the brave
+things Hugh can. Not one of them tries so hard to control himself; not
+one of them is so good to people who are in trouble! And yet—yet Hugh
+is always in hot water because his spirits are not very strong."</p>
+
+<p>Daisy's face had flushed deeply, and she put her small hand gently on
+to Gertrude's knee, looking up beseechingly in her face.</p>
+
+<p>"I shall be sure to remember all you have told me," she answered,
+putting her arm round the small shoulders, and drawing the little girl
+towards her.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, thank you," said Daisy earnestly; "I am so very glad I have
+told you. I don't know why I did, except that you seem so very kind.
+Besides, I thought you took to Hugh."</p>
+
+<p>"He is very like a little nephew of mine, whom we have lost."</p>
+
+<p>Daisy glanced at Gertrude's dress curiously, but her eyes returned to
+her face without a satisfactory answer to her questioning look.</p>
+
+<p>"No, I am not in mourning," Gertrude answered, "but by and by, if Hugh
+and you and I become friends, I will tell you both all about it."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, that would be kind!" exclaimed Daisy. Then she paused, and hung
+her head for an instant. "Miss Ashlyn," she exclaimed in a low voice,
+"I will be good to you, indeed I will! I didn't mean to be—We are none
+of us at all good, but Hugh—but indeed I will try all I can!"</p>
+
+<p>Gertrude bent and kissed her, then she said softly—</p>
+
+<p>"Daisy, dear, you have made my heart lighter, but I wonder if you know
+the blessedness of trying to please the Lord Jesus? Have you over
+thought of that?"</p>
+
+<p>Daisy shook her head slowly.</p>
+
+<p>"Then I will try to teach you, and it will make you so happy!"</p>
+
+<p>"Nurse does sometimes talk to Hugh and me like that, but I don't
+understand what she means."</p>
+
+<p>"Would you like to understand?" asked Gertrude.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't mind—" said Daisy.</p>
+
+<p>"Do you not sometimes feel very sad and naughty, and as if you could
+not be good any way?" asked Gertrude.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I suppose I do, sometimes," acknowledged Daisy.</p>
+
+<p>"And do you not feel then as if you do not care to think about God, and
+would rather keep away from Him?"</p>
+
+<p>Daisy's wondering eyes were fixed upon her governess's face, but she
+did not answer in words.</p>
+
+<p>"That is sin," said Gertrude, "and unless that sin is got rid of, we
+can never get near to God, we can never please Him. Daisy, is it not
+the best news to hear that the Lord Jesus has died on the cross to make
+an atonement for this dreadful sin, so that we sinners may be forgiven
+and come back to God?"</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter" id="image019" style="max-width: 25.3125em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/image019.jpg" alt="image019"></figure>
+
+<p><br><br><br></p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter" id="image020" style="max-width: 25.3125em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/image020.jpg" alt="image020"></figure>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<h3><a id="Chapter_10">CHAPTER X.</a></h3>
+
+<p class="t3">
+<b>A SONG.</b><br>
+</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<p>AT last, the evening came to an end. Daisy departed to bed, Randall
+came in and looked at her, and sauntered out again, leaving the door
+open, and Mollie finally came for a few minutes, bringing a message
+from Mrs. Shaddock to the effect that Miss Ashlyn could retire whenever
+she felt inclined.</p>
+
+<p>"We generally have friends in the evening, or she goes out, but mother
+will not let me sit up late because she says I should lose my colour,"
+said Mollie, glancing at herself in the glass over the mantel-piece and
+shaking out her hair.</p>
+
+<p>"She is very wise," answered Gertrude.</p>
+
+<p>"But all the same, I do as I like," pursued Mollie. "I read in bed as
+often as not, or talk to nurse. She does not encourage that, I can tell
+you. But all the same, I do not get to bed as early as mother thinks."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you feel happy in doing so?" asked Gertrude, looking up with a
+bright little smile.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh dear, yes! 'What the eye doesn't see,' you know."</p>
+
+<p>Gertrude shook her head, smiling.</p>
+
+<p>"Are you awfully strict?" asked Mollie.</p>
+
+<p>Gertrude paused for an instant. She felt this might be a momentous
+conversation.</p>
+
+<p>She prayed in her heart one of those three-word prayers that she often
+pondered over, "Lord, help me!" And then, strengthened and calmed, she
+looked up at her questioner and answered—</p>
+
+<p>"When I have found out what your mother's wishes are in things, I shall
+be 'awfully strict' in carrying them out."</p>
+
+<p>"Shall you go telling tales, and asking her if I am to read in bed and
+do this and that?"</p>
+
+<p>"You will see," said Gertrude with a smile.</p>
+
+<p>"I should hate you if you did," said Mollie, also smiling.</p>
+
+<p>"I hope you will not hate me," answered Gertrude, "but whether you do
+or not, I ought to do my duty, ought I not?"</p>
+
+<p>"We shall see," said Mollie, looking at her somewhat curiously. "Now I
+must say good-night. I hope you will sleep well, Miss Ashlyn."</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you, dear, for trying to make me at home," said Gertrude.</p>
+
+<p>Then Mollie put out her cheek to be kissed, and Gertrude was at last
+alone.</p>
+
+<p>But though she looked round on her cosy study, she did not feel it
+enough her own, as yet, to indulge herself in even a thought towards
+home.</p>
+
+<p>She was just considering whether she should go to her own room, when
+Susan appeared with a little tray with biscuits and lemonade, asking if
+Miss Ashlyn would please to take some milk or anything more that she
+could bring her.</p>
+
+<p>"I am to be well cared for, at any rate in this way," said Gertrude to
+herself. But she did not feel inclined to eat.</p>
+
+<p>She cleared up her work, put the room straight, lowered the gas, and
+ascended to her own room and shut herself in.</p>
+
+<p>The moonlight streamed over the floor, making the little jet of gas
+which was already lighted quite tiny in comparison. She went to her
+window and looked out. How still it all was!—except for the occasional
+sounds of music coming up from the neighbouring drawing-rooms.</p>
+
+<p>Gertrude leant her head against the sash and buried her face in her
+hands, for some one near was singing a song which Otto had sung only
+last night—"When the mists have rolled in splendour." And after it was
+over, they had stepped outside to look at the harvest moon rising over
+the sea.</p>
+
+<p>While they had stood there, he had asked her whether she had any
+desires for things to be different from what they were, or whether she
+were quite satisfied to do the will of God, just as she found it every
+day?</p>
+
+<p>And she had thought about it, watching the slow red moon rise and rise
+out of the mist and enter a little cloud, till, after a few minutes'
+eclipse, she had suddenly shone out triumphantly above it in the clear
+deep blue.</p>
+
+<p>And she had answered thoughtfully—</p>
+
+<p>"I think my life feels something like that moon in the mist just now—"</p>
+
+<p>"Uncertain as to its true duty and position?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, perhaps, Otto, but I don't know," she had answered.</p>
+
+<p>"And then?" he had asked.</p>
+
+<p>"I feel as if to-morrow were like that bit of dark cloud, which, after
+all, in the wonderful fashioning of our Father's hand, may only serve
+to brighten the light when it does shine out!"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," he said consideringly, "only it is so hard to wait so long in
+the mist and in the cloud, Gertrude!"</p>
+
+<p>"If that is our appointed path?" she had asked.</p>
+
+<p>"It might all be clear sky if the mists did not come from earth," said
+Otto.</p>
+
+<p>"I see—self-made. Well, Otto, I don't know; all I can do is to ask God
+to work in me what He wills. I can't see the way myself, or tell how to
+act, sometimes."</p>
+
+<p>"Nor I," he had answered in a low tone.</p>
+
+<p>Then Phyllis's clear voice had called out from the front door, "Come,
+you two, it is ever so late, and we have to be early to-morrow!"</p>
+
+<p>Gertrude remembered it all, while still some beautiful tenor voice sang
+over and over again—</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+<br>
+"We shall know each other better<br>
+&nbsp;When the mists have rolled away!"<br>
+<br>
+</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, but that is in heaven," she murmured. "It is not a song of earthly
+things at all! To do our Father's will every day is our portion, and it
+shall be mine to do it willingly, if He will help me!"</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter" id="image021" style="max-width: 25.3125em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/image021.jpg" alt="image021"></figure>
+
+<p><br><br><br></p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter" id="image022" style="max-width: 25.3125em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/image022.jpg" alt="image022"></figure>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<h3><a id="Chapter_11">CHAPTER XI.</a></h3>
+
+<p class="t3">
+<b>A SCRIMMAGE.</b><br>
+</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<p>"DO you like Miss Ashlyn?" asked Randall of Hugh as they were being
+dressed the next day.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know yet," said Hugh, "but I think I do."</p>
+
+<p>"Daisy said yesterday she should not mind her, or do what she wished,
+unless she chose," said Randall.</p>
+
+<p>"Then Miss Daisy hadn't ought to," interposed nurse; "it was very
+naughty of her."</p>
+
+<p>Nurse spoke with such unusual energy that Hugh was quite surprised.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't mean to either," nodded Randall.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, you'll 'have' to," remarked Hugh, "so it is no good boasting. Of
+course I am different; I go to school, and she's only got to help me
+with my lessons."</p>
+
+<p>Hugh and Randall both looked up suddenly, for there stood Gertrude
+close to them asking nurse a question.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't care," said Randall in a low, defiant tone; "she shouldn't
+have come in—"</p>
+
+<p>But Gertrude had received her answer from nurse and had turned away,
+something in her face making Hugh sure that she had both heard and been
+grieved by the tone in which the boys had spoken.</p>
+
+<p>Hugh looked after her doubtfully, then he turned angrily upon Randall.</p>
+
+<p>"I wish you would not behave so!" he exclaimed. "She was going to like
+us, and now she won't."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't care," said Randall, "whether she does or not."</p>
+
+<p>"I do then," answered Hugh.</p>
+
+<p>"Then you should not have said that about the lessons," retorted
+Randall.</p>
+
+<p>Hugh stood silent. What had he said? It had seemed nothing to him, and
+yet somehow he was conscious that some slighting words had passed his
+lips which he had hardly intended.</p>
+
+<p>His dressing being finished, he went down-stairs slowly, wondering how
+he could make Miss Ashlyn understand that he had meant to be kind, in
+spite of what he had said in his haste.</p>
+
+<p>She was coming out of her room as he passed the door.</p>
+
+<p>Their eyes met. Something in the little boy's made her pause.</p>
+
+<p>"I didn't 'mean'—" he said hesitatingly.</p>
+
+<p>"Did not mean what, dear?"</p>
+
+<p>"About my lessons—I ought not to have said you 'had' to!"</p>
+
+<p>"I understand," said Gertrude, stooping to kiss him, "and I will help
+you gladly."</p>
+
+<p>Hugh looked anxiously in her face.</p>
+
+<p>"They are hard sometimes," he said, "but I will be as industrious as I
+can—"</p>
+
+<p>"I shall not mind the hardness," said Gertrude, smiling. "This is the
+dining-room, is it not?"</p>
+
+<p>So they went in, to find Conway and Ned eating their breakfast in great
+haste.</p>
+
+<p>"Come on, Hugh, you will be late. What's the good of getting into hot
+water the first day?"</p>
+
+<p>Gertrude found that neither Mollie nor Daisy had yet appeared. And Mr.
+and Mrs. Shaddock, she found, breakfasted after the rest had gone.</p>
+
+<p>She sat down and waited, wondering what she was expected to do, and
+presently Mollie came in looking pale and sleepy.</p>
+
+<p>"Hullo, Moll!" said Ned. "One would think it was bedtime for you."</p>
+
+<p>"I wish it were," said Mollie. "Miss Ashlyn, are you not going to have
+some breakfast?"</p>
+
+<p>"I was waiting for you, Mollie."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, don't another time," said Mollie.</p>
+
+<p>"Moll is often late," remarked Ned, "or she has a book to finish before
+she gets up, or something."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said Mollie, "so long as I am ready for school by half-past
+nine, it does not matter to any one what time I get up."</p>
+
+<p>Gertrude felt that the "any one" included her, though Mollie spoke very
+unconcernedly, and took her seat at the table and began her breakfast
+as if she were the only person in the room. Then she looked round at
+the tea-tray and said—</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Miss Ashlyn, do you mind pouring out? Miss Halling always did, and
+the boys could never get off without your help."</p>
+
+<p>So Gertrude took her place at the urn, and Conway looked up to pass her
+some bacon, immediately after burying himself again in a book he was
+reading.</p>
+
+<p>Daisy appeared when the rest had begun to move, wished Gertrude a
+rather abrupt good morning, and then seated herself by Hugh and began
+to whisper to him.</p>
+
+<p>Soon there began a commotion, such as Gertrude in her quiet life had
+never imagined.</p>
+
+<p>As the time for the train drew near, there were calls for boots, books,
+pencils, caps and straps, and Daisy was sent hither and thither to find
+what was wanted.</p>
+
+<p>Mollie condescended to do one thing for Ned, after which she took
+herself off up-stairs. While Daisy waited close to Hugh, chiefly to
+protect him from the jeers and cuffs of his brothers, and from the
+more pungent taunts of little Randall, who took evident delight in
+irritating his sensitive little brother.</p>
+
+<p>At last they were off, and Gertrude, with a sigh which sounded quite
+ponderous, turned and met Daisy's eyes fixed on her face.</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter" id="image023" style="max-width: 25.3125em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/image023.jpg" alt="image023"></figure>
+
+<p><br><br><br></p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter" id="image024" style="max-width: 25.3125em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/image024.jpg" alt="image024"></figure>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<h3><a id="Chapter_12">CHAPTER XII.</a></h3>
+
+<p class="t3">
+<b>MARMALADE.</b><br>
+</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<p>"YOU'LL get used to it, Miss Ashlyn," she said, looking down the road
+after her brothers.</p>
+
+<p>"Shall I?" asked Gertrude, as she turned away with a heavy heart.</p>
+
+<p>She went to her room, closed the door, and sat down by the window,
+feeling unutterably desolate.</p>
+
+<p>Were all of them going their own way without reference to her? Only
+speaking to her when they must, only asking her help when they could
+not possibly do without it?</p>
+
+<p>Why had she left her happy home for this? It was true she had found
+it difficult to get anything to do in Camptown; it was true that her
+mother's income was insufficient for them without her help; it was true
+that she had her own reasons for wanting a change, which she had hardly
+acknowledged to herself. But for all that, now she was really away, the
+home-sickness and loneliness seemed more than she could bear, and she
+felt sick at heart as she reviewed the difficulties in her path.</p>
+
+<p>She buried her face in her hands, too utterly despairing to cry, but
+certainly more desolate than she had ever been before. Perhaps the
+bitterest drop in her cup was little Randall, with his handsome face
+and sharp tongue.</p>
+
+<p>She was roused from her reverie by the thought that school-time would
+quickly be there, and that she could not begin her duties with such a
+burden on her heart.</p>
+
+<p>She rose from her seat and knelt down by the bed, not able to form any
+words of prayer, but still with an earnest uplifting of her heart for
+help.</p>
+
+<p>"I asked to be guided about coming here," she thought, "and if my
+Father in heaven has sent me here—"</p>
+
+<p>Then the tears came at last as a relief, and she laid her head down on
+her arms and wept heartily, praying for submission and faith and help,
+as she had never prayed before, perhaps.</p>
+
+<p>"If He sent me, He has something for me to do here," she thought, "and
+I must set about the doing of it at once. Oh, how wrong I have been to
+repine or be afraid!"</p>
+
+<p>What had her text been that morning? "Certainly I will be with thee."
+What could she want more than that assurance?</p>
+
+<p>She rose from her knees and found that the burden with which she had
+knelt down was all gone. Nothing remained but a thankfulness that she
+was so loved and so protected that such promises could indeed be hers
+in Christ Jesus. She had only just bathed her eyes when a knock came at
+the door, and on opening it, she found Daisy standing waiting.</p>
+
+<p>"We are ready for school, Miss Ashlyn," she said.</p>
+
+<p>"Is it half-past nine?" asked Gertrude, surprised.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; it is later than that—"</p>
+
+<p>"Then my watch has played me a trick," she said, turning to the
+dressing-table to take it up. "It usually goes so well, but it says
+twenty past nine now."</p>
+
+<p>Daisy looked soberly at her, as if her watch being fast or slow was not
+of much interest.</p>
+
+<p>Gertrude put it in her dress hastily, anxious to go down-stairs, and as
+she did so she discovered that her fingers were sticky.</p>
+
+<p>"How strange!" she said.</p>
+
+<p>"What?" asked Daisy.</p>
+
+<p>"I had but that moment washed my hands, and yet they are sticky!"</p>
+
+<p>Daisy suggested washing them again, and went down to tell the others
+Miss Ashlyn was coming, while Gertrude turned back to the table to put
+down her basket again.</p>
+
+<p>Just where her watch had lain, there was a little mark on the toilet
+cover as if a finger had been drawn along it to remove some stain, and
+on looking closer she found a little streak of marmalade had been left
+behind too.</p>
+
+<p>"I wish I had not left my watch there all breakfast-time," she said to
+herself, as she went down-stairs; "it was careless of me."</p>
+
+<p>Seated at the table in very good order were her three pupils.</p>
+
+<p>"It's jolly late," said Randall.</p>
+
+<p>"Never mind," interposed Mollie; "what if it is? Miss Ashlyn, what
+shall we do first? Miss Halling always—"</p>
+
+<p>"I have written out this rough time-table, Mollie, which your mother
+approves. I think we shall find it work well. Daisy and Randall can
+write, while you and I have a history lesson."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, but—" began Mollie.</p>
+
+<p>"Wait, however, an instant," continued Gertrude calmly, "till I have
+settled the other two. That is right, Daisy, you have your book ready.
+Is this yours, Randall? I see you both write very well."</p>
+
+<p>Randall disdained to be pleased by the pleasant tone, and passed his
+pen over to Gertrude with an abrupt, "I want a new nib."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, you don't!" exclaimed Mollie. "I gave you one this morning! You've
+spoilt it drawing with it since breakfast!"</p>
+
+<p>Gertrude took the pen in her hand to examine it, and found that once
+more, her fingers had grown sticky!</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter" id="image025" style="max-width: 25.3125em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/image025.jpg" alt="image025"></figure>
+
+<p><br><br><br></p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter" id="image026" style="max-width: 25.3125em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/image026.jpg" alt="image026"></figure>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<h3><a id="Chapter_13">CHAPTER XIII.</a></h3>
+
+<p class="t3">
+<b>THE OVERTURNED BASKET.</b><br>
+</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<p>GERTRUDE got through the morning's school better than she had feared,
+and when twelve o'clock struck they were all quite surprised.</p>
+
+<p>"We go for a walk now," said Mollie.</p>
+
+<p>So the four set out together, Mollie taking the lead, showing Gertrude
+the beauties of Hampstead Heath, and describing the long walks they
+sometimes took on Saturdays to Highgate, Finchley, and other places
+round.</p>
+
+<p>They were coming home, and had almost reached their own door, when,
+turning the corner of the road, Mollie gave a start, and exclaimed in a
+low tone, "There is Mr. Eccentric!"</p>
+
+<p>While at the same moment the man who was in front of them, recognizing
+the young people, and wishing apparently to get out of their way as
+quickly as possible, stepped aside to let them pass, and in doing so
+stumbled over the kerbstone, and slipped down on his knee.</p>
+
+<p>He quickly picked himself up, but his basket had sped many yards in
+front of him, and the old-fashioned lids opening, the contents were
+scattered on the path.</p>
+
+<p>Daisy hastened to replace the fallen things, while Gertrude turned her
+attention to the man, who was brushing the dust from his knees, and
+answering her curtly that he was not in the least hurt. When he turned
+round to look after his basket, Daisy was trying to gather up some rice
+which had fallen out of a paper, while Mollie was holding in her hand
+some lilac print, a reel of white cotton, and a little pair of child's
+shoes which had evidently been freshly mended.</p>
+
+<p>The man took the things and stuffed them into the basket in silence,
+though his face had turned very pale.</p>
+
+<p>"I fear you are hurt," said Gertrude again.</p>
+
+<p>But he would have no more to say about it, and limping a little, he
+pushed on to his own gate and left the four to turn in at theirs.</p>
+
+<p>"'We've' had an adventure!" said Mollie. "Far greater than Conway's.
+How I do long to tell the boys! Miss Ashlyn, what could he want with
+those things if he lives alone?"</p>
+
+<p>"I do not know," said Gertrude thoughtfully.</p>
+
+<p>She went up-stairs to her own room, but all the way she was haunted by
+an impression of having seen that little pair of child's slippers on
+some little pair of feet! How could that be possible? Were there not
+hundreds of little slippers in the world?</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Shaddock was very interested with their news at dinner, and the
+meal passed much more comfortably than the previous ones, Gertrude
+feeling less forlorn as they began to have things in common to talk
+over.</p>
+
+<p>When she went back to the schoolroom, on the mantel-piece was a letter
+from her mother.</p>
+
+<p>She sprang towards it, then sat down by the window with it in her hand,
+and began covering the envelope with kisses.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, how could I go away from you? How could I?" she murmured over and
+over again.</p>
+
+<p>Then she ran up to her room, tore the letter open, and devoured the
+precious contents.</p>
+
+<p>They were words written from a full mother's heart, words of advice,
+and cheer, and encouragement. Rising from their perusal, Gertrude felt
+strengthened to go on her way.</p>
+
+<p class="letter">
+<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"You must expect difficulties, my dear—" (the letter ran). "These
+things are allowed to happen in our lives, but our God is equal to
+it all. There is such a storehouse in the Lord Jesus, that whatever
+happens, there is grace enough for it. Go to Him in everything, and you
+will find 'everything' just a ladder reaching to heaven."<br>
+<br>
+</p>
+
+<p>"Even Randall," she said to herself, as she put the letter in her
+pocket and prepared for school.</p>
+
+<p>When she reached the schoolroom again, Mollie was practising, Daisy was
+buried in the perusal of a book, but no Randall was there.</p>
+
+<p>She was looking round and wondering how she should find him, when
+Mollie volunteered—</p>
+
+<p>"He isn't coming; he has worried mother till she has taken him out with
+her."</p>
+
+<p>So the school went on without him, and just as they were putting up
+their books at five o'clock, they heard a great commotion in the hall,
+and Randall's voice saying loudly—</p>
+
+<p>"Well, cry-baby, have you 'blubbed' to-day?"</p>
+
+<p>"There are the boys!" exclaimed Mollie. "Now for our news! Come along,
+Daisy, let us go down to the dining-room to see them!"</p>
+
+<p>They ran off, leaving Gertrude alone.</p>
+
+<p>She turned to her letter once more, reading the dear lines over and
+over, till she knew them by heart.</p>
+
+<p>Then she bent her head on her hands and thought of her mother's advice.</p>
+
+<p>"Grace enough for 'all' that happens."</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter" id="image027" style="max-width: 25.3125em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/image027.jpg" alt="image027"></figure>
+
+<p><br><br><br></p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter" id="image028" style="max-width: 25.3125em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/image028.jpg" alt="image028"></figure>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<h3><a id="Chapter_14">CHAPTER XIV.</a></h3>
+
+<p class="t3">
+<b>"X. Y. Z."</b><br>
+</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<p>"HAVE you been to call for letters to-day?" asked a woman, looking up
+from her work with anxious eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"No, I haven't," shortly answered the man addressed. "I can't always be
+callin' there, ye know. It looks so queer."</p>
+
+<p>"Not at all," answered the woman decidedly. "People must have letters,
+and you buy your tobacco there. That's nonsense!"</p>
+
+<p>"Not nonsense at all," answered the man. "I'm pretty near sick of it.
+Here's a pretty go I've had this morning. I slipped down, and the
+things you sent me for flew out of the basket—shoes and all—and the
+folks next door helped to pick them up."</p>
+
+<p>The woman glanced at him in dismay, but after a moment, her own anxiety
+overcame even that, and she said slowly—</p>
+
+<p>"James, I can't 'think' how it is there wasn't a letter the other day;
+I do wish you had called there this morning."</p>
+
+<p>"It's rubbish you're being so fidgety," said the man. "He's all right.
+I tell you what it is, this is driving us into our graves. I'm near
+sick of it."</p>
+
+<p>He turned towards the little fire with his pipe, and the woman gathered
+up some lilac print which she had been cutting out, and left the room.</p>
+
+<p>"A living death," she said to herself, "and all for the want of a bit
+of courage at the right time!"</p>
+
+<p>Slowly she mounted to the top of the house, and taking a key from her
+pocket, unlocked a door, letting herself in and locking it from the
+inside again.</p>
+
+<p>There was a little fire burning in the grate, protected by a cheap
+nursery guard, and an unlighted candle was on the table beside a
+work-basket.</p>
+
+<p>On the floor were bricks and toys scattered hither and thither.</p>
+
+<p>The woman glanced towards a small bed in the corner of the room, and
+then lighted her candle and sat down by the fire with her work.</p>
+
+<p>But ever and anon she buried her face in her hands, and pressed her
+forehead with her fingers, as if to keep back thought.</p>
+
+<p>"He said he would write without fail, every week, and it is three days
+over the time now!"</p>
+
+<p>She turned again restlessly to the light, and put her needle into the
+print. Then with a sudden movement she folded that together and went
+to a drawer, taking from it a worn pair of knickerbockers, which she
+spread on the table, fitting on a patch carefully, and bending over
+it with a certain look on her face that would have made an observer's
+heart bleed—if he had had a tender heart.</p>
+
+<p>"I 'can't' bear it," she whispered at last.</p>
+
+<p>She put out her hand to extinguish the candle, when a low whistling was
+heard on the stairs and a slow step came nearer and nearer.</p>
+
+<p>She hastened to unlock the door, looking in the man's face and speaking
+abruptly.</p>
+
+<p>"You'll stay here a bit, James? I'm that uneasy that I can't bide here
+at all. I must go to Oxford Street and see if there ain't a letter for
+me."</p>
+
+<p>"What, at this time o' night?" questioned the man. "It's ridiculous.
+But do as you like; it don't matter either way, and you'll get a bit of
+air."</p>
+
+<p>He sat down by the fire and put his pipe in his mouth once more.</p>
+
+<p>The woman went into an adjoining room to get her bonnet, and soon had
+let herself noiselessly out of the front door, and was speeding towards
+the high-road which led down from Hampstead to the more populated
+districts of Camden Town.</p>
+
+<p>It was not till she reached one of the main thoroughfares that she
+aided her steps by entering a tram-car, and there her veiled face and
+plain garments attracted no attention.</p>
+
+<p>She alighted among the crowd when she reached Oxford Street, and
+disappeared among them up one of the wide turnings.</p>
+
+<p>By and by, she came to her destination, and on her inquiry, two letters
+were handed over to her, and she turned away.</p>
+
+<p>Both bore the Highgate postmark, but were in different handwriting. Yet
+as the woman grasped them, she knew that her journey had not been in
+vain.</p>
+
+<p>She clasped her hand over the precious lines, addressed in a large
+boyish hand to "X. Y. Z., Tobacconist, Dash Street." And without
+apparently dreaming of opening them, she hurried out into the crowd
+again, and was soon seated in a returning tram, speeding back whence
+she came, and alighting where she had got in before.</p>
+
+<p>At length, her weary walk over, she let herself into the house with a
+latch-key, and passed quickly up the dark staircase.</p>
+
+<p>In answer to her low whistle, the door up-stairs was noiselessly
+unlocked, and she entered the room she had left nearly two hours ago.</p>
+
+<p>"I've got it!" she exclaimed, sinking into the chair the man had left.</p>
+
+<p>"Two?" he questioned.</p>
+
+<p>And while with rather trembling fingers she broke the seal of her own,
+he did the same by the second envelope.</p>
+
+<p>Hers ran—</p>
+
+<p class="letter">
+<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"Dear mother—I wish you'd come to see me; I ain't well, and the
+master—"<br>
+<br>
+</p>
+
+<p>That was all. The large lines only reached to the bottom of the page
+and then stopped.</p>
+
+<p>His ran—</p>
+
+<p class="letter">
+<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"To X. Y. Z. Madam—Your boy has been taken suddenly ill, and I regret
+to tell you that the doctor looks seriously upon his complaint. I
+would have telegraphed, but your wish to keep your address from us has
+precluded my doing so. Will you come at once? I am, etc., etc., Head
+Master."<br>
+<br>
+</p>
+
+<p>Both letters bore the date of two days before.</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter" id="image029" style="max-width: 25.3125em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/image029.jpg" alt="image029"></figure>
+
+<p><br><br><br></p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter" id="image030" style="max-width: 25.3125em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/image030.jpg" alt="image030"></figure>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<h3><a id="Chapter_15">CHAPTER XV.</a></h3>
+
+<p class="t3">
+<b>LITTLE LESTER.</b><br>
+</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<p>THE young people were so full of the overturned basket and its
+mysterious contents that Randall forgot to tease Hugh as much as usual.
+And besides, Miss Ashlyn's quiet presence rather awed the little bully,
+who was not quite sure how she would take it, if he let his sharp
+tongue loose on his delicate brother.</p>
+
+<p>Indeed, since the episode of the sticky pen, Randall could not forget
+the sudden glance Gertrude had given towards his little hands, nor the
+quiet and firm tone in which she had told him to go to nurse to have
+them washed. Nor did he like Daisy's exclamation as he was leaving the
+room—</p>
+
+<p>"Why, Miss Ashlyn, how funny that your watch should have been sticky
+too!"</p>
+
+<p>So he decided to keep quiet for a time and make some plan of mischief
+which should be more annoying and more difficult of discovery.</p>
+
+<p>Hugh and Daisy soon made their way to the schoolroom, and settled
+themselves cosily under Gertrude's wing, the little boy conning his
+lessons with great industry, only occasionally asking for some help
+in a gentle, entreating little tone, which Gertrude thought she quite
+understood since their conversation that morning.</p>
+
+<p>At last, the books were put away, and Daisy came over to Gertrude's
+side and said softly, "Are we friends enough yet?"</p>
+
+<p>Gertrude smiled. "What do you think?" she asked.</p>
+
+<p>"I think we are," said Daisy. "When Hugh and I take to people, we
+'take' to them, and we don't change a bit."</p>
+
+<p>"I see; so you consider you have 'taken' to me?"</p>
+
+<p>"You are laughing at us?"</p>
+
+<p>"Only a very little. I am so glad, Daisy, if you have. Come, then, and
+sit by the fire, and we will have a sort of story—</p>
+
+<p>"About seven years ago my pretty sister Rose was married—"</p>
+
+<p>"Was she like you?" interrupted Daisy with a little smile.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh no! A hundred times prettier," said Gertrude enthusiastically;
+"oh no! Her husband travels for a large firm in London, and my sister
+generally has her home at Camptown, near where I come from."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," nodded Hugh. "I know about Camptown; there are soldiers there."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes. Well, by and by there came a dear little baby boy to my sister's
+home, and she and her husband doted on him more than I can say. My
+sister used to take him about with her, if the places that her husband
+went to were near enough, and they used to have such happy times.
+Sometimes, however, he went alone.</p>
+
+<p>"Once, when she was staying at a watering-place in the south, she was
+suddenly called to Scotland to nurse her husband, and left her darling
+little boy in the landlady's care.</p>
+
+<p>"Whether she was right or wise to do such a thing does not matter
+now. The landlady seemed a very nice woman, and my sister trusted her
+completely.</p>
+
+<p>"When she got back again—think of it, Daisy and Hugh—the house was
+empty, the woman and her husband and little boy were all gone too!—and
+with them our little darling, the most precious thing in the world to
+all of us!"</p>
+
+<p>Hugh and Daisy gazed in Gertrude's face, but they seemed as if they
+could not ask a question.</p>
+
+<p>"Ever since, my dear sister has gone about searching for her lost
+child, little Lester. And never have we heard one single word of him
+from that day to this."</p>
+
+<p>Hugh's little hand was put out till it touched Gertrude's softly, and
+he said—</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps, some day—"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," she answered, "we live in hope of that. Hugh, he used to say,
+'I've opened my heart to Jesus, and He's come in!'"</p>
+
+<p>"Who taught him that?" asked Daisy gently.</p>
+
+<p>"I think I taught him," said Gertrude. "My dear sister did not know her
+Saviour herself then, and it was not till little Lester was taken away
+that she found she needed a Saviour."</p>
+
+<p>Hugh's eyes gave a flash, but he looked down quickly and was silent.</p>
+
+<p>"I believe you love Him too, Hugh," said Gertrude, drawing the boy to
+her.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm so bad," said Hugh in a low tone. "So afraid—and so nasty
+sometimes, but yet—" he paused. Then meeting Daisy's eyes, and flushing
+up to the roots of his hair, he added courageously, "Yes, I do. In
+spite of not being a bit what I should be, I do. And He loves me!"</p>
+
+<p>Daisy looked well satisfied. She had been almost afraid that Hugh's
+courage would vanish under the test to which it was being put. But
+as she had found many times, to her surprise, there was a secret of
+strength in the frail little boy that surpassed her utmost expectations.</p>
+
+<p>"Now we must go to bed," she said, rising reluctantly. "Thank you ever
+so much, Miss Ashlyn."</p>
+
+<p>Hugh put up his face for a kiss, and then Gertrude was left alone with
+her heart full of her sister Rose and of lost little Lester.</p>
+
+<p>And every time she shut her eyes, she seemed to see before them a pair
+of worn, shabby little kid-lined slippers!</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter" id="image031" style="max-width: 25.3125em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/image031.jpg" alt="image031"></figure>
+
+<p><br><br><br></p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter" id="image032" style="max-width: 25.3125em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/image032.jpg" alt="image032"></figure>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<h3><a id="Chapter_16">CHAPTER XVI.</a></h3>
+
+<p class="t3">
+<b>A LATE VISITOR.</b><br>
+</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<p>"I MUST go to-night," said the woman in a hoarse voice, rising from the
+chair into which she had sunk ere she had opened that letter which bore
+such sad tidings.</p>
+
+<p>"You can't get there," said her husband. "It's ten o'clock now, and
+every one 'ull be in bed."</p>
+
+<p>"If he's bad—" She tried to finish the sentence, but her dry tongue
+would not say the words.</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps he's better by now," said the man, not unkindly. "Mightn't you
+as well go the first thing to-morrow?"</p>
+
+<p>"I daren't go out in daylight, as you know. No; I shall be away all
+to-morrow most likely, so you'll stay and mind him," glancing towards
+the corner.</p>
+
+<p>"I'll see to that," said the man.</p>
+
+<p>The woman put her hand to her head as if dazed.</p>
+
+<p>"Take a drop o' tea, or somethin'," urged the man. "You're about beat.
+To think that there was a letter after all!"</p>
+
+<p>"I somehow expected it," said his wife wearily. "Ought I to take
+anything with me? I'd near done those little knickers, but he'll never
+want them now."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, don't say so!" exclaimed the man.</p>
+
+<p>She shook her head again. Then, after an instant's hesitation, she went
+to the bed in the corner and bent over it, and there was a sound in the
+still room as of a kiss.</p>
+
+<p>The man looked on wondering. But in another moment, with a brief
+good-bye, the woman had gone noiselessly down the stairs and had let
+herself out into the darkness.</p>
+
+<p>How she reached Highgate, she could never recall afterwards. Almost
+blindly she hurried along, helping her steps by an omnibus on which
+she happened to see Highgate written, and at length arrived at her
+destination long after the clocks had struck eleven.</p>
+
+<p>Almost breathless she paused at the house she was seeking, and with
+anxious eyes gazed up at the windows. Darkness reigned, not a sign of
+light or life appeared in any of them.</p>
+
+<p>She began to breathe more freely, and to chide herself for her frantic
+fears. All were evidently in bed and asleep.</p>
+
+<p>But almost ere that thought had crossed her heart, came another which
+seemed to strike her with more terrible fear still. What if all should
+be over, and her boy should be dead?</p>
+
+<p>She went up the front steps and took hold of the bell, but ere she had
+rung it, came another thought. She quickly turned from the door, and
+made her way up a side lane which was close by, and from that position
+scanned the back of the house.</p>
+
+<p>At the very top, two windows seemed to have a dim light in the room
+belonging to them.</p>
+
+<p>The woman put her hand to her heart as if with a sudden pang, and
+almost stumbling along in her eagerness, once more reached the front
+door, where she gave a low ring.</p>
+
+<p>The sound went through the quiet house, and she heard it outside.</p>
+
+<p>The minutes, though in reality they were very few, seemed very long
+before a light began to glimmer through the ground glass of the door,
+coming nearer and nearer.</p>
+
+<p>Then a step was audible, and some one set the light down and undid the
+fastenings of the door.</p>
+
+<p>The woman, who was grasping the stone balustrade for support, lifted
+her eyes to meet those of a sweet-looking nurse, who in snowy cap and
+apron stood holding the door in her hand.</p>
+
+<p>"Are you—" she asked and paused. Then altering the form of her
+question, said gently, "What may you be wanting, ma'am? Have you come
+to see any one?"</p>
+
+<p>The woman's lips formed some words, but they were inaudible.</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps you are my patient's mother?" suggested the nurse. Then seeing
+that this was the case, she held out her hand and led the woman into
+the hall, placed her in a chair, and carefully closed the front door.</p>
+
+<p>"Then he is alive," the poor mother at last found voice to say.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, he is alive," answered the nurse.</p>
+
+<p>"May I go to him?" asked the woman, starting up.</p>
+
+<p>"Not yet. You are not fit to see him yet. Come in here, and I will tell
+you about him. Perhaps you will be able to quiet him better than I. He
+has something which is on his mind, I fear."</p>
+
+<p>The woman hung her head, but then with a sudden passion she exclaimed,
+"It was no fault of his—no fault at all. It was all my doing! Oh! I
+have suffered for it—My boy! My boy!"</p>
+
+<p>"Hush! If you wish to see him, you will have to be a great deal calmer
+than this. I will go back to him, and will fetch you in five minutes."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, let me come now!" besought the woman, rousing herself. "Oh, I will
+be calm, indeed I will."</p>
+
+<p>"Wait an instant then," said the nurse in her sweet, calm tone.</p>
+
+<p>She left the room and returned in a moment with a glass of milk, which
+she evidently expected the poor mother to drink, and which she held
+to her lips authoritatively, not noticing her reluctance. Then with a
+kind cheering word, in which she heard, "The dear Saviour has been here
+before you," she led the way up the quiet staircase, to that room where
+the dim light was burning.</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter" id="image033" style="max-width: 25.3125em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/image033.jpg" alt="image033"></figure>
+
+<p><br><br><br></p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter" id="image034" style="max-width: 25.3125em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/image034.jpg" alt="image034"></figure>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<h3><a id="Chapter_17">CHAPTER XVII.</a></h3>
+
+<p class="t3">
+<b>BEFORE DAWN.</b><br>
+</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<p>"INFLAMMATION of the lungs," the nurse had whispered.</p>
+
+<p>But when the woman entered that darkened room, she was hardly prepared
+for the little figure she found propped up in the narrow bed, nor for
+the sunken cheeks and staring eyes of her once healthy boy.</p>
+
+<p>Her promise of calmness and her fear of not being allowed to see him
+kept the woman from the first wild impulse to throw herself at his feet
+and devour him with kisses.</p>
+
+<p>As she crossed the room to his side, she felt like some untamed animal
+being robbed of its offspring. But all she did was to bend over him and
+say with a strangled sob—</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Johnnie, are you very ill, my dear?"</p>
+
+<p>After trying vainly to speak, he nodded slightly, but looked
+appealingly towards his nurse, and laid his head back on his high
+pillow.</p>
+
+<p>"He will be better presently, ma'am," said the nurse, putting a chair
+near. "He wants to tell you something, but he has not much breath at
+times. He will speak when he feels able. Is not that right, dear?"</p>
+
+<p>Johnnie was watching his mother's face with those pathetic eyes, in
+which some urgent request lay hidden. As the nurse bent over him with
+some medicine, he whispered—</p>
+
+<p>"Shall I have time?"</p>
+
+<p>"I think you will," she answered. "But if not, Johnnie, I can tell her
+what you have told me."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, but—"</p>
+
+<p>No telling of hers, he felt, would have the weight of his own dying
+request. But he could not as yet gather strength to speak.</p>
+
+<p>"He has been light-headed a good bit," explained the nurse, "but he is
+better of that now."</p>
+
+<p>The woman had taken her child's hand, but he drew it away as if more
+than he could bear, and in a short breathless way gasped—</p>
+
+<p>"I'll speak presently."</p>
+
+<p>Just at this moment the door opened noiselessly, and the master of the
+school came in.</p>
+
+<p>"We feared you would be too late," he said gravely, in a low tone, to
+Johnnie's mother. "Did you not receive my letter?"</p>
+
+<p>"No," answered the woman briefly; "not till to-night."</p>
+
+<p>Then, as if impelled by something she could not resist, she asked in an
+almost inaudible tone—</p>
+
+<p>"Is there no hope, then?"</p>
+
+<p>"I fear not."</p>
+
+<p>The master turned to the bed, spoke a few kind words to the boy, and
+noiselessly left the room.</p>
+
+<p>Still Johnnie lay with that distressed look on his face. And the nurse
+stood by watching him, but without saying a word to break the silence,
+lest in doing so she might hinder rather than help her poor little
+invalid.</p>
+
+<p>The mother, sitting there in that unbroken silence, felt as if she
+could not bear the agony of it much longer.</p>
+
+<p>She was just turning towards Johnnie with an appealing look, when he
+said in that same short, gasping way—</p>
+
+<p>"I want you to take him back, mother."</p>
+
+<p>The woman shrank, and the child felt it.</p>
+
+<p>"I never knew how wicked it was—till now," he went on, gazing still at
+her averted eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"You did not know," whispered his mother.</p>
+
+<p>"No—no, mother—not that! But taking him away! It was awful of me to
+do what I did—I never knew the harm—but you will take him back now,
+mother."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't see how I can," she said at last.</p>
+
+<p>"Mother!" he urged. "'He's' got a mother."</p>
+
+<p>There was a breathless pause. The nurse, standing by, feared that her
+little patient's life would ebb away in the agony of that ungranted
+request.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm going to Jesus," whispered Johnnie again, in a broken voice. "He's
+forgiven me that, and all my other sins—every sin. He has washed me
+clean and white. But, mother, you must give him back, indeed you must."</p>
+
+<p>"She will," interposed the nurse soothingly, "when she has had time to
+think of it! Just tell him that you will, if you can, ma'am!"</p>
+
+<p>With a warning glance she went to the fire for some broth, while the
+woman, urged by her look and by the beseeching, dying agony of her
+child's eyes, said slowly—</p>
+
+<p>"I will—Johnnie—I will."</p>
+
+<p>Then realizing what she had done, she buried her face in her hands, and
+trembled from head to foot.</p>
+
+<p>Johnnie's hand, which had lain listlessly on the counterpane, sought
+his mother's now, and pressed it with what little strength he had, and
+he drew her towards him.</p>
+
+<p>"Kiss me, mother," he said.</p>
+
+<p>After that, though he took what the nurse gave him, he did not seem
+able to speak. His eyes never closed, but were generally fixed on his
+mother's face with an expression the nurse did not understand.</p>
+
+<p>The hours crept on; sometimes his mother said a word of tender
+endearment, sometimes only her suppressed weeping broke the stillness.</p>
+
+<p>The daylight was beginning to creep in when he spoke once more.</p>
+
+<p>"Mother, you will come to Jesus too?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Johnnie, I'll do what you ask me about the other. But don't make
+me promise what I can't do, my dear!"</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, but you can," he panted. "Nurse told me the words—they make it so
+plain—'Him that cometh to Me, I will in no wise cast out!' Can't you
+come after that, mother?"</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter" id="image035" style="max-width: 25.3125em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/image035.jpg" alt="image035"></figure>
+
+<p><br><br><br></p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter" id="image036" style="max-width: 25.3125em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/image036.jpg" alt="image036"></figure>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<h3><a id="Chapter_18">CHAPTER XVIII.</a></h3>
+
+<p class="t3">
+<b>SUNRISE.</b><br>
+</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<p>BUT the poor mother was too bewildered and heart-broken to take any
+comfort yet.</p>
+
+<p>Her only child was being snatched from her under circumstances so
+pitiful that to her mind no ray of hope or consolation could enter.</p>
+
+<p>She would have given everything she possessed at that moment to pacify
+her dying child, and yet the promise he wanted of her was one she
+thought she could not give.</p>
+
+<p>Johnnie still held her hand, and all she could do was to bend down and
+kiss his little one softly, stilling her passionate longing to clasp
+him in her arms by an effort which seemed to her to be almost killing
+her.</p>
+
+<p>As her eyes were fixed on his wan little face, she saw his lips move,
+and at the same moment the nurse came quickly to his side with her
+gentle, untiring, "What is it, dear?"</p>
+
+<p>"You'll be glad by and by—" said Johnnie, tenderly, to his mother.</p>
+
+<p>"Glad? Oh, Johnnie, you do not know—"</p>
+
+<p>"Glad that I am gone to Jesus. Mother—if you will not promise me—still
+you'll try?"</p>
+
+<p>"I'll do what I can, Johnnie," she answered at last.</p>
+
+<p>He glanced towards the nurse as if struggling to remember something.</p>
+
+<p>She sat down on the edge of his bed and put her arm under his head.</p>
+
+<p>"Say it again," he whispered.</p>
+
+<p>So she said, slowly and distinctly—</p>
+
+<p>"'Him that cometh unto Me, I will in no wise cast out.'"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; that's it!" he answered, with a sigh of content.</p>
+
+<p>Just then a ray of sunshine broke from a dark cloud in which the sun
+had been hidden, and crept along Johnnie's bed, covering his thin
+little hands, and shining right up into his wide-open eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"What's that?" he asked with a sudden smile, the only one his mother
+had seen on his face, an eager, tender smile which astonished her.</p>
+
+<p>"It's the blessed sunrise," said the nurse soothingly.</p>
+
+<p>But his eyes were still gazing upward, the smile growing and growing
+till it became radiant.</p>
+
+<p>"It's—it's 'Jesus!'" he murmured.</p>
+
+<p>The eyes continued to look while the gasping breath grew fainter and
+fainter. And then, with one more weary, yet rested sigh, he went away
+to the glory which his Saviour has prepared for those who love Him.</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<p>Twelve terrible, hopeless hours of heart-rending grief must elapse
+before the woman could venture to retrace her steps to her home, or
+tell her husband of the blow which had fallen upon them.</p>
+
+<p>The kind nurse did everything in her power to try to comfort the
+desolate mother.</p>
+
+<p>But to all her gentle words, the woman only answered, "You do not
+know—no one can ever know—it is no use to talk to me. Oh, my Johnnie!
+My Johnnie!"</p>
+
+<p>Once during that long day which she spent in the housekeeper's room,
+she had asked permission to visit the place where lay all that remained
+of her boy. But thither no earthly eye followed her, and her grief,
+with its secret sting, was seen only by Him who can unlock the chambers
+of every heart, and knows what each one needs to bring it to feel its
+need of Himself.</p>
+
+<p>At length the weary day was over, and darkness began to gather.
+Directly the woman saw this, she took her bonnet and shawl, and with a
+few words of broken thanks to the nurse, she left the house and turned
+towards home.</p>
+
+<p>An hour after dark, the woman climbed up those stairs at home, and was
+let in to that top room, which looked so like, and so unlike too, the
+room she had left less than twenty-four hours ago.</p>
+
+<p>As she threw aside her veil, her husband saw all at a glance.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes—" she said, and then sank down in the chair and laid her head on
+her arms on the table.</p>
+
+<p>The man broke into bitter reproaches, walking up and down the room
+pouring forth thick words of anguish, in which he laid the blame on his
+wife, as if she were not heart-broken enough already.</p>
+
+<p>Presently the woman raised her head, and throwing off her shawl and
+bonnet, she went to the corner and lifted from the bed a little child,
+wrapping it in a blanket and sitting down by the fire with it on her
+lap.</p>
+
+<p>"How's he been?" she asked briefly.</p>
+
+<p>The man, who had been watching her movements and gradually ceasing to
+rage, now mumbled something about "very poorly," and without any more
+words went down-stairs, and shut himself into the room they occupied
+there.</p>
+
+<p>The woman proceeded to feed and wash the little invalid in unbroken
+silence. But as she did so, the first tears she had shed since Johnnie
+died fell down her cheeks, and dropped on to the soft golden curls of
+the little boy.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Johnnie, Johnnie!" she whispered at last. "How could I have
+promised you what I did? I shall never, never be able to keep it!"</p>
+
+<p>And still, as she tended the little one, her tears dropped down on his
+golden hair as she remembered Johnnie's beseeching words—</p>
+
+<p>"'He's' got a mother too!"</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter" id="image037" style="max-width: 25.3125em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/image037.jpg" alt="image037"></figure>
+
+<p><br><br><br></p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter" id="image038" style="max-width: 25.3125em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/image038.jpg" alt="image038"></figure>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<h3><a id="Chapter_19">CHAPTER XIX.</a></h3>
+
+<p class="t3">
+<b>ROSE GUESSES SOMETHING.</b><br>
+</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<p>"HERE is a letter from Gertrude," said Otto, walking into his
+sister-in-law's pleasant sitting-room one evening.</p>
+
+<p>"That is always welcome. And so are you," answered Rose, looking up
+from her work.</p>
+
+<p>Otto smiled slightly. He looked worn, and after the first flush caused
+by his brisk walk into Camptown had subsided, he seemed to become paler
+than his observant sister had ever seen him.</p>
+
+<p>"Sit down," she said, putting aside her work, and stirring the fire
+into a blaze; "have you come to tea?"</p>
+
+<p>"If you will have me."</p>
+
+<p>"Willingly indeed. Have you read Gertrude's letter, or is it private
+and particular?"</p>
+
+<p>"It is not private, but all her letters are particular—"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes. So, Otto, we will have her letter together before I ring for the
+tea; then we shall not be interrupted."</p>
+
+<p>She settled herself in her chair near the lamp, and opened the sheets,
+proceeding to read out what Otto had already heard: all Gertrude's
+account of the overturned basket, with its mysterious little pair of
+shoes.</p>
+
+<p>Rose drew her breath as she reached that part of it, and when she had
+put down the letter, she looked into the fire with an absorbed gaze,
+while she seemed to forget Otto's presence altogether.</p>
+
+<p>"Strange!" she murmured. "Otto, did it give you a queer feeling when
+you read that?"</p>
+
+<p>"We are apt to fancy every little trifle may bear upon little Lester,"
+he said softly, "but this seems too unlikely. Do not build upon it,
+dear Rose."</p>
+
+<p>"I know I am too ready to do so," she answered sadly, "but—"</p>
+
+<p>Still she looked into the fire in deep thought.</p>
+
+<p>"Otto," she exclaimed, "I must go and call at that house!"</p>
+
+<p>"They would not admit you."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you think so? At any rate, I should like try. Oh, if I could have
+seen those little slippers! I should have known them anywhere."</p>
+
+<p>She rose from her seat, and began pacing to and fro in the little room,
+her sweet, calm face looking worried and anxious.</p>
+
+<p>"If—supposing, Otto, that man were afraid of what his basket had
+revealed, and were to move away as they did from Blank—"</p>
+
+<p>"But, dear Rose, this may have nothing to do with them at all!"</p>
+
+<p>"But then it may—"</p>
+
+<p>She sat down again, looking troubled, her hands lying listlessly in her
+lap, her brow full of lines.</p>
+
+<p>"'God is our Refuge and Strength, a very present help in trouble,'"
+said Otto. "Perhaps, Rose, He is leading us along, though we cannot see
+the way."</p>
+
+<p>"But it is so hard to trust in the dark—"</p>
+
+<p>"His road will lead to the light," said Otto; "there are no 'blind
+thoroughfares' with our Father, Rose!"</p>
+
+<p>She looked up quickly. "'No' blind thoroughfares, Otto!" she answered,
+significantly, throwing off her own care as she so often did, in order
+to comfort another. "You must remember that, as well as I."</p>
+
+<p>He flushed a deep red, but his eyes looked frankly into hers
+nevertheless.</p>
+
+<p>"I do not forget it," he said quietly, "but I have had a long spell in
+the dark."</p>
+
+<p>"You have," she answered.</p>
+
+<p>After that there was silence, till, suddenly bethinking herself, she
+rang the bell, and began to busy herself in preparation for tea, taking
+some cake from the sideboard, and putting the caddy on the table.</p>
+
+<p>When the maid had left the room, and they sat down to their meal, just
+those two, Rose began—</p>
+
+<p>"Then you do not advise my going off to see Gertrude?"</p>
+
+<p>"I cannot advise anything," said Otto, "but if you think it likely, it
+might be worth trying."</p>
+
+<p>"I feel as if I must, Otto."</p>
+
+<p>Again there was silence. She was planning when she could go, and what
+might be the consequences. He was wishing with a great longing that he
+could go too, and in his thoughts was almost forgetting little Lester
+altogether.</p>
+
+<p>At last, their eyes met, and something in her brother-in-law's made
+Rose say gently—</p>
+
+<p>"Otto, I hope it will all come right some day."</p>
+
+<p>She was referring to his thoughts, not to her own.</p>
+
+<p>Again, he coloured vividly, rising to go.</p>
+
+<p>"So soon?" she asked, surprised.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I only came over to bring you that letter." Then, as he stood
+in the doorway, he added abruptly: "Rose, I see you have guessed my
+secret. I never knew till she was gone that I could feel so much—and
+with my poverty and all, it is so hopeless."</p>
+
+<p>"Nothing is hopeless when we look above," she said.</p>
+
+<p>And when he was gone, she sat down again and took the lesson home to
+her own heart. And her thoughts shaped themselves into these words—</p>
+
+<p class="letter">
+<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"'With God nothing shall be impossible.'"<br>
+</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter" id="image039" style="max-width: 25.3125em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/image039.jpg" alt="image039"></figure>
+
+<p><br><br><br></p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter" id="image040" style="max-width: 25.3125em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/image040.jpg" alt="image040"></figure>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<h3><a id="Chapter_20">CHAPTER XX.</a></h3>
+
+<p class="t3">
+<b>UP THE CHIMNEY.</b><br>
+</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<p>"LET me look at it!" exclaimed Randall, pushing Hugh aside, and
+standing on tiptoe to reach the mantel-piece.</p>
+
+<p>"You mustn't. I ought not to have touched it," said Hugh eagerly. "Let
+it alone, I tell you; mother would not like us to touch her letters."</p>
+
+<p>"It isn't a letter, it's a bank-note, and I mean to look at it,
+whatever you say—"</p>
+
+<p>Hugh put his hand upon the object of their dispute, to protect it from
+further molestation, while Randall, with a sudden movement, caught it
+from under his brother's hand, and then in his eagerness dropped it.</p>
+
+<p>It fluttered down, down, down; both boys made a dash at it, but the
+draught from the blazing fire was too strong—it eluded their grasp, and
+quietly floated into the midst of the flames, where it caught fire, and
+went crackling up the chimney.</p>
+
+<p>There was a moment's silence, while both children stood spell-bound.</p>
+
+<p>At length Randall found his voice, though it was choking with anger and
+dismay, and he exclaimed—"You did it! It was your fault!"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Randall!" said Hugh, turning white.</p>
+
+<p>"You did! I shall tell mother so! It was all your doing—"</p>
+
+<p>He ran from the room, and Hugh could hear his voice explaining and
+protesting, and his mother's tone of vexation as she realized her loss.
+Then he heard steps approaching, and they both came in.</p>
+
+<p>"I was in the arm-chair," said Randall, "and he was holding it there,
+on the hearth-rug, and then he dropped it, and it blew into the fire—"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Randall!" began Hugh, in a despairing tone. "It wasn't a bit so,
+mother! I was telling Randall not to touch it, and he would try to, and
+he snatched it from me, and then—I don't know how—it got burned."</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Shaddock looked from one to the other.</p>
+
+<p>"'Which' did it?" she asked angrily.</p>
+
+<p>"It was Hugh," said Randall; "I was quite away from him, and I saw it
+in his hand."</p>
+
+<p>"Randall let it fall in the fire," said Hugh steadily, his face white
+even to his lips, and his hands clenched together till they ached.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't believe it," said Mrs. Shaddock. "Don't you hear your brother
+was sitting in the arm-chair, so it could not have been his fault. Here
+is a whole five pounds gone, and you shall have no Christmas presents
+at all, Hugh for being so careless, and then trying to put it on your
+brother. Do not let me have another word on the subject. I do not know
+what your father will say."</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Shaddock left the room in great displeasure, and the two boys
+stood looking at each other.</p>
+
+<p>"Now, cry-baby, go and tell it all to nurse," said Randall, shaking his
+yellow mane defiantly. "I know it was your fault, so I don't care."</p>
+
+<p>Hugh slowly left the room, his heart stinging with the pain of his
+little brother's taunts.</p>
+
+<p>Soon his father would be back from town, and then he pictured the fresh
+investigation of the whole matter, and the fresh disgrace, and perhaps
+punishment, which would fall upon him. It was not the first time that
+Randall's selfishness and want of truth had got him into dire trouble,
+and he was too sensitive, and too little respected, to fight for
+himself.</p>
+
+<p>He laid himself down on the nursery hearth-rug to think it all over,
+and remained like that till the gong sounded for tea, and he must go
+down.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Shaddock had come in, and Gertrude and his sisters had returned
+from a lecture they had been attending. Everybody was present, as Hugh,
+pale and dark-eyed, walked into the room.</p>
+
+<p>"You need not come here," said his father, looking up. "Tell nurse to
+give you your tea up-stairs, and put you to bed. Five-pound notes are
+not to be burned with impunity."</p>
+
+<p>Hugh said nothing. He went slowly up to the nursery, and sat down
+dejectedly on a chair. Nurse had heard the account from Randall, and
+knew all about it, or at any rate, so much as could be gathered from
+one side.</p>
+
+<p>"I expect I shall be caned," said Hugh at length, "and it was Randall
+who did it from beginning to end."</p>
+
+<p>"Then never mind, dear," said nurse gently.</p>
+
+<p>If there was one thing that nurse found hard in her comfortable place,
+it was that Hugh was often severely punished, while Randall got off
+free.</p>
+
+<p>But Hugh would not be comforted. He ate no tea, and crept into bed,
+utterly crushed.</p>
+
+<p>As he lay there in the darkness, above the fear of punishment, above
+the threat of no Christmas presents, above the misery of being wronged,
+came over him a greater misery still. For while he knew that every
+word Randall had said was false, and that the burning of the note was
+entirely Randall's doing, yet in his inmost heart he felt he had been
+the one to touch it first, and this fault he had not acknowledged.</p>
+
+<p>He could not do it! That was his first and strongest feeling. Nothing
+on earth could make him volunteer that which would partly justify all
+their displeasure. He had "not" burned the note, there it must rest.
+That was his ultimatum.</p>
+
+<p>But to those who are Christ's, a still small voice comes; the
+Shepherd's hand is stretched out to restore the soul, and lead it in
+the paths of righteousness.</p>
+
+<p>A sudden thought came to poor little Hugh, and he looked up above the
+misery and despair which had seized him. "Oh, help me to do right, by
+Thy mighty power," he whispered. "I can't do it by myself—do help me,
+Lord Jesus."</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter" id="image041" style="max-width: 25.3125em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/image041.jpg" alt="image041"></figure>
+
+<p><br><br><br></p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter" id="image042" style="max-width: 25.3125em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/image042.jpg" alt="image042"></figure>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<h3><a id="Chapter_21">CHAPTER XXI.</a></h3>
+
+<p class="t3">
+<b>BY THE NURSERY FIRE.</b><br>
+</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<p>STRENGTHENED with a new strength, Hugh sat up in bed, and considered
+what he ought to do.</p>
+
+<p>Truth and falsehood were strangely mixed up in his mind. But of one
+thing he was certain, he had not told any one the whole truth.</p>
+
+<p>Great as was his fear of punishment, his fear of offending his God and
+King was greater. What therefore ought he to do?</p>
+
+<p>Just at this moment his father's step was heard crossing the nursery.</p>
+
+<p>"I am going to put a stop to this deception," he said to the nurse.
+"If he had said boldly that he had done it and was sorry, I would have
+excused him, but to make it worse by a lie—"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, sir!" interrupted the nurse earnestly. "Do ask him to explain
+it—indeed there may be some mistake. Master Hugh is so good and
+straight and little Master Randall—you know, sir, in the heat of things
+children do not always see quite how it is. Please, sir, do wait till
+we can find out more about it!"</p>
+
+<p>Little shivering Hugh could hear his father turn towards the
+fire-place, and for a moment, he breathed more freely. But, even then,
+after what his father had said, punishment must follow, no matter
+what he might confess. Though he had, indeed, not been the one who
+had burned the note, his father had in his estimation described him
+accurately when he had accused him of a lie. If he had not told one, he
+had acted one.</p>
+
+<p>Then he heard—"Well, nurse, I do not mind waiting, of course, for I
+respect your opinion very much, as you have been with the children so
+long. But if it turns out to be as I think it is, nothing shall come
+between Hugh and his punishment. I cannot make my children all I would,
+but untruth shall not pass unreproved."</p>
+
+<p>Nurse murmured some words of thanks and he seemed to be turning away.</p>
+
+<p>Hugh sprang out of bed, and without waiting for his courage to ebb, he
+rushed into the nursery.</p>
+
+<p>"Father!" he said.</p>
+
+<p>"Well?" said Mr. Shaddock, turning round, rather coldly.</p>
+
+<p>"Father—will you hear all about it—will you hear about it before you
+punish me?"</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Shaddock came back to the fire-place and sat down. Something in the
+boy's face touched him more than he had ever felt touched before.</p>
+
+<p>"It was not my fault about the note—but—"</p>
+
+<p>"I did not come back to hear you say that—" said Mr. Shaddock.</p>
+
+<p>"No, but I was going to tell you all about it. It was my fault,
+because I touched the note first, and said to Randall that it was such
+a dirty old thing to be worth so much. But it was quite safe on the
+mantel-shelf again, and Randall would touch it. And I tried to prevent
+him by putting down my hand on it, and then he snatched it and it fell
+into the fire."</p>
+
+<p>Whether the child's eyes convinced his father, or whether the story
+bore the impress of truth, Mr. Shaddock felt that he knew the whole.</p>
+
+<p>There was a silence while he thought it all over.</p>
+
+<p>"Why did you not tell this to your mother?" he asked, at length.</p>
+
+<p>"I did try to, but—she did not understand."</p>
+
+<p>There was another pause.</p>
+
+<p>"Did you tell her all this?" asked his father, opening his arm to
+invite the little boy within it.</p>
+
+<p>Hugh thought of Randall's overbearing clamour and was silent.</p>
+
+<p>"Did you?" persisted Mr. Shaddock.</p>
+
+<p>"I tried to—" Hugh's eyes looked appealingly in his father's face, but
+he said no more.</p>
+
+<p>"I see. Now, my boy, go back to your bed. I am glad that you have told
+me."</p>
+
+<p>But Hugh hesitated. Never before had he stood like that within his
+father's arm; it was hard to go out from it, and yet he must.</p>
+
+<p>"Father," he said, gently and bravely, "are you not going to punish me?
+I would rather get it over, and then, perhaps, you will forgive me?"</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Shaddock looked down upon him wonderingly. "Forgiveness does not
+depend upon punishment," he said, slowly, "but upon—other things."</p>
+
+<p>"But I deserve what you said," answered Hugh, "because I 'did' not tell
+all the truth."</p>
+
+<p>In that five minutes Mr. Shaddock had learned a great lesson. He had
+never thought of "forgiving" his little son. He had considered it his
+duty to punish him, and there the matter would end. Now he was asked
+for forgiveness!</p>
+
+<p>What had he to do with forgiveness?</p>
+
+<p>Hugh's eyes were still fixed upon him inquiringly his colour going and
+coming.</p>
+
+<p>"I freely forgive you, my boy," he answered then; "God bless you."</p>
+
+<p>Hugh flung his arms round his father's neck, and was inclosed in an
+embrace such as he had never had before.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Shaddock rose then, and leading his child back to his bed, kissed
+him, and went slowly down-stairs.</p>
+
+<p>"I doubt if I could have done such a thing myself," was his mental
+comment. And all the evening afterwards, those words which he had heard
+so often in church, but had never heeded before, seemed to sound in his
+ears—</p>
+
+<p class="letter">
+<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"'Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is
+covered.'"<br>
+</p>
+
+<p><br><br><br></p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter" id="image043" style="max-width: 25.3125em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/image043.jpg" alt="image043"></figure>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<h3><a id="Chapter_22">CHAPTER XXII.</a></h3>
+
+<p class="t3">
+<b>NO THOROUGHFARE.</b><br>
+</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<p>"THERE is a lady down-stairs waiting to see you, Miss Ashlyn," said
+Mollie, putting her head in at the door of the schoolroom one morning,
+and then withdrawing it without waiting to receive any answer.</p>
+
+<p>"For me?" exclaimed Gertrude, colouring with surprise. "I do not know
+anybody here."</p>
+
+<p>"Go down and see," said Randall. "I dare say it's some old fogey! Our
+last governess had some of those sort to see her."</p>
+
+<p>If Gertrude had not blushed before, she blushed now. Suppose it should
+be her mother whom Randall had called by such a name?</p>
+
+<p>"You are very rude," she said coldly, turning to him ere she left the
+room. "Do not move till I come back. I will at any rate not be long."</p>
+
+<p>She ran down-stairs, her heart beating. Could it be her mother? But she
+would never have come unless something had been the matter!</p>
+
+<p>She had not long to be in doubt. As she opened the door, a white-haired
+lady indeed sat near the window. But the beautiful complexion and soft,
+dark eyes belonged to no one else than her sister Rose!</p>
+
+<p>In a moment they were clasped in each other's arms, and then Rose in
+rather an agitated way began to explain about the basket, and the old
+man, and the Strange House, and the little slippers.</p>
+
+<p>At mention of these, Gertrude turned pale.</p>
+
+<p>"Rose!" she exclaimed. "That is what has been haunting me ever since. I
+could not make it out!"</p>
+
+<p>"That makes it more necessary than ever for me to do my utmost to find
+out if my child is really—"</p>
+
+<p>Rose broke off. She could not get through those words. The imagined
+nearness of her child, if as she fondly believed, he were in the next
+house, made her altogether frantic. She could hardly control herself.</p>
+
+<p>"Dearest Rose," said Gertrude persuasively, "sit down quietly now,
+while I go and tell Mrs. Shaddock you are here, and speak to my
+children up-stairs. I am sure they will be interested in it all, and
+Mrs. Shaddock will perhaps advise us as to what is best to be done."</p>
+
+<p>Rose sat down obediently, though she glanced out of the window at every
+passer-by with such anxiety, that Gertrude feared she would not even
+allow her time to make her explanations, before she would want to be
+out of the door, and knocking at that Strange House which she thought
+contained her darling.</p>
+
+<p>However, Gertrude hastened to the schoolroom to beg Daisy and Randall
+to amuse themselves with a book till her return, and then she sought
+Mrs. Shaddock, who was busy with Mollie in the dining-room writing
+invitations for an "At Home" the next week.</p>
+
+<p>The explanations were soon made, and Mrs. Shaddock went into the other
+room to make acquaintance with Mrs. Leigh, and in her hospitable way to
+beg her to use her house as if it were her own.</p>
+
+<p>Rose's tearful eyes were a grateful answer enough.</p>
+
+<p>"I am going to the house to see if I can find out anything," said
+Rose, rising. "You cannot wonder that I dare not delay after my sad
+experiences!"</p>
+
+<p>They let her go, and Gertrude went back to the schoolroom to tell Daisy
+about it, and to wait her sister's return. Rose had begged them not to
+accompany her or be seen outside.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile with trembling steps, growing more firm as she went along,
+Rose tried to remember Otto's words of there being no "blind streets"
+in God's paths, and so gathered courage as she leaned on Him who is
+mighty.</p>
+
+<p>But her repeated knocks at the door brought no answer, and after she
+had stood there a whole quarter of an hour, she began to despair at
+last.</p>
+
+<p>She ceased knocking and ringing, and then could bear the strokes of a
+spade in the back garden.</p>
+
+<p>She went to the side gate and shook it, and after some time an elderly
+man came shuffling up the path and approached the green lattice-work
+fence.</p>
+
+<p>"Does Mrs. Swift live here?" said Rose as boldly as she could, her
+heart beating.</p>
+
+<p>"My name's Brown," said the man surlily.</p>
+
+<p>"Could I speak to your wife?" asked Rose, looking earnestly in his face.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm alone," answered the man with increased surliness. "What's the
+good of asking me to see my wife? She went away from me a long time
+ago,—and, as I tell you, I'm all alone."</p>
+
+<p>He began to turn towards his garden again.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, please!" implored Rose. "Would you tell me if you ever lived at
+Blank—?"</p>
+
+<p>A startled look, despite an evident effort, overspread the man's face.</p>
+
+<p>"No, I never did!" he answered heartily enough. "You never heard of a
+Mrs. Swift there, a lodging-house keeper, with one little boy?"</p>
+
+<p>Did Rose fancy a spasm passed across the haggard face before her? It
+was only for an instant.</p>
+
+<p>"Didn't I tell you," he asked roughly, "that I was never at the place?
+How is it likely I should know any one there? Why do you come here
+hindering me at my work?"</p>
+
+<p>He left her abruptly, and Rose stood baffled.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, please!" she called in her soft, musical voice, which must have
+reached him well enough. "Please do come and talk to me a little while!"</p>
+
+<p>But the man crunched over the gravel unheedingly, and took up his spade
+within sight of her, and so dug and dug persistently till, tired out,
+and fearing she was ridiculous, Rose turned back to the Shaddocks'
+house, feeling that indeed this had been "No thoroughfare" in good
+earnest.</p>
+
+<p><br><br><br></p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter" id="image044" style="max-width: 25.3125em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/image044.jpg" alt="image044"></figure>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<h3><a id="Chapter_23">CHAPTER XXIII.</a></h3>
+
+<p class="t3">
+<b>A HINDRANCE.</b><br>
+</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<p>"I THOUGHT—I hoped," sobbed poor Rose, "that—at last—my waiting time
+was over, and I—might be going to find my little Lester—if it were
+God's will."</p>
+
+<p>"And the worst is," she added, when she was calmer and was sitting
+in Gertrude's bedroom, "the worst is, Gertrude, if there should be
+anything wrong, they will move away at once."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said Gertrude, kneeling down by her and laying her head on
+her sister's shoulder, "but then—even supposing all that, if God has
+allowed us to get on this track, and it is the right one, He will
+certainly make a way out of what seems so dark and difficult now."</p>
+
+<p>The words quieted Rose's aching heart.</p>
+
+<p>"I was almost forgetting that in my disappointment! Dear Gertrude, you
+are a true comforter."</p>
+
+<p>There was silence then, Rose reviewing all the strong consolation which
+she felt at the times when she remembered that her Father in heaven
+could work for her; while Gertrude realized, as never before, how
+precious were her dear ones at home, and felt it would certainly break
+her heart to see Rose go away and leave her behind.</p>
+
+<p>A summons to dinner interrupted these thoughts.</p>
+
+<p>"How truly kind Mrs. Shaddock is!" said Rose, as they went down. "She
+has asked me to stay the night here, or as long as I like. I never saw
+strangers so kind."</p>
+
+<p>At dinner, the plans for the afternoon were freely discussed, for till
+Rose could communicate with her lawyer and ask his advice, she could do
+nothing, "but enjoy herself," as Randall told Daisy.</p>
+
+<p>"I have to go to Highgate to make two or three calls," said Mrs.
+Shaddock, "and shall drive. If Mrs. Leigh will come with me—"</p>
+
+<p>"And me, mother?" interrupted Randall.</p>
+
+<p>"Very well—and you—the rest can walk and meet us there. Then you can
+show Mrs. Leigh the cemetery while I make my calls, and I will take her
+up at the lower gates at five o'clock. Miss Ashlyn, I know you like
+walking, do you not?"</p>
+
+<p>This plan was hailed with applause by the children. For Mrs. Shaddock,
+if she took them a little jaunt in this way, was always very
+generous in her plans. And they knew that a pleasant tea at the best
+pastrycook's in Highgate would be in the programme, and that their
+mother would perhaps tell them to have a cab to bring them home.</p>
+
+<p>So they set off in wild spirits, some time before their mother's
+carriage was ordered, and timed their arrival at the upper gates at
+Highgate Cemetery just as it came bowling along the road.</p>
+
+<p>It stopped to put Mrs. Leigh down, and then Mrs. Shaddock beckoned
+Mollie to the window.</p>
+
+<p>"Have a nice tea," she whispered, pressing some money into Mollie's
+hand, "and do not hurry. Mrs. Leigh says she would like to walk home
+with her sister. So either, of you girls, can come with me or walk
+home, which you like."</p>
+
+<p>"Daisy can come then," said Mollie; "I would much rather stay with
+them."</p>
+
+<p>The carriage drove on, and the party was left standing on the path.</p>
+
+<p>"Which way are we to go?" asked Gertrude.</p>
+
+<p>"I know!" exclaimed Randall. "Come along, Mrs. Leigh, I'll show you."</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Leigh, looking upon every little boy with the eyes of a bereaved
+mother, had longingly regarded little Randall as perhaps reminding
+her of her own six-year old child. But even if his bright colour and
+yellow hair might have done for little Lester's pink cheeks and golden
+curls, the defiant eyes and bold mien did not remind her of her tender
+darling, and no amount of imagination would turn Randall into a little
+Lester. She however took the child's hand, her fingers thrilling at the
+little fingers, and went forward with him in front, the rest following
+at leisure.</p>
+
+<p>It was a glorious afternoon; the sunshine was perfect, and the fresh
+breeze and the autumn foliage were so entrancing that the children's
+spirits could hardly be kept within bounds in that quiet resting-place
+of the dead.</p>
+
+<p>Several times, Gertrude had to warn them to be more moderate, till at
+last Randall said, "We always do just as we like here, Miss Ashlyn."</p>
+
+<p>"Not if I am in charge," said Gertrude quietly.</p>
+
+<p>"Let us go and look at what we call 'the catacombs,'" said Randall. "If
+you peep in, you can see the coffins all along!"</p>
+
+<p>He went off with his sisters, and Gertrude and Rose were left alone.</p>
+
+<p>"You have a handful with that little boy?" said Rose, looking after
+them.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," answered Gertrude, "he is my cross."</p>
+
+<p>"Then, darling, he may yet be your 'crown'!" Rose answered tenderly.</p>
+
+<p>Gertrude did not reply, but followed on the heels of her flock to see
+that they did not get into mischief.</p>
+
+<p>By and by, they began to clamour for tea, and the party made their way
+out of the cemetery and wandered into the town, looking at shops as
+they went along, till Mollie exclaimed, "Miss Ashlyn, I 'must' buy that
+pattern; it is just what I have been wanting for ever so long."</p>
+
+<p>Gertrude feared that it was getting late, and begged her to defer her
+purchase till after tea, but she would not hear of it. Then the shop
+was full, and they had to wait, so that when they finally reached the
+pastrycook's, the clock pointed to ten minutes to five.</p>
+
+<p>"You will keep your mother waiting!" exclaimed Gertrude. "Daisy, dear,
+have something to eat, and let us hasten to meet her. I had no idea we
+should be so long in that shop."</p>
+
+<p>The child took some cake and hurried back with Gertrude through the
+quiet cemetery, and arrived breathless, five minutes before the
+carriage came.</p>
+
+<p>"What will they think has become of you?" asked Daisy, to whom the
+moments while they stood waiting seemed longer than they really were.</p>
+
+<p>"I told them to have their tea and to go home without me if I did not
+come," said Gertrude.</p>
+
+<p>And then the carriage came, and she left Daisy with her mother and
+retraced her steps back through the trees and flowers and graves.</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter" id="image045" style="max-width: 25.3125em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/image045.jpg" alt="image045"></figure>
+
+<p><br><br><br></p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter" id="image046" style="max-width: 25.3125em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/image046.jpg" alt="image046"></figure>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<h3><a id="Chapter_24">CHAPTER XXIV.</a></h3>
+
+<p class="t3">
+<b>AT THE GRAVE.</b><br>
+</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<p>THE autumn afternoon was closing in, and but that Gertrude had noticed
+some men filling in a new-made grave as she went down, she would have
+feared that she might find the gates shut.</p>
+
+<p>She walked as fast as she could, taking one of the narrower paths,
+and was almost within sight of the upper gates when her attention was
+arrested by a figure crouching over that very new-made grave which she
+had seen.</p>
+
+<p>Her quick steps took her past before she had realized that there was
+some one who was in great need.</p>
+
+<p>But what was it to her that a mourner should be weeping there? Were not
+all those graves dear to some hearts? And was this not one among many?</p>
+
+<p>Still she could not go on and leave the drooping figure. Somehow there
+was an abandonment in the grief that made Gertrude feel she "could" not
+"pass by on the other side."</p>
+
+<p>One moment she hesitated—then advanced softly across the grass, which
+had already in the dusk lost its greenness, and was now nothing but a
+carpet of deep shade beneath her feet.</p>
+
+<p>She sat down on the ground beside the weeping woman and touched her
+hand.</p>
+
+<p>"You are in great trouble," she said gently.</p>
+
+<p>A moan was the only answer.</p>
+
+<p>"Have you lost your husband?" asked Gertrude tenderly.</p>
+
+<p>A decisive shake of the head.</p>
+
+<p>"Then perhaps it is a child?" asked the soft voice again.</p>
+
+<p>The woman turned away with a sudden sort of pang, but after a moment
+she said, as if in spite of herself—"My only one!"</p>
+
+<p>"That must be terrible," said Gertrude, thinking of Rose, and trying to
+match this woman's grief with what she knew of her sister's.</p>
+
+<p>The woman raised herself a little, but only to cover her head in her
+shawl more effectually, out of which her voice sounded far-off and
+thick.</p>
+
+<p>"Could you tell me?" said Gertrude tenderly, thinking about her Lord
+and Master, and trying to picture "His" great love and sympathy, so
+that she might copy Him.</p>
+
+<p>"Why do you care for a stranger?" flashed this woman from the depths of
+the shawl.</p>
+
+<p>"Because I love the Lord Jesus," answered Gertrude, "and He wept at the
+grave."</p>
+
+<p>"At the grave?" questioned the woman. "Whose grave?"</p>
+
+<p>But before Gertrude could answer, she had flung herself round again,
+and ended in burying her face in her hands on the girl's lap, where
+she shook with a paroxysm of grief such as Gertrude had never imagined
+could be.</p>
+
+<p>It was impossible to leave her, and yet what about those closing gates
+and the growing darkness?</p>
+
+<p>Then Gertrude noticed to her intense relief that some men were
+spreading gravel near the entrance, and were rolling it backwards and
+forwards without apparently any signs of giving up.</p>
+
+<p>So she turned her attention once more to the mourner, who was clasping
+her as if she were the only comfort left.</p>
+
+<p>She whispered words of the love of Jesus, of His sympathy, of His
+ability to save to the uttermost, of His love for the little children.
+And as she went on, feeling her way as it were, she began to understand
+what a mighty Saviour she had for her own, and a great longing came
+over her for this poor soul who, evidently, was a stranger to His great
+love.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm a wicked woman," groaned her listener at last. "You would not
+speak to me so if you guessed how wicked I have been."</p>
+
+<p>"Jesus our Saviour came to save sinners," whispered Gertrude.</p>
+
+<p>"That is what 'he' said," she exclaimed, her eyes raining down tears.</p>
+
+<p>"Your little boy?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; but—but he asked me to do two things, and I can't do either."</p>
+
+<p>"He wanted you to come to Jesus?" asked Gertrude eagerly.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, but though I cannot do that, it was not the hardest thing. I
+promised him, and yet I am going to break my word!"</p>
+
+<p>"Break your word to him?" asked Gertrude reproachfully. "You will not
+do that."</p>
+
+<p>"I shall—simply because I never can do it! I thought I would when I
+promised, but I can't. No, I can't. Johnnie, it is of no use."</p>
+
+<p>Again she wept hopelessly, while Gertrude trembled, she hardly knew why.</p>
+
+<p>"Is it something you ought to tell?" asked Gertrude.</p>
+
+<p>A movement of the woman's head seemed to acknowledge that it was.</p>
+
+<p>"Then God will help you to tell it, if you ask Him."</p>
+
+<p>"I have never asked Him anything. Yes, I have; I asked Him that Johnnie
+might not die, and He did not hear."</p>
+
+<p>"Ask Him for this, and perhaps He will make the other plain to you by
+and by. The reason, I mean!"</p>
+
+<p>"I know the reason!" said the woman bitterly. "It was because of my
+sin!"</p>
+
+<p>"You do not know the reason. Perhaps the loving and merciful God could
+find no other way to show you your sin, and lead you to Himself to be
+forgiven."</p>
+
+<p>There was a long silence, while the woman's thoughts chased each other
+through her torn heart.</p>
+
+<p>Gertrude watched the men rolling the gravel; she heard their cheerful
+tones as they went backwards and forwards. Then she bent over the
+prostrate form once more.</p>
+
+<p>"Dear friend," she whispered, "shall I pray that God will give you His
+mighty help to keep this promise?"</p>
+
+<p>The woman pressed her hand, and Gertrude prayed a prayer, the
+earnestness of which had never perhaps passed her lips before.</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter" id="image047" style="max-width: 25.3125em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/image047.jpg" alt="image047"></figure>
+
+<p><br><br><br></p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter" id="image048" style="max-width: 25.3125em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/image048.jpg" alt="image048"></figure>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<h3><a id="Chapter_25">CHAPTER XXV.</a></h3>
+
+<p class="t3">
+<b>JOHNNIE'S JOKE.</b><br>
+</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<p>"WOULD it help you to tell 'me'?" asked Gertrude, bending over the
+woman as she still knelt with her head buried in her lap.</p>
+
+<p>She laid a tender hand on her head, and stroked her hair softly,
+wondering at herself that she could, and yet feeling an overwhelming
+pity in her heart. Was not she a sinner too, and did she not know that
+the seeds of all sorts of evil lurked in her own heart?</p>
+
+<p>"A sinner saved!" she thought. And then she said aloud, "I have learned
+what it is to be forgiven myself, you know, and so I can sympathize."</p>
+
+<p>"You have never done what I have," murmured the woman. "But—I do not
+know why, yet I trust you! I will, if I can, tell you about it. You
+will see then that I shall never be able to keep this promise."</p>
+
+<p>"You will, if you believe that the dear God is able to help you. Oh,
+if only you would, from your heart, ask Him to forgive you—whatever it
+is—I am sure, after that you would be able to keep your promise."</p>
+
+<p>The woman trembled, and after a minute or two's silence, she said in a
+low tone—</p>
+
+<p>"I never meant to—not at first. But before I say a word more, you will
+promise me that you will never tell 'any one'?"</p>
+
+<p>"No," said Gertrude; "I will keep your secret faithfully."</p>
+
+<p>Then the woman went on almost beneath her breath—</p>
+
+<p>"It was two years ago. I never meant to do it! I was as honest and
+straightforward a woman as you would find.</p>
+
+<p>"We lived—no matter where. My husband was a steward on board one of the
+steamers going to and from China, and was not at home then. I settled
+down in a seaside place, and hired a house and furniture, and set up
+lodging-keeping.</p>
+
+<p>"I had nobody but my Johnnie with me, and we were enough for each other.</p>
+
+<p>"By and by there came a lady and a little boy—a dear little fellow."</p>
+
+<p>She caught her breath for a moment with a sobbing sigh, and then went
+on in a low almost inaudible tone—</p>
+
+<p>"His mother was obliged to go away to Scotland, and I took care of him
+while she was gone. One afternoon I was called into a neighbour's to
+help with some one who had got a bad scald, and the time ran away, and
+I was gone longer than I had ought to have been. I know that—I'd no
+business to have left him so long."</p>
+
+<p>The woman wound her shawl round her face and wept bitterly.</p>
+
+<p>Gertrude's heart was beating so fast that she felt choked, while she
+breathlessly listened to the tale which matched—yes, yes it did!—that
+dreadful one of her sister's.</p>
+
+<p>Then a blank despair fell upon her. Why had she given that reckless
+promise not to tell any one? Ought she to hear the rest of the story
+and remain silent? And if she interrupted now, the secret might be gone
+for ever!</p>
+
+<p>In this terrible crisis, Gertrude could but breathe in her heart a
+swift prayer for guidance and help to her unseen but ever-present
+Friend. Afterwards, she knew that it had been given, but now she could
+only trust.</p>
+
+<p>Could this be indeed the clue to Rose's mystery? She knew not what to
+do, so she waited.</p>
+
+<p>"When I came back," the woman went on at last, though her words were
+choked and broken, "Johnnie—my Johnnie—met me in the passage full of
+excitement.</p>
+
+<p>"'I've had such a lark,' he said, in his cheerful little way.</p>
+
+<p>"I went into the parlour (we had no lodgers just then) with my mind
+full of the scalded girl, and I said—</p>
+
+<p>"'Where's the little one, Johnnie? I did not mean to be gone so long.'</p>
+
+<p>"'Come up and see,' he said. And he led me up-stairs and opened one of
+the bedroom doors.</p>
+
+<p>"I gave a great scream—I remember it all as if it had happened
+yesterday—for there before me was a great monster which Johnnie had
+dressed up for fun, with a big mask on and a candle behind it, shining
+out of the eyes. Of course it was only for a moment I was frightened,
+and I turned round to scold Johnnie about it, when I saw close to it
+the figure of the little boy I was taking care of, standing with his
+finger touching it.</p>
+
+<p>"He was such a wonderfully timid child that my heart gave a great jump
+when I saw him first. But after all, I thought, he was less scared than
+I was.</p>
+
+<p>"'Come along, dear,' I said, 'we will go down-stairs.'</p>
+
+<p>"But the little fellow did not move. He went on touching the great
+monster that Johnnie had made, and took not the slightest notice of me.</p>
+
+<p>"I went up to him and looked in his face.</p>
+
+<p>"'Ain't you tired of this ugly thing?' I said. 'Johnnie hadn't ought to
+have done it. Come along, dear!'</p>
+
+<p>"But though I took him up in my arms, he still looked with those
+startled big eyes, until I got him safe down into our parlour.</p>
+
+<p>"When I got there, I expected him to 'come to,' and perhaps have a
+little cry. But oh, miss! How can I tell you my feelings when he just
+sat where I put him, or stood where I stood him, without taking any
+more notice than a doll.</p>
+
+<p>"'Johnnie!' I said. 'What did you do?'</p>
+
+<p>"Johnnie was terrified enough. 'I only told him to go up-stairs and see
+something pretty in your room,' he said.</p>
+
+<p>"'And did he go?'</p>
+
+<p>"'He was mighty afraid at first, and then he ran up all at once, very
+brave-like, and I thought there was no harm!' said Johnnie.</p>
+
+<p>"And no more he did, miss; he loved the little fellow as much as I did.
+Only Johnnie was always one for those jokes; that's what it was."</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter" id="image049" style="max-width: 25.3125em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/image049.jpg" alt="image049"></figure>
+
+<p><br><br><br></p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter" id="image050" style="max-width: 25.3125em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/image050.jpg" alt="image050"></figure>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<h3><a id="Chapter_26">CHAPTER XXVI.</a></h3>
+
+<p class="t3">
+<b>FLIGHT.</b><br>
+</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<p>GERTRUDE could hardly breathe, but she kept quiet, and the woman
+continued her narrative, still in the same dull, hopeless, heart-broken
+tone in which she had spoken all along.</p>
+
+<p>"I did everything I could think of. I gave him a warm bath—I poured out
+prayers and tears—I did everything to bring him back, but to no avail.</p>
+
+<p>"As to Johnnie, he hung over him too, and cried as I never wish to hear
+a child cry again; it wrings my heart now to think of it.</p>
+
+<p>"All night we watched him, and kissed him, and coaxed him, but it was
+of no use! At last, Johnnie fell asleep, kneeling on the floor by us,
+but no sleep came to my eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"Then I made my fatal mistake and committed a dreadful sin.</p>
+
+<p>"When the morning sun crept in, and still those wide-open startled eyes
+gave no sign of intelligence, I made up my mind for flight.</p>
+
+<p>"At first I only intended to gain time, perhaps to consult a doctor in
+London, or to try what change of air would do to restore him. But I did
+a dreadful thing—I robbed a mother of her child, and I prevented her
+doing what she might have done to repair the mischief.</p>
+
+<p>"You will blame me—I know you must—I feel your knees trembling beneath
+me. But oh! No one who has not passed through it can conceive what I
+suffered then, and what I have suffered since!"</p>
+
+<p>Gertrude's knees did tremble, but by a great effort she murmured some
+words of sympathy. While the woman raised her face to wipe from it the
+drops of perspiration which stood on her brow.</p>
+
+<p>One thought crossed Gertrude's mind of what they would think if she did
+not arrive at the confectioner's, but she was reassured that they would
+conclude that she had been persuaded to drive home with Mrs. Shaddock,
+and till both parties arrived, each would think she was with the other.
+This woman's story would be enough excuse when once she got home!</p>
+
+<p>"It was my terror of what would be done to Johnnie," the woman went on
+at length, "that made me fly. Ah! I had better have faced it all, ten
+thousand times! Better for myself, better for him. As to me, I have
+grown an old, broken-down woman; as to him—he lies here in the cold
+ground, and I shall never, never see him again!"</p>
+
+<p>"He is gone to Jesus," whispered Gertrude in a broken voice; "if you
+seek Him too, you will meet your boy again."</p>
+
+<p>She did not know how to articulate the words, and yet—still she thought
+of herself as a forgiven sinner, and must she not forgive too!</p>
+
+<p>The woman seemed to listen.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, if I could!" she said, with a yearning cry.</p>
+
+<p>"'Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out,'" said Gertrude
+earnestly. And then she thought of the unfinished story, and how could
+she bear to speak of anything till that was told?</p>
+
+<p>But had she not in that brief prayer asked her Heavenly Father to take
+it all in hand? And was she going to slight "His" work, which He had
+given her to do, in order to take what she thought the best road to
+finding little Lester?</p>
+
+<p>"Those are the very words my Johnnie said!" exclaimed the woman,
+raising her face for the first time, and letting Gertrude gaze upon its
+haggard lines—at least upon so much of them as could be seen in the
+increasing darkness.</p>
+
+<p>"'In no wise cast out!' Those are good words!"</p>
+
+<p>She laid her head down again on the trembling knees, and did not speak
+for ever so long.</p>
+
+<p>"Why are you so good to me?" she asked at last.</p>
+
+<p>"Because I am so sorry for you," said Gertrude in a low tone.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm not worthy to come to Him," the woman went on; "and yet—yet I
+think I must try. Johnnie said he'd been forgiven—and he said I should
+be. And oh, though you may not think it, from such a dreadful thing as
+I am, but if I could be forgiven by God, and know that the poor mother
+I robbed—"</p>
+
+<p>She broke off and flung herself upon Johnnie's grave, and lay there
+with her face against the cold clay.</p>
+
+<p>"Dear friend," said Gertrude kneeling down beside her, "go to Jesus
+now! Do not wait any longer. You will never be happy without Him; you
+will be at peace even in the midst of this dreadful sorrow, if only you
+have Him for your Saviour. Do not wait another moment."</p>
+
+<p>And again repeating those words which have brought balm to thousands of
+hopeless hearts, Gertrude said, as Johnnie's nurse had done, "'Him that
+cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out.'"</p>
+
+<p>Perhaps Johnnie's persuasion had prepared her, perhaps the week of
+anguish she had just passed had softened her heart; at any rate, the
+woman believed the loving promise and acted on it.</p>
+
+<p>She "came" to Jesus, and found that she was not cast out! But, covered
+with the Atoning Blood, she was drawn into the circle of everlasting
+love!</p>
+
+<p>"I've done it!" she whispered at length. "I've come, and He has not
+cast me out! Oh, I never saw such love!"</p>
+
+<p>She rose from the ground, and taking Gertrude's hand, pointed towards
+the entrance, where the men were beginning to put away their tools.</p>
+
+<p>"I shall never be able to thank you, miss," she said brokenly, "but if
+ever there was a grateful heart!—To think that I 'shall' see Johnnie
+again now! Oh, miss! I'm lost in joy and wonder. I cannot think that I
+am the same woman that I was an hour ago!"</p>
+
+<p>Gertrude, amidst all the conflicting feelings of joy for this new-born
+soul, sorrow for her sister, and anxiety as to the future, could do
+nothing but weep.</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter" id="image051" style="max-width: 25.3125em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/image051.jpg" alt="image051"></figure>
+
+<p><br><br><br></p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter" id="image052" style="max-width: 25.3125em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/image052.jpg" alt="image052"></figure>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<h3><a id="Chapter_27">CHAPTER XXVII.</a></h3>
+
+<p class="t3">
+<b>A DARK RIDE.</b><br>
+</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<p>THE woman, still holding her hand, led her to the gates.</p>
+
+<p>"Dear miss," she said at last, "why do you cry? You, at any rate, ought
+to be very glad, for you have brought me, by your great kindness, what
+is worth the whole world to me! Why do you cry?"</p>
+
+<p>Again Gertrude could do nothing but pray a silent momentary prayer, to
+be taught to say the right words.</p>
+
+<p>"I am crying because I am glad for you; because I do not love our
+blessed Saviour half enough myself for all He has done for me. But I am
+crying, too, I think, because—because—I want you to tell me the rest
+about that poor little boy, and because I want you to give him back to
+his mother."</p>
+
+<p>The woman let go her hand suddenly, and there was a long pause. Their
+steps carried them through the gates into the dark road outside.</p>
+
+<p>"You have asked a very hard thing," said the woman, slowly.</p>
+
+<p>Gertrude was silent; her heart sank at the altered tone.</p>
+
+<p>"And yet—" the woman went on, "and yet—I see that it will have to come
+to that; I saw it as I lay with my face on my Johnnie's grave. The
+moment I had come to Christ to have my sins forgiven, I promised Him
+that for His great love to me I would show that little bit of love
+to Him, and do it for His sake. Yes, what I could not do for even
+Johnnie's sake, I will do for Jesus!"</p>
+
+<p>She clasped Gertrude's hand again, and covered it with kisses; while
+the poor girl, wholly overcome, sobbed convulsively.</p>
+
+<p>"I will tell you the rest as we go along," whispered the woman.</p>
+
+<p>"Where do you live?" asked Gertrude, when she could speak. "Shall we
+have a cab? I will drive you home if you will let me."</p>
+
+<p>"It is a long way," said the woman. "I live at Hampstead."</p>
+
+<p>At Hampstead! Gertrude started, and then she said quietly—</p>
+
+<p>"We will go together then, and you will tell me on the way? I know you
+will be kind now. I too have something to tell you!"</p>
+
+<p>They were quite silent till they were seated in the vehicle and driving
+down the long road that led from Highgate to Hampstead Heath.</p>
+
+<p>None too long, however, as Gertrude knew, for all she wanted to hear.</p>
+
+<p>The woman began of herself.</p>
+
+<p>"Dear miss," she said, "I have made up my mind; so now there is nothing
+to do but to carry it out. For His great love, I'm going to have just a
+little love, and try to do right—at last."</p>
+
+<p>"Tell me about the little boy!" whispered Gertrude.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, yes, but I must find his mother! That is the next step, no matter
+what it costs. Do you think she will have me imprisoned?"</p>
+
+<p>"I should hope not—I should think not!" exclaimed Gertrude.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, well, no matter now. I must find her; life is but short, and
+soon I shall see Jesus and Johnnie! I cannot look at things as I did;
+it is all new and wonderful. What was very dreadful does not seem so
+dreadful, and this world seems far-away, and heaven very near."</p>
+
+<p>She looked up into the starry sky, and seemed lost in thought.
+Gertrude's touch recalled her.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," she said, as if taking up the thread with an effort, "I must
+tell you the rest.</p>
+
+<p>"As I said, we tried everything we could possibly think of to bring the
+poor little dear back to his senses. Oh, it was a cruel, cruel trick,
+miss; you cannot say it more strongly than I did; but Johnnie did not
+mean to do harm. Never was a boy more bitterly sorry than my little
+Johnnie. I don't think he often had a happy moment after, till he
+died. Oh, tricks are dreadful things! This one has ruined my life, and
+Johnnie's, and—other lives too."</p>
+
+<p>Again she broke off with a gasp. Gertrude noticed that she could hardly
+speak of little Lester without it.</p>
+
+<p>"At last, my husband came home and found us hiding, as you may say, in
+a street in Bermondsey. He was dreadfully cut up about it, and wanted
+me to give the child back to his mother at once. But fear kept me from
+doing what was right, and I would not hear of it.</p>
+
+<p>"At last, we decided we could not live where we were. The little one's
+health grew very poor—" (Gertrude gave a shiver of pain, but she kept
+silent)—"and so at last we decided to send Johnnie to school, and to
+take a house near Hampstead, where my husband could employ himself.
+He used to be head-gardener at a gentleman's place before he went as
+steward, so that was what he turned his hand to. The little one and I
+lived at the top of the house, and there he is now."</p>
+
+<p>"Is he ill?" asked Gertrude, in a smothered voice, her heart sinking at
+what the answer might be.</p>
+
+<p>"Very poorly," answered the woman, in a low tone; "very poorly indeed."</p>
+
+<p>"If you could find his mother, would you let her see him?" asked
+Gertrude.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said the woman slowly.</p>
+
+<p>"May I help you to find her?"</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, miss, that will be a job. You see, it's two years ago, and I
+only know her name, and the name of the place where she did live
+once—Camptown."</p>
+
+<p>"I am sure I can help you if you will trust me," said Gertrude,
+trembling, "but what about my promise not to tell?"</p>
+
+<p>The woman was silent for a moment. Already the cab had crossed the
+broad Heath, and was rattling down the steep town of Hampstead. They
+would be home in five minutes.</p>
+
+<p>Then the woman took Gertrude's hand in hers again, and pressing it till
+it ached, she said, brokenly, "You may tell 'her,' if you can find her."</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter" id="image053" style="max-width: 25.3125em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/image053.jpg" alt="image053"></figure>
+
+<p><br><br><br></p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter" id="image054" style="max-width: 25.3125em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/image054.jpg" alt="image054"></figure>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<h3><a id="Chapter_28">CHAPTER XXVIII.</a></h3>
+
+<p class="t3">
+<b>ALMOST.</b><br>
+</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<p>ON they drove, till the cab, as directed by the woman, turned up one of
+the openings leading from the main road, and at length stopped at the
+gate of a house, just as Gertrude had anticipated, next door to her own
+home.</p>
+
+<p>All along the way, she had been questioning with herself what she ought
+to do, but she could not form any definite plan.</p>
+
+<p>They got out, Gertrude paying the man, and then they paused and looked
+each other in the face, under the gas-lamp, Gertrude raising her eyes
+with an appealing look in them.</p>
+
+<p>The woman caught both her hands as if terrified, and drew her nearer
+the light.</p>
+
+<p>"Your face—something in your face brings back to me another face, which
+all these months I have fled from and dreaded to see."</p>
+
+<p>"But you do not any longer?" said Gertrude, with quivering voice.</p>
+
+<p>"I hardly know, dear miss. I owe you so much, but let me go in and have
+time to think! You seem—and yet it is impossible—as if you were some
+one belonging to that poor mother I have wronged, or else to be herself
+grown different!"</p>
+
+<p>She trembled all over, and Gertrude led her into her own garden and up
+to her own door.</p>
+
+<p>"May I come in too?" she asked, as the woman fumbled in her pocket for
+a key.</p>
+
+<p>"No, no!" she answered, turning round suddenly. "I must speak to my
+husband. Not but what he will be glad—this has pretty near worn him
+out. But I do not think I can let you in!"</p>
+
+<p>"Dear friend," said Gertrude, in an imploring tone, "if I go away now,
+you will not disappoint me afterwards, and refuse to see us if I find
+the little one's mother? You will remember then all we said and did at
+Johnnie's grave?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, yes, I will," said the woman. "Now go and leave me." Then,
+suddenly altering her mind, the woman pulled her into the dim,
+fire-lighted kitchen, and struck a match.</p>
+
+<p>"No, you are not his mother!" she said slowly.</p>
+
+<p>"But," added Gertrude, "I am her sister. I never guessed it when you
+began to tell me. I thought you were just a stranger out in the wide
+world—some one who needed Jesus! But now—oh, you will not refuse to
+let me bring my sister to her lost darling! You will let me go and
+fetch her, that she may once more clasp him in her arms, as you clasped
+Johnnie only a week ago!"</p>
+
+<p>The woman sank into a chair, and Gertrude knelt in front of her,
+pouring out entreaties, feeling as if in the woman's silence, little
+Lester were slipping away and away, just as she had grasped him.</p>
+
+<p>Then she thought of her Unfailing Refuge. Why was she so anxious and
+dismayed? Would not He, who had brought her thus far, bring her to the
+end?</p>
+
+<p>She buried her face in her hands in silent, earnest petition to Him who
+is ever near.</p>
+
+<p>"Dear miss," said the woman softly, "did I not say that I would give
+him up?"</p>
+
+<p>Gertrude looked in her face, and then she rose up from her knees, and
+bent her head to kiss the careworn cheek.</p>
+
+<p>"Then I will bring her," was all she said. "Shall you come to the door
+if I ring there?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said the woman, "I'll come."</p>
+
+<p class="thought">
+*****
+</p>
+
+<p>In another two minutes Gertrude was standing in the Shaddocks' bright
+hall, with all the family crowding round her.</p>
+
+<p>"Where have you been?" exclaimed Mollie.</p>
+
+<p>"We have been so anxious about you," said Mrs. Shaddock.</p>
+
+<p>"We stayed at the confectioner's till we were ashamed to stay any
+longer," said Rose.</p>
+
+<p>"I expect you've had a spree!" said Randall.</p>
+
+<p>While behind stood tall Conway with his rather supercilious look, Hugh
+and Daisy filling up the rest of the circle.</p>
+
+<p>But Rose, more accustomed to Gertrude's ordinary aspect, saw something
+different in her sister's face.</p>
+
+<p>And just as Mrs. Shaddock was saying, "How tired you must be! I hope
+you have not walked all the way," Rose drew close to her, and said—</p>
+
+<p>"I am afraid you have been frightened. Is anything the matter?"</p>
+
+<p>"I have met some one who told me a very sad story," said Gertrude,
+meeting her sister's eyes, where in a moment came a startled look.</p>
+
+<p>"Who told you a sad story, dear Gertrude?" she asked breathlessly.</p>
+
+<p>A silence fell upon the whole group. That something had happened, every
+one saw.</p>
+
+<p>"You are worn out!" said Rose. "Come in here and tell us. Mrs.
+Shaddock, may I give my sister some tea?"</p>
+
+<p>The rest followed the sisters into the dining-room, while Mollie poured
+out some tea, and Rose put Gertrude into an arm-chair.</p>
+
+<p>"I want to tell you all!" she exclaimed, looking up at the eager faces,
+"but I am bound over to tell only one person at present. Dearest Rose!
+Can you bear to hear that I believe I have found a clue which will lead
+us to little Lester. But, Rose, darling, he is not very well—not very
+strong—"</p>
+
+<p>Rose's eyes were like burning coals as they tried to take in the
+meaning of her sister's words.</p>
+
+<p>"He is not—not dead?" she exclaimed.</p>
+
+<p>"No—no, but ill. I must not say more. Oh, how I wish I could! But the
+woman will let me by and by. I feel sure. Dear Mrs. Shaddock, forgive
+me, but if I had made any objection to her terms, I might have lost
+little Lester altogether!"</p>
+
+<p>"Do not be distressed on our account," said Mrs. Shaddock, heartily;
+"surely we can wait, when such a joy has come to you both!"</p>
+
+<p>"Ah! But it is not all joy," said Gertrude, remembering what had to be
+told to that sorrowful mother, of the cruel trick and its consequences.</p>
+
+<p>And then, looking up to thank Mrs. Shaddock, she found that they were
+all leaving the room, and she and Rose were alone.</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter" id="image055" style="max-width: 25.3125em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/image055.jpg" alt="image055"></figure>
+
+<p><br><br><br></p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter" id="image056" style="max-width: 25.3125em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/image056.jpg" alt="image056"></figure>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<h3><a id="Chapter_29">CHAPTER XXIX.</a></h3>
+
+<p class="t3">
+<b>AT LAST.</b><br>
+</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<p>"GERTRUDE! Where is he?"</p>
+
+<p>Left with her sister by the kind thought of their hostess, Gertrude
+tried hard to recover her firmness. To have such a joyful piece of news
+in her possession as that little Lester was found, and then to have to
+tell that poor mother that her darling had almost better be dead; how
+could she say it?</p>
+
+<p>"Dearest Rose, it is a very sad story, and I want to prepare you for a
+great blow—and yet I cannot do it as I would."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, do not keep me in suspense!" exclaimed Rose. "Tell me the worst at
+once; I can bear anything better than this. If Lester is indeed found,
+what do I want more?"</p>
+
+<p>"Rose," said Gertrude earnestly, "you will have a great wrong to
+forgive—a greater wrong than you can picture—and yet—yet—you will
+forgive it when you realize the sorrow they have gone through."</p>
+
+<p>But what was so plain to Gertrude was all an enigma to poor Rose. Her
+expectant look was so imploring that her sister knew not what to say.</p>
+
+<p>"Tell me all," said Rose; "hide nothing."</p>
+
+<p>"Little Lester is, I believe, found, dear Rose, but through—through a
+sad accident, his mind is affected."</p>
+
+<p>"What?" exclaimed Rose, her eyes dilated with horror. "Where—where?"</p>
+
+<p>"Very near us," said Gertrude tenderly. "If you think you can command
+yourself, and bear what has to be borne bravely, I will take you to
+him, Rose."</p>
+
+<p>Her sister looked round mechanically for her bonnet, then left the room
+hurriedly to seek it.</p>
+
+<p>Gertrude hastened to the drawing-room, where she found the whole family
+waiting, almost breathlessly, having heard the opening door, and Mrs.
+Leigh running up-stairs.</p>
+
+<p>"I must hardly tell you a word," said Gertrude, "but I believe I have
+found her little boy. Do not ask me, for I may not answer! We will come
+back as soon as we can. Oh, how kind you all are!"</p>
+
+<p>She heard her sister returning down-stairs, and with an apologetic look
+she joined her in the hall, and they left the house together.</p>
+
+<p>"Where?" asked Rose, turning to her as they got to the gate. "Not—no,
+it is not next door, after all!"</p>
+
+<p>"Rose," said Gertrude, taking her trembling hand, "I must not take you
+till you are calm. When we remember, that if we find him, it will be
+all our Father's doing, that ought to calm us."</p>
+
+<p>Rose pressed her hand, and walked on with her slowly and steadily,
+entering the garden of the Strange House and walking up to the door
+without the agitation which had made Gertrude so anxious about the
+coming interview.</p>
+
+<p>They rang the bell, and there was a long pause. Gertrude's heart almost
+failed her, lest the woman should repent her bargain. But then she
+thought of the earnest promise she had given; she thought again of her
+great Helper, and took courage.</p>
+
+<p>"Will they let us in?" whispered Rose.</p>
+
+<p>"I think so; she said she would."</p>
+
+<p>"Who is she? Is it the landlady?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, dearest! She has suffered terribly for what she did; you will
+pity her by and by."</p>
+
+<p>"Ring again, Gertrude," said Rose. "How can I bear it?"</p>
+
+<p>But even as she spoke the door opened, and the woman stood within, cold
+and silent.</p>
+
+<p>"I have brought my sister," said Gertrude, putting her hand on her arm.</p>
+
+<p>"Have you told her?" asked the woman abruptly.</p>
+
+<p>"Some of it; I have not had time for all."</p>
+
+<p>"Will she ever forgive me? Does she forgive me?"</p>
+
+<p>"I am sure she will by and by. You remember she wants to see little
+Lester now; she has not seen him for two whole years."</p>
+
+<p>The woman turned slowly, and holding the flickering candle in her hand,
+led the way up the uncarpeted stairs to the very top, where she went
+through an open door, the sisters following her with beating hearts.</p>
+
+<p>"He is very poorly," said the woman, in a smothered voice, as she set
+the candle down and went to the little crib in the corner.</p>
+
+<p>All was scrupulously clean. The coverlet as white as snow, the sheets
+fresh and spotless.</p>
+
+<p>Rose took it all in, but as the woman drew aside the coverings, the
+little form brought to view was not what she had expected.</p>
+
+<p>There were the bright golden curls lying on the pillow, but the little
+face which she had pictured day and night since she lost him was quite
+different and altered.</p>
+
+<p>A tiny shrunken face now, with closed eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"Lester!" said Rose, in the cooing tone one would use to a half-waking
+baby. "Lester, here is mother come back!"</p>
+
+<p>The child stirred and opened his eyes dreamily.</p>
+
+<p>"Will you come on my lap, Lester?" she said, bending over him and
+kissing his cheek lightly, thinking not of herself but of him. "Will
+you come, Lester?"</p>
+
+<p>As she held out her arms, the child seemed to understand, and held out
+his. But before they reached her neck, they fell back weakly, and he
+remained with his eyes fixed on her face.</p>
+
+<p>She raised him up tenderly, and lifted him to the fireside, her heart
+failing her as she perceived that he was nothing but skin and bone.</p>
+
+<p>His little head lay on her breast. At last! At last! But not an answer
+could she get from his little pale lips, not a glance of intelligence
+from his quiet blue eyes.</p>
+
+<p>Gertrude stood by, and the woman stood by, their tears dropping one
+after another unheeded down their cheeks, while Rose seemed to see
+nothing, hear nothing, besides her child. She rocked him backwards
+and forwards, she kissed him softly, she smoothed his silky hair, she
+held his emaciated hand in hers, and ever and anon she said, as if to
+herself, "Lord, I thank Thee—I thank Thee—that I have him again. My
+little Lester, my little Lester!"</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter" id="image057" style="max-width: 25.3125em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/image057.jpg" alt="image057"></figure>
+
+<p><br><br><br></p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter" id="image058" style="max-width: 25.3125em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/image058.jpg" alt="image058"></figure>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<h3><a id="Chapter_30">CHAPTER XXX.</a></h3>
+
+<p class="t3">
+<b>WRAPPED IN A CLOAK.</b><br>
+</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<p>THE first time Rose appeared conscious of the presence of any one else
+in the room, was after what seemed to the woman and Gertrude a very
+long time.</p>
+
+<p>She had been bending over her child examining his thin little limbs,
+seemingly trying to reconcile facts which were so contrary to her
+remembrance; apparently the joy of having him in her arms again had
+swept away all else.</p>
+
+<p>At last she raised her eyes to the woman, and spoke to her for the
+first time, still with a far-away look that had no realization of what
+all the present circumstances implied. She had got her child, as yet
+that was everything.</p>
+
+<p>"How long has he been ill like this?" she asked.</p>
+
+<p>"Nearly two years," the woman replied, in a low tone.</p>
+
+<p>"And I never knew," said Rose dreamily. "Gertrude, he ought to have a
+doctor."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said Gertrude, quickly wiping away her tears, and coming nearer.</p>
+
+<p>"Let us send for one," said Rose.</p>
+
+<p>But then her eyes caught the woman's shrinking look, and for a moment
+there was a breathless pause.</p>
+
+<p>"I see," said Rose slowly, rising with a dignified gesture. "My sister
+said I should have much to forgive. I did not understand her; I do not
+think I do now. But all I know is that I have my child again. I will
+take him away now. You have restored me my child, for that I thank you
+with all my heart. For whatever else, I pray God that I may forgive you
+when I understand it. To-night I can understand nothing."</p>
+
+<p>She moved from her chair, holding little Lester easily in her arms,
+then looking round for some covering, she took from her sister's hand
+the cloak she had thrown off on her entrance into the room, and wrapped
+it tenderly round her child.</p>
+
+<p>"But, dear Rose—" began Gertrude.</p>
+
+<p>"Do not hinder me," she said pathetically. "I have got Lester, nothing
+else matters!"</p>
+
+<p>She went swiftly to the door and began descending the stairs, the woman
+hastening to the landing to light her steps.</p>
+
+<p>"Good-bye!" said Gertrude, pressing the woman's hand, as she quickly
+prepared to follow her sister. "I will come to see you to-morrow. Oh,
+thank you, thank you for letting me bring her! If you could only guess
+what we feel!"</p>
+
+<p>"I'll love you for ever!" said the woman, weeping. "If I could do
+anything for you!"</p>
+
+<p>"Would you do it if I asked you?" said Gertrude eagerly.</p>
+
+<p>"Indeed, indeed I would!"</p>
+
+<p>"Then let me tell just my nearest friends about this. If you would do
+that, it would be the kindest thing you could do now."</p>
+
+<p>"To let it be in the papers to-morrow morning," said the woman. "I
+can't do that."</p>
+
+<p>"No—no, indeed; only ourselves. Oh, do let me!"</p>
+
+<p>For a moment there was a pause, then the woman let go her hand
+suddenly, and set the candle down on a box.</p>
+
+<p>They could hear Rose's steps had reached the hall, and Gertrude must go.</p>
+
+<p>"I owe you everything—everything; you may do what you like! I know you
+will do nothing but what is right."</p>
+
+<p>She turned into the desolate room, and Gertrude sped down-stairs.</p>
+
+<p>There stood Rose, leaning against the banisters for support.</p>
+
+<p>"How can we get out?" she asked hurriedly. "She will not stop us, will
+she?"</p>
+
+<p>"I do not think so—oh no. But see, I believe we can open this from the
+inside."</p>
+
+<p>While she fumbled at the lock with trembling fingers, they heard steps
+coming down the stairs, and saw the flickering light of a candle
+drawing nearer and nearer.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, thank you!" exclaimed Gertrude, when the woman turned the last
+corner. "We do not know how to open this."</p>
+
+<p>The woman undid the fastenings in silence, but ere she opened the door,
+she turned to Rose with an appealing glance.</p>
+
+<p>"It's too soon to ask you, even if you ever can. But, ma'am, if ever
+you are able to say the word 'forgive,' it would be the most blessed
+word that my sad heart could hear. I don't ask you for it to-day, but
+if ever you can—"</p>
+
+<p>Rose looked up in the woman's eyes, then she looked on the little form
+in her arms which she was clasping to her bosom so tenderly.</p>
+
+<p>"I did love him and do all I could for him," whispered the woman; "all
+but giving him back to you,—and now you've got him."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I have got him," said Rose, still looking into those sorrowful
+eyes; "and I—" She waited as if thinking how far her words might be
+true, then added impulsively, "If it will comfort you, if it will show
+my thankfulness to my Lord who has heard my prayer, I will say it now—I
+do, yes, I do forgive you!"</p>
+
+<p>Then she turned and went through the hall door and stood out under the
+starlight with her burden in her arms. The door closed behind them,
+shutting in a sound of weeping, and then the sisters paused, looking at
+each other.</p>
+
+<p>"Hasten to Mrs. Shaddock's," exclaimed Rose, as if waking up to her
+natural self. "Ask her if I may bring Lester in, but I know I may. I
+must, till we can decide. I am sure they will not refuse."</p>
+
+<p>They hurried on, and in another minute were standing once more in the
+lighted hall, with that muffled bundle in the agitated mother's aching
+arms.</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter" id="image059" style="max-width: 25.3125em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/image059.jpg" alt="image059"></figure>
+
+<p><br><br><br></p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter" id="image060" style="max-width: 25.3125em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/image060.jpg" alt="image060"></figure>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<h3><a id="Chapter_31">CHAPTER XXXI.</a></h3>
+
+<p class="t3">
+<b>ANOTHER PROMISE.</b><br>
+</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<p>AT the slight bustle of their arrival, Mrs. Shaddock came to the
+dining-room door, and when she saw them, she exclaimed joyfully—</p>
+
+<p>"You have never got him?"</p>
+
+<p>But Rose's face was an answer, while Gertrude said, in a low, broken
+voice, which they would hardly have known to be hers, "We have got the
+shadow of what he was."</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Shaddock said not another word, but led Rose into the bright warm
+dining-room, placing her in an arm-chair, the rest following in silence.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Shaddock had returned from town, and when Gertrude saw him, she
+went up to him at once.</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Shaddock, it is a terrible story, but if I tell it to you, no
+indignation—nothing—can justify any one in making the thing known
+without our permission. We have only got our darling back on those
+terms."</p>
+
+<p>She looked in his face appealingly. What if some stranger, who was
+bound by no promise, should take the matter up?</p>
+
+<p>"You may trust me, but what has happened?" asked Mr. Shaddock.</p>
+
+<p>While the rest gathered round Mrs. Leigh, too anxious to see her little
+boy to care, just then, to ask any questions.</p>
+
+<p>Gertrude gave him a few particulars, and then both followed the others
+to where Rose sat caressing her little boy, and trying to coax him to
+reply to her endearments.</p>
+
+<p>"'Why' does he not speak to me?" she asked at last piteously, meeting
+Gertrude's eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"He has been frightened," said her sister gently; "perhaps if we have
+first-rate advice—"</p>
+
+<p>"Frightened?" asked Rose. "Who—who could be so cruel—not Mrs. Swift?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, dear Rose; it was a playful trick of her poor little boy."</p>
+
+<p>"Poor?" echoed Rose sternly. "No wonder she asked me to forgive her!"</p>
+
+<p>"And you did, darling," said Gertrude, kneeling down by her and
+smoothing Lester's golden curls. "You will not take it back now! It was
+not Mrs. Swift's fault—not that—"</p>
+
+<p>"But Johnnie—that was his name, I remember now—where is Johnnie, who
+frightened my little Lester?" She laid her hand on Gertrude's shoulder,
+as if to impress her words.</p>
+
+<p>And Gertrude, just fresh from Johnnie's grave and the woman's grief and
+repentance, could find no voice to answer. She only looked in little
+Lester's face and tried to think of suitable words.</p>
+
+<p>"Where is he?" reiterated Rose.</p>
+
+<p>"He is dead."</p>
+
+<p>"Dead!"</p>
+
+<p>"I have been at his grave to-night," said Gertrude. "If poor little
+broken-hearted Johnnie had not been dead, nothing on earth would have
+drawn your secret from the woman's lips. Little dead Johnnie has given
+you back your child!"</p>
+
+<p>Rose's eyes fell, and as her glance once more rested on her child, the
+hard look which had for a moment clouded her sweet face passed away.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, forgive me!" she said, bending down to her child's face. "And
+little Johnnie is dead, and I have you still—"</p>
+
+<p>Mr. and Mrs. Shaddock signed to the rest to follow them from the room,
+so that Mrs. Leigh might have time to recover from the shocks of the
+last hour. And Gertrude, seeing their kind intention, went with them,
+and was soon explaining all the circumstances to a breathless audience
+in the drawing-room.</p>
+
+<p>"But the child looks dying," said Mrs. Shaddock at last. "Can nothing
+be done for it?"</p>
+
+<p>"I hardly know," said Gertrude. "But, dear Mrs. Shaddock, I feel
+ashamed to trouble you—but my sister is not usually distracted like
+this—but if you could lend us a warm shawl, we will drive to the
+nearest hotel, and put him to bed. Can you tell me which to go to?—And
+may one of the maids get a cab?"</p>
+
+<p>"You shall not go out again to-night!" exclaimed Mrs. Shaddock,
+appealing to her husband. "We could not allow it, could we?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, indeed," he answered heartily.</p>
+
+<p>"I will go and prepare his bed at once," said Mrs. Shaddock, rising.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, mother, let me help!" exclaimed Mollie.</p>
+
+<p>"And you, Daisy," said Mrs. Shaddock, turning at the door, "go and ask
+cook to make a little bread-and-milk quickly, and carry it to Mrs.
+Leigh, for the little boy. Oh, to think we should have the pleasure of
+doing anything for such sufferers!"</p>
+
+<p>Her eyes were tearful as she hastened away, and Gertrude thought that
+she had not given her credit for so much heart.</p>
+
+<p>Daisy sped on her errand, and waited while the order was carried out.
+After two or three minutes she came up again, bearing the cup in her
+hand.</p>
+
+<p>And just as she was hesitating at the dining-room door, Conway came
+across and opened it for her with an encouraging "Go in, Daisy; she
+won't bite your head off," which reassured her very much.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Leigh sat in the same position as before, but she had thrown off
+her bonnet, and was now chafing her little boy's feet at the fire,
+while traces of tears were on her cheeks.</p>
+
+<p>"This is for little Lester," said Daisy, advancing shyly; "perhaps it
+will help to make him warm."</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you, dear," said Rose, taking it from her hand.</p>
+
+<p>Daisy did not know whether she ought to withdraw, but Mrs. Leigh's next
+words showed that her presence was welcome.</p>
+
+<p>"Hold the cup while I put some in his mouth, dear. He was never like
+this in the old days. But they frightened him—my dear little boy. By
+and by, when he begins to remember mother, he will not be frightened
+any more!"</p>
+
+<p>She addressed the last words to the child, and he opened his quiet eyes
+and looked in her face. Then as he perceived the spoon held to him, he
+mechanically moved his mouth to receive the food.</p>
+
+<p>"See, he understood me!" exclaimed Mrs. Leigh joyfully.</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter" id="image061" style="max-width: 25.3125em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/image061.jpg" alt="image061"></figure>
+
+<p><br><br><br></p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter" id="image062" style="max-width: 25.3125em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/image062.jpg" alt="image062"></figure>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<h3><a id="Chapter_32">CHAPTER XXXII.</a></h3>
+
+<p class="t3">
+<b>A VIGIL.</b><br>
+</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<p>THE little one took but a few mouthfuls, and then seemed to tire of the
+food his mother was so eager to give him.</p>
+
+<p>"He has not eaten much, has he?" she said to Daisy, who was looking on
+earnestly.</p>
+
+<p>"Not very much," answered Daisy, "but, you see, it is all strange here.
+To-morrow, perhaps, he will know us better."</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Leigh seemed lost in thought. "Where is Gertrude?" she asked at
+last.</p>
+
+<p>"She is helping mother and Mollie to get a bed for him. It is nearly
+ready now, I should think."</p>
+
+<p>"I am afraid I ought not to let you take all this trouble," said Mrs.
+Leigh. "But—how can I bear to take him out in the cold?"</p>
+
+<p>"Of course not," said Daisy simply. "Mother said so, and so did father."</p>
+
+<p>"I am afraid he is very ill, dear?" she asked appealingly. "His feet
+are so thin, and his hands—and so he is all over; nothing is the same
+but his eyes and his hair, and even his eyes do not look at me as they
+used."</p>
+
+<p>Daisy could not answer. She had heard a few words of Gertrude's
+description, and she feared, from her mother's looks of dismay, that
+the child's condition was far more serious than Mrs. Leigh supposed.</p>
+
+<p>"Shall I fetch Miss Ashlyn?" she asked in reply.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, do, please, dear!" said Mrs. Leigh.</p>
+
+<p>She busied herself over her child again till Gertrude came in.</p>
+
+<p>"Ought we not to telegraph to Fritz?" she asked at once. "Poor Fritz!
+To think he does not know!"</p>
+
+<p>"I have been thinking so," said Gertrude. "What shall we say, Rose?"</p>
+
+<p>"Tell him he is found!" said Rose.</p>
+
+<p>"Shall I say he is ill?" questioned Gertrude, gently.</p>
+
+<p>"It is hardly worth while," answered Rose; "he will come directly, if
+he can."</p>
+
+<p>Gertrude was silent. She could not let her brother-in-law have the joy
+without suspecting the sorrow. So she went back to Mr. Shaddock.</p>
+
+<p>"My sister does not seem to take it in yet," she said, after she had
+told him about the telegram, "but I must tell Mr. Leigh cautiously—he
+is not very strong. I fear it will be a dreadful shock."</p>
+
+<p>So together they framed a message which they hoped would convey their
+meaning, and then Gertrude went back to her sister to say that the room
+which had been prepared for her was ready.</p>
+
+<p>Rose got up at once, and with her precious charge followed her sister
+up-stairs.</p>
+
+<p>On the landing stood Mrs. Shaddock and Mollie, who led the way into the
+spare room, where a bright fire gleamed.</p>
+
+<p>"We have warmed the bed," said Mrs. Shaddock. "Dear little man, I long
+for him to be in it!"</p>
+
+<p>Rose accepted it all in silence, laying her little boy in the soft,
+white sheets, and hovering over him in the luxury of having him once
+more to tend.</p>
+
+<p>"Lester!" she said, in her soft tone. "Shall I say your little prayer
+as I used?"</p>
+
+<p>She knelt down by the bed, and laid her cheek upon his little hand,
+whispering the childish requests which for two long years had not been
+on her lips, and then, kissing him tenderly, she covered him up and
+moved towards the fire.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Shaddock and Gertrude were standing there waiting; Mollie had gone
+behind the curtain, and was crying quietly, as if her heart would break.</p>
+
+<p>"I think I will go to bed," said Mrs. Leigh, dreamily. "I feel tired,
+somehow. Will you think me very ungrateful if I retire now?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not at all," said Mrs. Shaddock; "your sister will help you, and will
+bring you some tea if you will allow her."</p>
+
+<p>"Will you kiss me?" asked Rose. "I do not know how to thank you.
+To-morrow I hope I may be able."</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Shaddock bent over her and gave her the desired kiss, and then
+quickly left the room, signing to Mollie to come too.</p>
+
+<p>And thus the eventful day closed for the poor young mother.</p>
+
+<p>She laid her head on the soft pillow, put her hand out to her child's,
+and fell at once into a profound and dreamless slumber.</p>
+
+<p>It was midnight when the striking of the clock on the staircase roused
+her with its unaccustomed sound.</p>
+
+<p>She sat up in bed, and saw Gertrude reading by the light of a shaded
+lamp beside the fire.</p>
+
+<p>"Dear Gertrude!" she said, in a wondering tone. "Is it not very late?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, dearest, but I am not tired. Do you want anything? See! Here is
+your supper all waiting for you. May I bring it to you?"</p>
+
+<p>Rose took the plate in her hand. But after a moment or two she said, in
+her usual natural tone, "Gertrude, I seem as if I had been dreaming,
+but it is not a dream that I have my little Lester. And yet, Gertrude,
+I wish it could be a dream, that—that—all that has happened!"</p>
+
+<p>She hid her face in her hands.</p>
+
+<p>"Dearest Rose, He who has found our darling will help us to bear all
+His will. He will make some way of escape for us!"</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, yes!" she said. "I know that. But oh, what will Fritz say when
+the little one does not know him? For me it does not so much matter,
+because I have him again. But poor Fritz—poor Fritz! Besides, I can
+trust my Lord even in this, but Fritz, he does not know what that
+means."</p>
+
+<p>"Good will come out of it," said Gertrude; "this has been so wonderful
+that I am sure of that."</p>
+
+<p>She went round the bed, and bent over the sleeping child.</p>
+
+<p>"I think we ought to give him some more food, Rose. Mrs. Shaddock says
+he should be fed every two hours. It was for that I stayed up."</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter" id="image063" style="max-width: 25.3125em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/image063.jpg" alt="image063"></figure>
+
+<p><br><br><br></p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter" id="image064" style="max-width: 25.3125em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/image064.jpg" alt="image064"></figure>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<h3><a id="Chapter_33">CHAPTER XXXIII.</a></h3>
+
+<p class="t3">
+<b>"FRITZ IS COMING."</b><br>
+</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<p>ROSE sprang out of bed at once. She had quite come back to her old self.</p>
+
+<p>She threw her cloak round her, and went to her child's side.</p>
+
+<p>She raised his head and again tenderly fed him. But though he opened
+his mouth obediently, he did not respond to her love and attentions in
+any other way.</p>
+
+<p>Gertrude saw that now her sister was beginning to realize what in her
+joy at having her child again she had not noticed. But except for a
+little firm-set look about her sweet lips, she made no sign that as the
+shock passed away, so the certainty of continued sorrow grew upon her.</p>
+
+<p>When the little one turned away his head from the food, his mother
+covered him up again and went back to the fire, Gertrude following in
+silence.</p>
+
+<p>"Go to bed, darling!" said Rose, stroking her pale cheek tenderly. "I
+will sit up now."</p>
+
+<p>"Not all the time? You will need your strength so much to-morrow."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said Rose quietly, "I shall. But I must watch by him, Gertrude.
+Besides, I have to think what we must do."</p>
+
+<p>"We need do nothing till we hear from Fritz."</p>
+
+<p>"No—at least if you think these kind people will allow us to stay here
+till then."</p>
+
+<p>"I am sure they will. Nothing could be more hearty than they have been."</p>
+
+<p>"I shall rest here, dear Gertrude, till the morning; I shall have time
+to think. Go to bed now."</p>
+
+<p>Early the next morning there was a knock at Gertrude's door, and she
+started up with a strange impression of not knowing where she was, or
+what had happened.</p>
+
+<p>But in a moment it all came back to her. Lester was found! But—but—</p>
+
+<p>"Miss Ashlyn," said Daisy's quiet little voice, "mother has sent me
+to call you; she thought perhaps you might not wake, as you sat up so
+late."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, thank you, dear!"</p>
+
+<p>"Here is a telegram come—" said Daisy.</p>
+
+<p>Just as she spoke, Mrs. Leigh came up from her room and entered behind
+her.</p>
+
+<p>As Gertrude glanced at her, she saw that she was her quiet self.</p>
+
+<p>She took the telegram in her hand, and stooping to kiss Daisy's
+upturned face, she said—</p>
+
+<p>"Would you like to stay with Lester while I read this, dear?"</p>
+
+<p>The child ran off joyfully, and Rose tore open the envelope. The words
+ran—</p>
+
+<p class="letter">
+<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"'Shall be with you by six o'clock this evening.'"<br>
+<br>
+</p>
+
+<p>"Fritz is coming! Oh, Gertrude!"</p>
+
+<p>She stood silently holding the pink paper in her hand, as if in deep
+thought.</p>
+
+<p>"He will come here then?" questioned Gertrude.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes—I suppose you gave no other address. He will have started from
+Carlisle ere this, so it is of no use to telegraph back. Besides, I
+have no other address to give him."</p>
+
+<p>"We will consult Mrs. Shaddock after breakfast," said Gertrude.</p>
+
+<p>But no consultation was necessary. When Mrs. Leigh appeared in the
+dining-room, leaving Gertrude in charge of her little nephew, Mr.
+Shaddock came forward to meet her, and taking both her hands welcomed
+her heartily, telling her at once that they should not hear of her
+leaving the house for two or three days, in fact till her plans were
+quite formed, and that he should feel positively hurt if she and Mr.
+Leigh did not feel quite free to come and go as if the house were their
+own.</p>
+
+<p>Rose turned white with emotion and tried to answer, but her quivering
+lips would not get out more than a very broken "thank you." And she sat
+down where they placed her, trying to recover herself, but feeling as
+if to have a good cry was the only thing she could do.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Shaddock seemed, however, quite to understand, and supplied her
+with an egg, while Mollie poured out some coffee, and the rest watched
+for opportunities of being of use.</p>
+
+<p>"Where is Miss Ashlyn?" asked Hugh.</p>
+
+<p>"She is sitting with Lester," said Mrs. Shaddock, "and Daisy shall take
+her some breakfast."</p>
+
+<p>"Shall we have school to-day?" asked Randall. "I'm sure I hope not."</p>
+
+<p>"No," answered his mother. "Miss Ashlyn will be busy with her sister."</p>
+
+<p>"That's a good thing!" said Randall.</p>
+
+<p>While Daisy looked shocked, and said reproachfully, "I am sure,
+Randall, you need not talk so, Miss Ashlyn makes school very
+interesting."</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Leigh looked up now. "Do not allow my being here to interrupt
+lessons," she entreated. "I cannot but accept your great kindness—but
+it would indeed be a pity to make any difference."</p>
+
+<p>"Miss Ashlyn will say what she thinks best," suggested Mollie, which
+was decidedly nice of her, as she was longing to throw her influence
+into the scale of a holiday.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," assented Mrs. Shaddock; "we will ask her."</p>
+
+<p>And when Gertrude was asked, as Mollie expected, she begged that
+lessons might proceed as usual for the morning, offering, however, to
+give a holiday in the afternoon if Mrs. Shaddock approved.</p>
+
+<p>"Then we can sit with little Lester!" said Daisy.</p>
+
+<p><br><br><br></p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter" id="image065" style="max-width: 25.3125em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/image065.jpg" alt="image065"></figure>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<h3><a id="Chapter_34">CHAPTER XXXIV.</a></h3>
+
+<p class="t3">
+<b>SET TO WORK.</b><br>
+</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<p>IT seemed a long morning to all concerned, if the truth must be told,
+to all at any rate but Mrs. Leigh, who found absorbing employment in
+ministering to the wants of her darling.</p>
+
+<p>At length school was over, and the children were released.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, may we go?" exclaimed Mollie. "I do want to see little Lester so
+much!"</p>
+
+<p>Gertrude consented at once, hoping, however, that Randall would make
+himself an exception.</p>
+
+<p>But he had no such intention; curiosity overcame everything else, and
+he ran on tiptoe with the others across the landing to Mrs. Leigh's
+room.</p>
+
+<p>"Are we too many?" whispered Mollie, when, after her low tap, Mrs.
+Leigh came to the door.</p>
+
+<p>"Come in, dears," was her ready response. "I know, after all your
+thoughtfulness for us, that you will be longing to see my little
+Lester."</p>
+
+<p>The children advanced, Randall pushing in front of the others, so as to
+be able to see well; Hugh, who was kept at home by a cold, and was with
+the others, hardly getting a place at all.</p>
+
+<p>"Come here, Hugh," said Gertrude softly; "this chair will bring you
+close to Lester's pillow. You can stand here."</p>
+
+<p>The little boy looked up gratefully. Rose was uncovering her child, and
+showing them his bright, golden curls.</p>
+
+<p>"Can't he be dressed?" asked Randall.</p>
+
+<p>"He has no clothes," said Mrs. Leigh, smiling a little. Then her face
+resumed its quiet, grave expression as she added, "But I am afraid he
+has hardly strength just yet."</p>
+
+<p>"We have heaps of Randall's clothes up-stairs," said Mollie. "I shall
+ask mother if he could not have some of those."</p>
+
+<p>"Do not trouble her, thank you, dear," said Rose. "I can easily get
+some when I can go to a shop. He will do very well till the doctor has
+seen him."</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Shaddock, however, had been before any of them in her thought for
+the little stranger under her roof. She came in at the moment, followed
+by nurse bearing a heap of dainty clothes, which a few years ago had
+adorned her youngest boy.</p>
+
+<p>"You are entirely welcome to these!" she exclaimed. "I have no use for
+them at all. I believe I ought to have given them away long ago, but
+you see I never have."</p>
+
+<p>But when she bent over little Lester, her manner changed, and she added
+gently—"Perhaps it would be kinder not to disturb him with clothes and
+fussing at present. What do you think, nurse?"</p>
+
+<p>Nurse was entirely agreed. "Let him be, ma'am, and give him as much
+nourishment as he is able to take," was her advice.</p>
+
+<p>The little clothes were folded together in a drawer, and no more was
+said about them.</p>
+
+<p>"Has he been out of bed yet?" asked Daisy shyly.</p>
+
+<p>"Only to be washed. Oh, he is so thin!" answered his mother, looking up
+at Gertrude. "I feel as if I could hardly wait till Fritz comes."</p>
+
+<p>"I am sure you must," said Gertrude, "but a few more hours will soon
+pass now, and perhaps Fritz may have some special doctor he wishes to
+consult."</p>
+
+<p>So Gertrude left the children with her sister, and put on her hat to
+make her promised visit to Mrs. Swift at the Strange House.</p>
+
+<p>She was quickly admitted, and the woman led the way into her kitchen
+without a word.</p>
+
+<p>"I have come," said Gertrude.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I knew you would. Have you any good news to tell me about the
+little boy? What does the doctor say?" she asked abruptly. She seemed
+as if she had strung herself up to ask those questions, for her lips
+looked dry and parched.</p>
+
+<p>"Not yet," answered Gertrude. "We are waiting for his father."</p>
+
+<p>The woman gave one of those gasps which Gertrude had noticed before,
+and then said hurriedly—</p>
+
+<p>"It seems funny to have kept him so long myself without a doctor, and
+now to be sorry that you are even waiting a single day! And yet I am,
+miss. I'm afraid whether the little dear is not dying!"</p>
+
+<p>Gertrude felt as if her blood grew cold to her finger-tips. But she
+answered after a moment quite calmly—</p>
+
+<p>"I hope not—I trust not. Our Heavenly Father, who has so lovingly given
+him back to us, will lead us straight on now."</p>
+
+<p>The woman glanced up with a faint smile. The first which she had seen
+on that woe-begone face, Gertrude thought.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah! What a thing it is to have God to trust!" she exclaimed. "Dear
+miss! I believe if I had had my Saviour to go to two years ago, this
+would never have happened."</p>
+
+<p>"I feel sure of that," answered Gertrude heartily. "Things will be
+different for you now, will they not?"</p>
+
+<p>The smile faded, but the woman answered steadily—</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, indeed, miss. But this is the last time you will see me. My
+husband says he cannot bear the house, and I am sure no more can I; so
+we have decided to go at once. You see, miss, we've got a little money
+coming in regularly, or we couldn't do it. We shall go somewhere where
+I can get to and from Johnnie's grave. That's all I care about now."</p>
+
+<p>Gertrude put her hand on the woman's arm gently.</p>
+
+<p>"Time will soften your sorrow," she said tenderly, "but there is
+something better for you than time. Jesus will soften your sorrow—nay,
+has He not already?—And will give you something to do for Him."</p>
+
+<p>"My working days are over," said the woman dejectedly; "I seem to have
+lived my life."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, so you have, your past life. Now it is the new life you have
+to live; the life by faith in the Son of God, who loved you and gave
+Himself for you!"</p>
+
+<p>"Dear miss, I wish I could."</p>
+
+<p>"Ask Him, and He will show you how."</p>
+
+<p>"Now Johnnie and the little one are gone, I seem to have nothing to do!"</p>
+
+<p>"But there is your husband. There is everything to do for him, is there
+not?"</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter" id="image066" style="max-width: 25.3125em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/image066.jpg" alt="image066"></figure>
+
+<p><br><br><br></p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter" id="image067" style="max-width: 25.3125em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/image067.jpg" alt="image067"></figure>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<h3><a id="Chapter_35">CHAPTER XXXV.</a></h3>
+
+<p class="t3">
+<b>OUTSIDE THE GREAT NORTHERN.</b><br>
+</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<p>WHILE Gertrude was away, Mrs. Leigh was surrounded by her audience of
+young people, who did not know how time passed in their interest in the
+beautiful young mother and her little invalid.</p>
+
+<p>"I cannot think how you can bear it all!" said Mollie, as they stood
+gazing at the little impassive face.</p>
+
+<p>"Do you really want to know, Mollie?" asked Mrs. Leigh, taking the tall
+girl's hand in hers.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I was only wondering. Some people can bear things better than
+others, I suppose."</p>
+
+<p>Mollie drew her hand away a little shyly.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Leigh did not reply, but continued to look down at her child
+thoughtfully.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't believe it is that," said Hugh in an undertone to Daisy. "Mrs.
+Leigh looks as if a breath would blow her away; it is not that she is
+stronger than most people."</p>
+
+<p>Daisy shook her head assentingly, but Rose had heard the remark, so she
+said—</p>
+
+<p>"It would be very wrong of me to take the credit to myself, Daisy. I
+could not bear it at all if it were not for looking up from moment
+to moment to Jesus. He is my refuge; were it not for Him I should be
+distracted."</p>
+
+<p>Hugh smiled brightly. In his own little difficulties he had found it
+the same. How wonderful it was that the Lord Jesus could be just the
+Friend for everybody!—he thought.</p>
+
+<p>When Gertrude came in from the Strange House, a telegraph boy was at
+the door, and handed in an envelope as the maid opened to her.</p>
+
+<p>"It is for my sister," she said, and ran up-stairs with it.</p>
+
+<p>"Fritz wants one of us to meet him at Euston," said Rose, when she had
+read it. "I cannot leave Lester. Will you go, Gertrude? Do you think
+Mrs. Shaddock would spare you?"</p>
+
+<p>"But he will be here half an hour after," objected Gertrude; "is it not
+almost a pity—"</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps he wishes to hear all particulars before he gets here," said
+Rose. "At any rate, he says, 'Will Gertrude meet me, or you?' It is
+evident he wants one of us."</p>
+
+<p>So Mrs. Shaddock was again consulted. And soon Gertrude set off,
+Conway, who had just returned from school, volunteering to escort her
+if she wished.</p>
+
+<p>But she rightly guessed that her brother-in-law would prefer to hear
+all the sad story without a stranger being there, so she went alone.</p>
+
+<p>As she stood on the arrival platform of the great terminus, with the
+screaming whistles round her, the buzz of the coming and going trains,
+the roar of London outside, she felt as if the world of Hampstead and
+that quiet bedside were far-away and indistinct; as if she could hardly
+belong to both.</p>
+
+<p>She wondered vaguely what the next few hours would bring to her and her
+sister; what Fritz would decide about his invalid child; how he would
+bear the shock of her intelligence; and while she was thinking all
+this, she was conscious that the porters, who had been waiting about,
+suddenly seemed to be alert, the cabs made a move to draw up at the
+other side of the platform, and when she looked down the dim lines, two
+great eyes seemed to come creeping towards her, and in a moment the
+long train from the north was in the station.</p>
+
+<p>She stood back, almost bewildered, for in her quiet life at home she
+had never seen such confusion or bustle before.</p>
+
+<p>Where was her brother-in-law? Had he not come after all? She looked
+hopelessly up and down the emptying carriages, but no Fritz was
+emerging from them, that she could see.</p>
+
+<p>Then a hand was laid upon hers, and a voice said so like Fritz's that
+she thought it was his, and yet—no, it was not Fritz who said in that
+tone—</p>
+
+<p>"Gertrude! At last! Did you think we had not come?"</p>
+
+<p>"Otto!" she said.</p>
+
+<p>And then Fritz came hurrying up, too, followed by a porter with two
+portmanteaus.</p>
+
+<p>"I hoped you would come," said Fritz at once, "because Otto would have
+been so disappointed not to see you, and we must drop him at the Great
+Northern Hotel as we pass. I could not bring him on to Mrs. Shaddock's,
+could I?"</p>
+
+<p>"You 'could,'" said Gertrude, watching the portmanteaus being thrown on
+to the cab, and wondering what she ought to say. "But if you have made
+arrangements otherwise, perhaps it would be better. But they are the
+kindest people I ever saw."</p>
+
+<p>Otto was holding the cab door open; she got in, and in a moment they
+were off.</p>
+
+<p>"Tell me all!" said Fritz. "I felt as if I must bear it before I saw
+him. What is it?—What has happened to him?"</p>
+
+<p>Before Gertrude had said more than a few words, the cab drew up at the
+Great Northern, and Otto had come to his destination.</p>
+
+<p>"I cannot say good-bye yet," he exclaimed. "Have my luggage put in
+here, Fritz, and order our rooms. I will go on to Hampstead and come
+back again by and by."</p>
+
+<p>Fritz got out to give the desired order, and Gertrude and Otto looked
+after him.</p>
+
+<p>How well afterwards Gertrude remembered that ceaseless roar of
+omnibuses and cabs passing and repassing along the crowded street.</p>
+
+<p>"Gertrude," said Otto's voice, "can we not manage to go somewhere
+together to-morrow? I have one day in Town, and I feel as if I could
+not go home again without seeing you?"</p>
+
+<p>"I do not know, Otto. I cannot plan my own days now; already I feel I
+have run away from my pupils dreadfully."</p>
+
+<p>"Bring them with you," he said hastily; "we will go to the Kensington
+Museum, or somewhere, to-morrow afternoon. There will be the doctor in
+the morning. Oh, Gertrude! If you only knew—"</p>
+
+<p>Then Fritz came hurrying back and jumped into the cab, and they were
+off again.</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter" id="image068" style="max-width: 25.3125em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/image068.jpg" alt="image068"></figure>
+
+<p><br><br><br></p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter" id="image069" style="max-width: 25.3125em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/image069.jpg" alt="image069"></figure>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<h3><a id="Chapter_36">CHAPTER XXXVI.</a></h3>
+
+<p class="t3">
+<b>BY AND BY.</b><br>
+</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<p>BY the time the cab arrived at Hampstead, Fritz knew the extent of his
+grief—knew that his only son would not be able to welcome his father or
+respond to his love. Otto would not enter, but wished Gertrude farewell
+when she left the cab, and had himself driven back in it to his hotel,
+where his brother intended to join him later in the evening.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Shaddock met Mr. Leigh in the hall, and after a few words of
+kindly greeting, asked Gertrude to take her brother to his little boy's
+bedside.</p>
+
+<p>She led the way up-stairs and opened her sister's door, herself passing
+on to her own chamber; she felt as if she could bear no more.</p>
+
+<p>She did not know why, but the moment she was alone, she laid her head
+down on the window-sill and cried as if her heart would break. She
+thought she was crying over the sad scene that must be happening on
+the next floor; she pictured Rose's face as she uncovered their little
+Lester and showed what a shadow only was left of their bright darling;
+she pictured Fritz's anguish and indignation. But all the while, she
+wept with a nameless pain, as if for herself too, until she remembered
+that she would be expected down-stairs, and must not give way thus.</p>
+
+<p>This thought roused her, so taking off her bonnet and putting on some
+little evening adornment, she hastened to the dining-room, where she
+knew the whole family were just collecting for their late tea.</p>
+
+<p>On the stairs were her brother and sister, who explained that nurse had
+offered to stay with Lester, so they thought they would do well to join
+the family circle, and put aside their anxiety in deference to the kind
+wishes of their host and hostess.</p>
+
+<p>At tea the merits of various physicians were discussed, Mr. Shaddock
+recommending one of whom he had heard at his office, who had treated an
+analogous case most successfully.</p>
+
+<p>It was at last decided that Mr. Leigh should call in Harley Street on
+his way home to his hotel, and should if possible make an appointment
+for the morning with the physician, if he should advise little Lester's
+being brought to him.</p>
+
+<p>"And what am I to tell Otto?" he asked at last, when he rose to go.</p>
+
+<p>Gertrude had been dreading that question all the evening. How could she
+make Otto's proposition? And yet how could she refuse to do so?</p>
+
+<p>"My brother came up from Rugby with me yesterday," said Mr. Leigh,
+turning to Mrs. Shaddock, "and asks if you will allow Gertrude and some
+of your young people to visit the South Kensington Museum with him. He
+has never seen the Natural History collection yet, and if they would
+like to come, he would be so pleased."</p>
+
+<p>"I cannot come, because it is our 'at home' day," said Mollie. "Mother
+always wants me."</p>
+
+<p>"Would you like to go, Daisy?" asked Gertrude.</p>
+
+<p>"I should," said Randall; "it would be far nicer than school."</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you—" answered Daisy, hesitating, "if—I should 'like' it very
+much; Hugh and I have always wanted to go there."</p>
+
+<p>"I s'pose you wouldn't care to go without Hugh," said Randall, "but he
+ought not to miss school; he is always missing school for something or
+another!"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Randall!" exclaimed Daisy. "It is not his fault that he is not
+strong."</p>
+
+<p>Randall shrugged his little shoulders expressively; he was, however,
+too interested in the South Kensington plan to pursue the subject, so
+he asked—</p>
+
+<p>"Will you take me, Miss Ashlyn?"</p>
+
+<p>"Certainly, my dear, if your mother will let you go."</p>
+
+<p>Hugh's eyes were fixed on his mother's face, while his father was
+watching him unobserved.</p>
+
+<p>"To-morrow is your half-holiday, is it not, Hugh?" he asked.</p>
+
+<p>Hugh started and coloured. "Oh, I should like to go," he exclaimed,
+hesitating, "if Daisy is going, and if Miss Ashlyn does not mind."</p>
+
+<p>Randall was close to him, and nudged his arm now with a whispered
+comment, which, however, he did not hear.</p>
+
+<p>"What did you say?" he asked, as he received a second nudge.</p>
+
+<p>"Mother said you should have no treats nor anything because of your
+burning that five-pound note."</p>
+
+<p>Hugh crimsoned, and then, catching his father's eye, he went to his
+side.</p>
+
+<p>"Randall says I ought not to go because of that five-pound note."</p>
+
+<p>"That is forgiven," answered his father quietly; "do not trouble about
+Randall, my boy."</p>
+
+<p>Hugh raised his head, a light shining in his eyes.</p>
+
+<p>Gertrude was rapidly arranging times and trains with her
+brother-in-law, as he was anxious to be off. Then he ran up-stairs once
+more to kiss his newly-found child, and with a grateful adieu to the
+rest, he was gone.</p>
+
+<p>Rose remained with Lester; the boys were already busy down-stairs with
+their lessons; Daisy and Hugh hastened to their schoolroom to prepare
+theirs; and Gertrude, after a brief visit to her sister, sought them
+and settled down to lessons and work, feeling as if the last few days
+had been a dream.</p>
+
+<p>When Daisy rose to say good-night, she put her hand on Gertrude's
+shoulder: "Miss Ashlyn, Randall will love you by and by."</p>
+
+<p>"I hope so, dear."</p>
+
+<p>"I'm awfully sorry he is so disagreeable—but indeed if you go on being
+kind, he will by and by."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, dear," she answered, "that is what I look for."</p>
+
+<p><br><br><br></p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter" id="image070" style="max-width: 25.3125em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/image070.jpg" alt="image070"></figure>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<h3><a id="Chapter_37">CHAPTER XXXVII.</a></h3>
+
+<p class="t3">
+<b>A NEW THOUGHT.</b><br>
+</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<p>IT was by the first post that Rose received a letter from her husband
+appointing to be with her at ten o'clock, bringing an easy carriage for
+their darling.</p>
+
+<p>The whole household could think of nothing else, and now Randall's
+dainty clothes, which he had grown out of a year or two back, were
+brought out, and Lester was taken from the bed and carefully dressed in
+them.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Leigh sat with him on her lap, her face very white and quiet, as
+each fresh thing done for her child made her realize more fully all he
+had lost.</p>
+
+<p>He passively suffered them to do what they would with him. But by the
+time the little outside coat had been buttoned up, his head dropped on
+his mother's shoulder, and he was tired out.</p>
+
+<p>Rose looked up at nurse beseechingly. "Ought I to have dressed him?"
+she asked anxiously.</p>
+
+<p>"It is hard to say, ma'am," nurse answered, "but another time I would
+not trouble about these last things, a shawl over all would have done
+as well."</p>
+
+<p>Then came the carriage, and Mr. Leigh was shut up in the dining-room
+with Mrs. Shaddock and Rose for what seemed a very long time, while
+Gertrude waited rather breathlessly up-stairs with the drooping child.</p>
+
+<p>At last they came out, Mrs. Shaddock wiping her eyes, and Mr. and Mrs.
+Leigh hastening up the stairs to where Gertrude sat, holding little
+Lester on her knee.</p>
+
+<p>In a moment more the young father came down carrying the little
+invalid, Rose and Gertrude following.</p>
+
+<p>"I can never, never thank you," said Rose, taking Mrs. Shaddock's hand.
+"Some day I hope we may come back and be able to do so better than
+to-day!"</p>
+
+<p>She nearly broke down, but, struggling for calmness, she bade a hasty
+adieu to the rest, and quickly got to the carriage, where already Fritz
+was seated.</p>
+
+<p>Gertrude went to the carriage-door, and kissed her sister through the
+open window.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, how I wish you were going with me!" said Rose regretfully.</p>
+
+<p>"I could not, dearest; they have been so kind already. We shall meet
+this afternoon."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, yes; good-bye till then."</p>
+
+<p>The carriage moved away, and Gertrude turned back to the house, wishing
+intensely that she could have gone to the physician's with them.</p>
+
+<p>Daisy and Mollie were waiting for her in the hall.</p>
+
+<p>"Miss Ashlyn, do tell us what makes mother cry. Does the physician give
+any hope? Mother does nothing but cry."</p>
+
+<p>"Go up-stairs, dears," answered Gertrude; "I will follow you in a
+moment. I expect your mother is rather upset with it all."</p>
+
+<p>She really felt great compunction when she saw Mrs. Shaddock sitting
+with her face buried in her hands.</p>
+
+<p>She advanced to her side and sat down by her, quietly drawing her white
+shawl over her shoulders, and said, in a soothing, comforting tone—</p>
+
+<p>"They got off very comfortably, thanks to all your kindness, dear Mrs.
+Shaddock. I hope that I may bring you a better account this evening."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, that poor little mother's face!" said Mrs. Shaddock.</p>
+
+<p>"Rose?" questioned Gertrude.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes—if you could have seen her face when her husband was telling her
+what Dr. Blank said."</p>
+
+<p>"Did he give any opinion?" asked Gertrude eagerly.</p>
+
+<p>"Not on this case, of course," said Mrs. Shaddock, looking up, "but he
+gave a hope."</p>
+
+<p>Gertrude did not reply; this was almost more than she had dared to
+expect.</p>
+
+<p>"I could have wished that they might return here," Mrs. Shaddock went
+on, "but I can see that the distance is great, and that it will be well
+to be near Dr. Blank while things are not quite decided."</p>
+
+<p>Gertrude expressed again her earnest thanks for their hospitality, and
+then proposed that she should seek her pupils, and take up the lessons
+which had been so interrupted.</p>
+
+<p>"Do not worry over that," said Mrs. Shaddock; "their father says all
+this is the best education they could have."</p>
+
+<p>"Does he?" said Gertrude. "How very kind, and what a nice thought!"</p>
+
+<p>She had risen to go to her pupils, but Mrs. Shaddock seemed as if she
+could not bear to let her go.</p>
+
+<p>"Miss Ashlyn—my dear—your sister. I cannot forget your sister."</p>
+
+<p>"She will be better when all this is settled," said Gertrude
+consolingly.</p>
+
+<p>"Better?" echoed Mrs. Shaddock. "She could hardly be better! Her
+patience, her resignation, her trust—I never saw anything like it."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, indeed it is," answered Gertrude heartily.</p>
+
+<p>She had become so accustomed to Rose's beautiful character that she had
+hardly noticed it.</p>
+
+<p>"You found me very upset," Mrs. Shaddock went on hesitatingly, and yet
+as if she must say it, "but she said something as we sat together last
+night, which made me feel different from anything I have ever felt
+before."</p>
+
+<p>Gertrude looked inquiringly at her.</p>
+
+<p>"I had just said to her, 'I never saw any one bear a trial such as this
+so bravely; I suppose you would say it is religion helps you, but I do
+not understand it.' And she answered, with such an earnest look, 'Mrs.
+Shaddock, it is not 'religion,' it is just Jesus! He is everything to
+me—everything!'"</p>
+
+<p>"What Rose said is the truth," answered Gertrude softly. "She would not
+have said it unless she had known it was true."</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter" id="image071" style="max-width: 25.3125em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/image071.jpg" alt="image071"></figure>
+
+<p><br><br><br></p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter" id="image072" style="max-width: 25.3125em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/image072.jpg" alt="image072"></figure>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<h3><a id="Chapter_38">CHAPTER XXXVIII.</a></h3>
+
+<p class="t3">
+<b>IN THE MUSEUM.</b><br>
+</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<p>"AH! Here you are!" said Otto.</p>
+
+<p>There were Hugh, Daisy, and Randall, all eagerly peeping out of the
+train at Kensington.</p>
+
+<p>"Here is Mr. Leigh," exclaimed Randall, turning round to Gertrude. "You
+see he did not keep us waiting, did he?"</p>
+
+<p>This referred to a discussion Hugh and Daisy had carried on during the
+short journey, as to who would be at Kensington first.</p>
+
+<p>Otto helped them out of the carriage, and then pointed to the way out,
+telling the children not to get too far in front.</p>
+
+<p>"Randall, my dear, keep near me," said Gertrude; "you are 'mother's
+baby,' and must be taken care of!"</p>
+
+<p>She said it with a playful smile, but Randall did not respond
+pleasantly.</p>
+
+<p>"I can take care of myself," he said, with a shrug. "I don't want to be
+tied to girls' aprons!"</p>
+
+<p>He walked, however, just in front of her, close to the heels of his
+brother and sister, Otto and Gertrude bringing up the rear.</p>
+
+<p>"I will not tell you till we get out of these noisy streets," said
+Otto, "but I feel as if I had so many things to say, that I hardly know
+where to begin!"</p>
+
+<p>"I must not ask, then, whether they are back from Dr. Blank's?"</p>
+
+<p>"You may ask," he said, smiling, "but I shall not answer."</p>
+
+<p>"Then I had better not put the question," laughed Gertrude. "You are,
+however, cheerful to-day, Otto!"</p>
+
+<p>"That is because I am so glad to see you."</p>
+
+<p>"Are you? So am I glad, Otto. I never prized friends so much before."</p>
+
+<p>He had glanced up eagerly at the beginning of her answer, but as her
+voice took a more formal tone at the end, his eyes went back to the
+contemplation of the busy traffic.</p>
+
+<p>"I should be sorry to live in London," he said quietly.</p>
+
+<p>"So should I, unless—"</p>
+
+<p>"Unless?" he asked, rather eagerly.</p>
+
+<p>"Unless those I loved had to live here; of course that makes such a
+difference."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," he said.</p>
+
+<p>They came now to the Museum, and here the children turned to them,
+asking what they were to see first, and which way was it to go?</p>
+
+<p>They were all so inexperienced that Otto told them they had better walk
+straight on for a little while, keeping their eyes open meanwhile.</p>
+
+<p>"Above all things, do not let us get separated," said Gertrude. "Keep
+close to us, Hugh and Daisy. Will Randall like to be with you or with
+me?"</p>
+
+<p>"We will take him," said Daisy.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I'll go with them," said Randall.</p>
+
+<p>They soon came to the large Hall, and here Otto proposed to sit down,
+while the children walked about examining the various objects of
+interest.</p>
+
+<p>He found a seat for Gertrude, and when some one moved away, he sat down
+beside her.</p>
+
+<p>"May I ask now?" she said. "Oh, Otto, do tell me!"</p>
+
+<p>"They have been, Gertrude! Dr. Blank has examined little Lester
+thoroughly."</p>
+
+<p>"And he says—"</p>
+
+<p>"That time, and care, and love 'may' restore him."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Otto! How thankful I am."</p>
+
+<p>"He says that one-room-business of Mrs. Swift's would soon have
+finished the story. But now, he hopes with plenty of sunshine, and sea
+air, and patience—Gertrude, he says he will need infinite patience."</p>
+
+<p>"Rose can give that."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, no one better, unless it were you."</p>
+
+<p>"I? I should not be half as patient as Rose! Besides, she is his
+mother."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, yes; that makes a great difference, of course."</p>
+
+<p>"Are they going home?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not for a few days."</p>
+
+<p>Gertrude sighed with relief. Then she might see Rose once more perhaps.</p>
+
+<p>"You are not happy here, Gertrude, are you?" asked Otto, suddenly
+turning and looking her in the face.</p>
+
+<p>"I was, oh, as happy as I could be away from you all, till this about
+Lester happened. That has unsettled me, I think. Why do you ask, Otto?
+I do not look unhappy, do I?"</p>
+
+<p>"You look different," he said consideringly. "Yes, as I thought, not so
+happy."</p>
+
+<p>"I shall feel all right again directly all this is settled, Otto. You
+can hardly believe all I have gone through."</p>
+
+<p>He was silent, his eyes following the three children as they slowly
+walked round the large room, coming nearer and nearer.</p>
+
+<p>"It is hard sometimes to square one's wishes with one's possibilities,"
+he said at length.</p>
+
+<p>"Very," she answered; "that is where discipline comes in, Otto. Like my
+text this morning, 'Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?'"</p>
+
+<p>"Was that your text, dear Gertrude? What did you answer?"</p>
+
+<p>"I asked that whatever He pointed out for me to do, I might do
+willingly."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah! That speaks to me."</p>
+
+<p>"Does it not speak to all of us?"</p>
+
+<p>The children had reached them now.</p>
+
+<p>"May we go into the next room?" asked Randall.</p>
+
+<p>"We will come too," said Gertrude, rising.</p>
+
+<p>"There's no need," said Randall, "but you can do as you like, Miss
+Ashlyn. I wish Mr. Leigh would come and explain this old furniture to
+us."</p>
+
+<p>"So I will," said Otto readily. "Gertrude, sit still and rest till I
+come back."</p>
+
+<p>He went off with them. And Gertrude sat down again and thought over the
+conversation which had just passed, wondering at Otto's manner, which
+had constraint in it which she had not remembered at home.</p>
+
+<p>Then once more, she thought of her text as settling all wonderings, and
+giving quiet and peace in the midst of every circumstance.</p>
+
+<p>"Lord, what wilt 'Thou' have me to do?" And in that will and that Lord,
+she took refuge and found her rest.</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter" id="image073" style="max-width: 25.3125em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/image073.jpg" alt="image073"></figure>
+
+<p><br><br><br></p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter" id="image074" style="max-width: 25.3125em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/image074.jpg" alt="image074"></figure>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<h3><a id="Chapter_39">CHAPTER XXXIX.</a></h3>
+
+<p class="t3">
+<b>HIDING.</b><br>
+</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<p>THE time seemed to her rather long before she saw Otto's thin face
+coming back through the doorway.</p>
+
+<p>He was closely followed by Daisy and Hugh, and came up to her at once,
+surprise in his tone as he inquired—</p>
+
+<p>"Where is Randall? Is he not with you?"</p>
+
+<p>"With me?" echoed Gertrude, starting up. "No, he has not been with me
+at all. He went off with you, Otto."</p>
+
+<p>"He was with me, but he asked if he might find you. And I brought him
+to the doorway and pointed you out, and left him. How very strange!"</p>
+
+<p>"I did not see either of you," said Gertrude, looking alarmed.</p>
+
+<p>"No—you were deeply meditating, and did not look up. Do not worry
+yourself, he'll be all right. Boys don't get run off with every—" He
+stopped short. He had touched too near home to their recent sorrow
+about Lester, to bear it yet.</p>
+
+<p>"At any rate," he added hastily, "he will be all safe. We must go and
+look for him."</p>
+
+<p>They quickly arranged a meeting-place, and Gertrude took Daisy with
+her, while Hugh volunteered to go with Mr. Leigh.</p>
+
+<p>But they wandered through the rooms, one after another, searching in
+every part fruitlessly, till they were utterly weary and footsore.</p>
+
+<p>Again and again they met, only to acknowledge that their search had
+been in vain.</p>
+
+<p>At length it grew dusk, and the Museum began to thin. People were
+leaving for their homes before the fresh accession would come in with
+the lights.</p>
+
+<p>Gertrude was worn out. She felt as if her feet would not carry her
+another step.</p>
+
+<p>"Did you ever know of his doing such a thing before?" she asked Daisy,
+as she sank on to a seat for an instant.</p>
+
+<p>"No—never," said poor Daisy, who could hardly keep back her tears. "He
+said this morning, 'I'm going to have a lark to-day, Daisy,' but I
+thought he meant coming to the Museum."</p>
+
+<p>"He meant to play us a trick," said Hugh decidedly; "at least I think
+so—he did say—don't you remember, Daisy?—that he would do something
+that really would tease Miss Ashlyn."</p>
+
+<p>Gertrude felt herself get hot from head to foot.</p>
+
+<p>"How can we go home and tell your mother?" she said piteously. "It is
+too dreadful. Otto, you have asked all the men at the doors to keep any
+little boy—"</p>
+
+<p>"Certainly I have. Not one has noticed such a child pass."</p>
+
+<p>"It makes it worse to think he could have been so cruel as to play
+such a trick," said Gertrude. "We must stay here, Otto, till the place
+shuts, and you must go home and tell Mrs. Shaddock. It is too dreadful—"</p>
+
+<p>"Come, do not give up," said Otto cheerily, though he little liked the
+errand on which he was sent. "If Randall has done it for a trick, he
+will probably turn up all right. Anyway fretting will not mend it. He
+has had his wish and spoilt our day!"</p>
+
+<p>He left them regretfully, and made his way with all speed to Hampstead.</p>
+
+<p>It was, however, nearly an hour before he reached the Shaddocks'
+comfortable home.</p>
+
+<p>To picture the dismay which spread through the house at his story would
+be impossible. Mrs. Shaddock gave up her darling for lost. And Mr.
+Shaddock, between indignation and real apprehension, hardly knew what
+he was doing.</p>
+
+<p>He set off at once with Otto, feeling as if trains were a slow mode of
+travelling, when the heart had reached the end of the journey before
+the whistle had more than sounded!</p>
+
+<p>Hurriedly they retraced their steps through the warm and crowded rooms,
+till they reached the one where Otto had left Gertrude.</p>
+
+<p>There, in front of the anxious father's eyes, sat the group he had come
+to seek, Randall in the middle of them looking flushed and sullen, the
+rest white and weary.</p>
+
+<p>"You have found him?" asked Mr. Shaddock.</p>
+
+<p>"Where? How?"</p>
+
+<p>Gertrude looked up, her eyes tearful, her lips trembling.</p>
+
+<p>"We cannot well explain it here," she said in a low voice. "He came to
+us of his own accord. I believe he is beginning to be sorry."</p>
+
+<p>"Beginning to be sorry?" echoed Mr. Shaddock.</p>
+
+<p>"What can you mean?"</p>
+
+<p>He took Randall's hand in his, and turned towards the door.</p>
+
+<p>"How is this, my boy?"</p>
+
+<p>"They left me alone—I got lost," said Randall, whimpering.</p>
+
+<p>Hugh had joined his father on the other side, and heard the last words.</p>
+
+<p>"Father!" he began urgently.</p>
+
+<p>"Hush—I will hear all about it at home."</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Shaddock hurried them into the train, Gertrude and Otto following.</p>
+
+<p>"He thinks we carelessly let him get lost," said Gertrude. "What shall
+we do?"</p>
+
+<p>"Stick to the truth," said Otto. "How did you find him, Gertrude, after
+all?"</p>
+
+<p>"He was hiding somewhere," said Gertrude in a low voice. "Just before
+the place was lighted up, not long after you had gone, he sauntered up
+with his hands in his pockets and asked how we were getting on."</p>
+
+<p>"What did you do?" asked Otto, almost too astonished to speak.</p>
+
+<p>"I asked him where he had been, and told him what a fright he had given
+us all, and was just bidding him to sit down by me, when he gave a
+strange little glance at Hugh—gone in a moment—and then sat down by me,
+pushing his hand away from mine. Then I guessed that it was a trick."</p>
+
+<p>"Shameful!" said Otto indignantly.</p>
+
+<p>"It breaks my heart that he could—" said poor Gertrude.</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter" id="image075" style="max-width: 25.3125em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/image075.jpg" alt="image075"></figure>
+
+<p><br><br><br></p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter" id="image076" style="max-width: 25.3125em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/image076.jpg" alt="image076"></figure>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<h3><a id="Chapter_40">CHAPTER XL.</a></h3>
+
+<p class="t3">
+<b>RANDALL'S MISCHIEF.</b><br>
+</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<p>THE trains were crowded, so that in the bustle of getting a seat at
+all, Otto found himself almost pushed by the guard into a carriage
+where were Gertrude, Hugh, and Daisy, while Mr. Shaddock and Randall
+found room in a compartment farther down the train.</p>
+
+<p>"It was not my fault, one bit," Randall began, when they were off.
+"They ought not to have left me."</p>
+
+<p>Though Mr. Shaddock had not intended to discuss the subject with his
+little son, he was taken off his guard by the last words, and asked—</p>
+
+<p>"Who?"</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Leigh and Miss Ashlyn."</p>
+
+<p>"Left you, how?"</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Leigh said I could easily find her, and I went where he said, and
+she was not there. Then I got lost."</p>
+
+<p>"Why did you not speak to a policeman? You have always been told to do
+that. You would have saved us all this fright if you had."</p>
+
+<p>"I did not think of that," said Randall.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Shaddock was looking out of the window in anxious thought.</p>
+
+<p>"Hugh always tries to get me into trouble—" began Randall, "and so does
+Miss Ashlyn."</p>
+
+<p>"Nonsense!" said his father.</p>
+
+<p>"I wish I hadn't gone with them," pouted Randall. "I haven't had any
+tea, and I am as tired as anything, hunting everywhere for them."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, you had better keep quiet now," said his father. "I do not
+understand it. But I dare say we shall hear it explained when they tell
+me all about it. How you can have escaped meeting all these hours I
+cannot conceive."</p>
+
+<p>Randall did not reply to that.</p>
+
+<p>And by and by the journey was over, and they got out of the train and
+walked up the hill under the starry sky.</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<p>"When do you leave London?" asked Gertrude of Otto. She felt as if she
+knew nothing of his plans; for they had been separated at different
+ends of the railway carriage, and the search for Randall had taken up
+all the rest of the day.</p>
+
+<p>"That is not decided. I had much to tell you, but there is hardly time
+to even begin it! Gertrude, Dr. Blank asked me a number of questions
+about myself and my future."</p>
+
+<p>Gertrude felt startled. Again came that strange tone of constraint into
+Otto's voice.</p>
+
+<p>"He was interested in you?" she asked falteringly. She hardly knew what
+to say, or how to question him, unless he wished to tell her. Did he
+wish to tell her? That was what she asked herself.</p>
+
+<p>"I think he was, though why I cannot imagine. I told him of my long
+struggle with my medical studies, and what exams I had passed, and so
+forth, and then he told me a sea voyage would do me a world of good!"</p>
+
+<p>"A sea voyage!" echoed Gertrude.</p>
+
+<p>"Miss Ashlyn," said Hugh, turning back from where he was walking with
+his father, "I wish you would tell me about those constellations again."</p>
+
+<p>"Never mind now," said Mr. Shaddock, "let Miss Ashlyn have a moment's
+peace. The constellations will keep, that's one good thing."</p>
+
+<p>Hugh did not press the matter further, but contented himself with
+going back to Daisy and pointing out to her the Great Bear and the
+"Pointers," which was the greatest astronomical achievement of which he
+could boast at present.</p>
+
+<p>Gertrude had echoed Otto's words, "a sea voyage," but the announcement
+seemed in some inexplicable manner to darken her life, and make
+everything dreary. She managed, however, to force herself to say, "And
+you are going—you think it necessary?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, not so much for my health, though that has not been very good
+lately, but for my prospects—"</p>
+
+<p>"Will that improve them? Otto, you are holding something back; you have
+some news you do not like to tell me."</p>
+
+<p>Otto did not reply to that. But after a moment he added, "Dr. Blank has
+taken a sort of liking to me. I think he will try to push me on in my
+profession."</p>
+
+<p>Gertrude could not ask her question again, but she felt hopelessly that
+they were nearing their destination, and then Otto would say good-bye,
+and their day would be over.</p>
+
+<p>"Gertrude, I have promised to go for this voyage if—if you do not
+object."</p>
+
+<p>"I?" said Gertrude.</p>
+
+<p>"It is to accompany a patient of his, who needs care and supervision.
+It will be for a year."</p>
+
+<p>"And then?"</p>
+
+<p>"Then I shall come home!"</p>
+
+<p>Oh, the rest that seemed to come into his voice as he said that! They
+had reached the turning to the Shaddocks' house. Still Gertrude knew
+that Otto was withholding some of his thoughts. How could she bear to
+part from her friend thus? She thought of their friendship at home, of
+all his brotherliness, of their constant interchange of thoughts and
+ideas, and she felt it very hard to be constrained just as they must
+part.</p>
+
+<p>"I am going to see Dr. Blank again to-morrow, and shall have a long
+talk with him. He has asked me to spend Sunday at his country house.
+After that I shall see you again, and tell you all."</p>
+
+<p>"You will tell me all?" asked Gertrude, in a relieved tone.</p>
+
+<p>"All—both bad and good. I might have done so to-day, but for this
+child's doings. That has spoilt everything. Gertrude, you did not
+answer me? Shall I go for the voyage?"</p>
+
+<p>"Am I to be the arbiter of your fate?"</p>
+
+<p>He smiled a sunny smile, while Gertrude could have cried.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, our future is in Better Hands," he answered gently, "but if you
+thought I ought not to go, for any reason, I will not go."</p>
+
+<p>"I know of no reason; if it will do your health good, it would be
+everything you could wish!"</p>
+
+<p>They had reached the steps. Already Mr. Shaddock had let himself in,
+and Hugh was holding the door open for them.</p>
+
+<p>"Now for Randall's mischief!" said Otto.</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter" id="image077" style="max-width: 25.3125em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/image077.jpg" alt="image077"></figure>
+
+<p><br><br><br></p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter" id="image078" style="max-width: 25.3125em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/image078.jpg" alt="image078"></figure>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<h3><a id="Chapter_41">CHAPTER XLI.</a></h3>
+
+<p class="t3">
+<b>TWO SIDES OF A STORY.</b><br>
+</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<p>WHEN they entered, Randall was already in his mother's arms, and Mrs.
+Shaddock was pouring out questions and condolences as fast as she could
+speak. Her 'at home' day had come to an unpleasant end, as she had felt
+too ill and pre-occupied to enjoy her guests.</p>
+
+<p>"However was it?" she was asking him.</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Leigh and Miss Ashlyn were talking and I got lost," was his
+response.</p>
+
+<p>"They were not!" exclaimed Daisy, following him into the drawing-room.
+"Mollie, don't let mother think so—"</p>
+
+<p>Mollie shrugged her shoulders. "I do think it was awfully careless,"
+she said, "and has given mother a dreadful fright!"</p>
+
+<p>"He gave us a worse one," answered Daisy indignantly, "but Miss Ashlyn
+will explain all about it."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't care about explanations," said Mollie. "I should have thought
+between you, you could have looked after Randall. You know how things
+upset mother."</p>
+
+<p>Gertrude and Otto had spoken to Mr. Shaddock in the hall, and then Otto
+bade Gertrude farewell and went to the door.</p>
+
+<p>"I wish you could stay to see me through with this," she said with her
+hand on the latch, and her eyes raised to his.</p>
+
+<p>"I wish I could—but I am not asked—"</p>
+
+<p>"No, we are in disgrace," she said, "and that is very hard."</p>
+
+<p>"It will come out all right in the end. I must go, but I would give
+anything to stay—"</p>
+
+<p>And then she opened the door, and his light feet sprang down the steps,
+and he was gone.</p>
+
+<p>She went slowly into the dining-room, feeling as if she could not bring
+her mind down to Randall and his doings.</p>
+
+<p>Otto had looked as white as a sheet, and had eaten nothing since an
+early lunch; how could she have let him go like that?</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Shaddock came in almost at once.</p>
+
+<p>"Where is Mr. Leigh?"</p>
+
+<p>"He is gone."</p>
+
+<p>"Gone! Why did you let him go? I expected him to have supper, or
+whatever meal it is. Have you had anything to eat?"</p>
+
+<p>"I bought some buns—"</p>
+
+<p>"Buns?" echoed Mr. Shaddock disdainfully. "Could you get no tea?"</p>
+
+<p>"I was afraid to spend any time over that. We did nothing but search."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, it cannot be helped now. I am very vexed Mr. Leigh has gone
+so soon. As to this matter, the children and Randall give different
+accounts. I suppose it often is so in a question of missing each other.
+So I suppose we must think 'all's well that ends well,' and be glad
+it has come right now. Pray sit down, Miss Ashlyn, you look ready to
+faint."</p>
+
+<p>"I never faint, thank you," Gertrude answered, "but we are very tired,
+almost too tired, perhaps, to look at the matter fairly."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I should let it drop," said Mr. Shaddock good-humouredly. "Randall
+got lost, and is found again, and now let us forget it, and eat some
+supper."</p>
+
+<p>Gertrude had been wondering in the train what dreadful punishment would
+be given the little delinquent, and only feared it might be too severe.
+She was therefore astonished to find that all was to be overlooked, and
+the matter left as if it had not happened.</p>
+
+<p>She determined to talk to Randall herself, and try to get him to
+confess his share of the spoilt day. But now nothing could be done but
+to accept the offered tea, and think again of poor Otto making his way
+back to the West End, tired and lonely.</p>
+
+<p>Daisy and Hugh came in at the sound of the gong, but Mrs. Shaddock had
+Randall's tea carried to him in the drawing-room by Mollie. And when
+they went there after the meal, he had gone to nurse to be put to bed.</p>
+
+<p>Gertrude soon went up to her schoolroom, and sat down in her arm-chair
+utterly wearied out.</p>
+
+<p>Daisy and Hugh came to wish good-night, and then she was left alone for
+half an hour.</p>
+
+<p>She tried to recall all the events of the day, all Otto's words and
+tones which had been so refreshing to her as part of her old home
+life, but nothing seemed to come before her eyes but that scene in the
+Museum, when he had appeared in the doorway without Randall, and then
+their frantic search afterwards.</p>
+
+<p>She was just coming to the conclusion that she should never be happy
+at the Shaddocks' any more if they were going to blame her for the
+accident, when a tap came at the door, and nurse's kind face peeped in.</p>
+
+<p>"I came to see if you might want anything, Miss Ashlyn," she said
+quietly, "and to tell you I am so sorry about the child being missed."</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you," faltered Gertrude. Her lips trembled, and she could not
+get out another word.</p>
+
+<p>"Don't you be upset, miss. The children have told me their different
+stories, and I can see how it is."</p>
+
+<p>"I wish I could be sure he did not do it on purpose—" began Gertrude;
+and then she wished she had not said so. She looked up quickly in
+nurse's face. "I hardly like to have said that," she added, "but—"</p>
+
+<p>Nurse nodded. "Time will show," she said. "Sometimes when we can't
+right ourselves, there's One takes it up for us, miss, and brings good
+out of bad!"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, if He only would!" said Gertrude with a long breath.</p>
+
+<p>"Don't be afraid, miss; I've seen it over and over, and have reason to
+trust Him!"</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter" id="image079" style="max-width: 25.3125em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/image079.jpg" alt="image079"></figure>
+
+<p><br><br><br></p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter" id="image080" style="max-width: 25.3125em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/image080.jpg" alt="image080"></figure>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<h3><a id="Chapter_42">CHAPTER XLII.</a></h3>
+
+<p class="t3">
+<b>CLOUDS.</b><br>
+</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<p>EARLY the next morning Gertrude was up, and was bending over her Bible
+to get refreshment before the day's work began. She dreaded what it
+might bring to her, for she had seen enough of the way Randall had
+carried through the misfortune of the bank-note, to hope that he would
+unsay any of his yesterday's story.</p>
+
+<p>Nurse's cheering words, however, had done her good, and she rose from
+her reading with a heart at rest in the promises which were so abundant
+and so full.</p>
+
+<p>Her eyes had rested on some words which seemed to fit into her
+perplexity and vexation, giving her fresh hope and courage.</p>
+
+<p class="letter">
+<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"'I will love Thee, O LORD, my strength!'"<br>
+<br>
+</p>
+
+<p>So when Daisy peeped into her room, she met the child's inquiring look
+with a smile.</p>
+
+<p>"Here is a letter for you, Miss Ashlyn."</p>
+
+<p>It was from Rose, telling of their disappointment at her non-appearance
+the evening before, and saying how sorry Otto was to arrive alone
+without the bright party which Fritz had invited to tea at his hotel.</p>
+
+<p>Then Rose went on to say a few words about Lester, adding that time
+forbade her to write more, but if Mrs. Shaddock and Gertrude could call
+upon her during that day, she could better explain everything by word
+of mouth.</p>
+
+<p>"I shall not ask that," said Gertrude to herself, "though I suppose I
+must convey Rose's invitation."</p>
+
+<p>"Mother is not very well this morning," said Daisy, "and Randall is as
+cross as two sticks."</p>
+
+<p>"Never mind that, dear. He must be sorry he was so unkind."</p>
+
+<p>"I do not think he is. Miss Ashlyn, make haste, for the boys are ready
+for breakfast, and Mollie is not down. They want to get off to school
+in good time; they've got to meet a boy at the station."</p>
+
+<p>Gertrude felt her life had begun again in good earnest. She put away
+her Bible and followed Daisy to the dining-room, where Conway and Ned
+were already eating their breakfast in haste.</p>
+
+<p>When Mollie came in, she did not seem to have recovered her temper from
+yesterday any more than Randall had. She brought a message from her
+mother, however, that she begged Miss Ashlyn to spend the afternoon
+with her sister, but that she did not feel equal to any excitement, and
+was going to stay in her room all the morning.</p>
+
+<p>"Will you take your mother the letter I have had from my sister?"</p>
+
+<p>Mollie took the letter in her hand, but sat down to her breakfast
+without offering to carry it to her mother.</p>
+
+<p>By the time Daisy's music-lesson was over, however, she brought back
+the answer.</p>
+
+<p>"Mother thanks Mrs. Leigh, and if she is well enough in the afternoon
+she will drive to town and call upon her. At any rate, you are to go,
+Miss Ashlyn. Daisy and I are to go to see our cousins who live on the
+Heath, you know. Randall is to stay with nurse."</p>
+
+<p>Gertrude felt that the plan was very kind, and yet she would almost
+have preferred to remain quietly at home with her pupils.</p>
+
+<p>"Are you sure that is what your mother wishes?" she asked.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, Miss Ashlyn. Mother would not like to be worried with any more
+questions. She had quite enough worry yesterday."</p>
+
+<p>Gertrude looked up steadily at the pretty girl as she stood before her
+with her little air of half-condescending, half-defiant politeness.</p>
+
+<p>"We all had a great deal of worry yesterday, Mollie. However, I will do
+as your mother so kindly suggests. I hope I may be able to thank her
+for all her kindness some day."</p>
+
+<p>Mollie looked rather surprised at the quiet answer, under which she
+could not but perceive a slight reserve. She, however, dismissed the
+matter with a light—</p>
+
+<p>"Well, let it be settled so, Miss Ashlyn. I am sure you must be longing
+to see Mrs. Leigh." And with a toss back of her long hair over her
+shoulders, she hastened away to fulfil the housekeeping duties before
+school, which devolved upon her when Mrs. Shaddock was ill.</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<p>Gertrude rang the school-bell, but as Randall did not appear, she made
+her way to the nursery to inquire for him.</p>
+
+<p>He was there, leaning over the guard, with his chin on his hands. "Are
+you ready for lessons, my dear?" she asked kindly.</p>
+
+<p>"He does not seem quite the thing to-day, Miss Ashlyn," said nurse.
+"Perhaps he had better remain up here with me? He says his head aches."</p>
+
+<p>"If you think Mrs. Shaddock would wish that."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I am sure she would. She is so poorly this morning that I cannot
+worry her with telling her that he is not well. I hope an hour or two
+will see him better. I suspect he took a chill yesterday."</p>
+
+<p>So Gertrude went back to Daisy and Mollie, first, however, carrying
+Randall a puzzle from her box to amuse him, of which he took no notice
+beyond an abrupt "thank you," turning again to the fire as before.</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter" id="image081" style="max-width: 25.3125em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/image081.jpg" alt="image081"></figure>
+
+<p><br><br><br></p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter" id="image082" style="max-width: 25.3125em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/image082.jpg" alt="image082"></figure>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<h3><a id="Chapter_43">CHAPTER XLIII.</a></h3>
+
+<p class="t3">
+<b>"WAITING FOR YOU!"</b><br>
+</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<p>THE morning passed away peacefully.</p>
+
+<p>Daisy was angelic, and though Mollie had still her little supercilious
+air which chafed Gertrude inwardly, she kept it enough within bounds to
+avoid rebuke.</p>
+
+<p>When they came out from lessons, Mollie found that her mother was no
+better than she had been in the early morning, and nurse was busy with
+her.</p>
+
+<p>"It is one of her heart attacks," said Mollie in a reproachful tone to
+Gertrude. "That is how she always is when she has any excitement or
+alarm. She will be ill for days, I expect, and nurse will hardly be
+able to leave her."</p>
+
+<p>"I did not know she was subject to these attacks," said Gertrude.</p>
+
+<p>"No, I suppose you did not, or, of course, you would have been more
+particular about Randall—"</p>
+
+<p>"But, Mollie, it was Randall's own doing."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, well, there are two opinions about that. At any rate, what with
+the excitement about Lester, and now this about Randall, mother is
+perfectly upset, and it is a great bother."</p>
+
+<p>Gertrude did not pursue the subject. She gathered her books together,
+wondering if she could be spared to go to her sister, but not liking to
+employ Mollie as her messenger to ask this question.</p>
+
+<p>Daisy came in at the moment and settled the difficulty.</p>
+
+<p>"Miss Ashlyn, mother is not well enough to visit your sister to-day.
+But would you please go and enjoy yourself. Mother hopes Mrs. Leigh
+will have good news for you, and that you will be able to help her."</p>
+
+<p>Gertrude sent a message in reply. And then the dinner gong rang, and
+they went down to their rather forlorn meal, Mollie presiding instead
+of her mother, and Randall sitting at the side, but eating very little
+and talking less.</p>
+
+<p>The moment after dinner, the girls dressed to go to their cousins,
+Randall went back to the nursery, and Gertrude was set free.</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<p>When she went out, anxious as she was to get to her sister, as she
+turned to shut the gate, her eyes fell upon the Strange House, and she
+thought of Mrs. Swift.</p>
+
+<p>No, she must hasten on to see Rose, she thought.</p>
+
+<p>And yet—yet—it would not take five minutes to greet the poor, desolate
+woman who had so recently lost so much.</p>
+
+<p>A moment's indecision, and then she turned that way and walked up the
+garden path.</p>
+
+<p>Her ring at the bell brought Mrs. Swift very quickly to the door.</p>
+
+<p>A haggard face, with anxious, sunken eyes, met hers.</p>
+
+<p>"Mrs. Swift! You have been ill," exclaimed Gertrude.</p>
+
+<p>"It's my husband!" was her abrupt answer. "He will not have a doctor,
+and I'm at my wits' end!" She opened the door wide, and Gertrude
+stepped within it.</p>
+
+<p>"What is the matter?"</p>
+
+<p>"I do not know!"</p>
+
+<p>"Is he very bad?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, not to say very bad, but he's too ill to leave his bed. We were
+going to move at once, but now we can't, and he says he shall stay till
+Christmas."</p>
+
+<p>"I will come and see him to-morrow, if I can," said Gertrude. "I am on
+my way to visit my sister and her little boy."</p>
+
+<p>"Little Lester, miss?" asked Mrs. Swift, forgetting for a moment her
+own anxiety.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes."</p>
+
+<p>"It was kind of you to tell me, miss. Has he been to a doctor yet,
+miss?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; I have not seen my sister yet, but I believe he has been."</p>
+
+<p>"I hardly dare to ask, miss,—I am sure I have no right; but—does the
+doctor give any hope, miss?"</p>
+
+<p>"I can hardly tell you, because I know so little myself. But I think he
+does hope that time may improve him. Time and care, and sunshine and
+sea air."</p>
+
+<p>Again Mrs. Swift gave one of her long, deep-drawn breaths. "Ah! He did
+not have all those with me," she said sadly.</p>
+
+<p>"No, Mrs. Swift. Shall you think me unkind if I say that the doctor
+gave it as his opinion that he was brought away just in time?"</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Swift nodded sadly. "I knew it," she said. "Oh, miss, if you had
+not come along that night, and had not stopped to speak to me! Oh,
+miss, how can I thank you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Do not thank me, but God," said Gertrude gently. "Now I must go, but
+tell your husband from me that I do entreat him to have a doctor;
+perhaps he would accept a message from me?"</p>
+
+<p>"He thinks a deal of you, miss, in a quiet way—"</p>
+
+<p>"Then say so, and remember that you have a mighty Saviour now to help
+you in everything. Tell Him all about your husband, and He will do for
+you what you cannot do yourself."</p>
+
+<p>She hastened away, and sped to the high-road, where she hoped to meet
+with a cab or omnibus which might expedite her journey to the Great
+Northern Hotel.</p>
+
+<p>As she turned the corner, pacing up and down with quiet, patient step,
+was a figure which she instantly recognized.</p>
+
+<p>It was walking away from her, but when it came to the next road, it
+turned and came towards her slowly.</p>
+
+<p>"Otto!" she exclaimed. "Whatever brought you here?"</p>
+
+<p>"I have been waiting for you! Your note told Rose you would come in the
+afternoon. I have been waiting for you for a long time, Gertrude!"</p>
+
+<p><br><br><br></p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter" id="image083" style="max-width: 25.3125em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/image083.jpg" alt="image083"></figure>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<h3><a id="Chapter_44">CHAPTER XLIV.</a></h3>
+
+<p class="t3">
+<b>A SHORT DRIVE.</b><br>
+</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<p>THEY walked down the hill together, Otto looking out for a cab, but
+saying very little.</p>
+
+<p>"At last I can talk to you!" he exclaimed when they were seated.
+"Gertrude! I have accepted Dr. Blank's offer, and I am to go abroad for
+a year with his patient!"</p>
+
+<p>"It will do you good, Otto—you have been overworking for a long time."</p>
+
+<p>"I could not help that—it was so important for me to make the most of
+my time. But, Gertrude, he holds out a hope for my future which has
+made all the difference to me. But the greatest difficulty is, you said
+you did not care to live in London—?"</p>
+
+<p>"But that makes no difference to your plans, Otto, unless you meant
+that you wanted mother to come—"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't want mother! I want you. Of course it makes all the difference
+in the world. You know that well enough."</p>
+
+<p>Gertrude was silent. How could she answer such words?</p>
+
+<p>"What is the plan?" she asked, after a pause.</p>
+
+<p>"Dr. Blank thinks he will have work for me to help him with, while I
+complete my medical studies. I told him—Gertrude, I told him that there
+was a certain dear girl whom I loved with all my heart, and that my
+great object was to make a home for her. He bid me work and hope."</p>
+
+<p>"That is always best," said Gertrude, with a little smile.</p>
+
+<p>"Do you bid me work and hope?"</p>
+
+<p>"Certainly I do, Otto. Have I not always?"</p>
+
+<p>"Then at the end of the year (for he pays me well, Gertrude), if I can
+find a house, can you bear to come right into the heart of London and
+make a very small beginning with me?"</p>
+
+<p>"I never guessed you wanted that!" she said, turning her eyes towards
+his face. "Otto, do you really mean what you have said?"</p>
+
+<p>"I have meant it for years! At first I thought I must not, and put it
+away. But lately I found that it was a great blessing and a great gift,
+one I could not dismiss unless I ought. There is no ought about it, is
+there? Gertrude, you knew all this long ago!"</p>
+
+<p>Whether she had guessed it or not, it was very different to hear him
+saying it all. But the cab was nearing her sister's hotel, and there
+was one thing she did want to tell him, if she could say nothing else.</p>
+
+<p>"You must not think—oh, Otto, never think for one moment that living in
+London would be any trial to me if—"</p>
+
+<p>"Go on, Gertrude—if what?"</p>
+
+<p>"If you wanted me to."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah! Do I not? But you knew that, when you said what you did the other
+day."</p>
+
+<p>Gertrude shook her head.</p>
+
+<p>"It was what you said then that made me dare to accept Dr. Blank's
+offer."</p>
+
+<p>The cab had almost reached the hotel. In a moment it drew up abruptly.</p>
+
+<p>Otto sprang out; he handed her from their humble conveyance, and led
+her straight up to her sister's room.</p>
+
+<p>Gertrude felt once more as if all were a dream, all but Otto's hand,
+which did not let hers go till he had brought her right into her
+sister's presence, announcing, in a voice that was full of joy—</p>
+
+<p>"Rose! I've brought her. And though we have not had time to say a
+quarter of the things we would, yet she has promised to be my wife, and
+come and make me happy when I come home next year!"</p>
+
+<p>Of course Rose looked very glad too. And for a few minutes, Gertrude
+could do nothing but bend over little Lester, hiding her hot
+cheeks against his curls, while Otto and Rose and Fritz exchanged
+congratulations.</p>
+
+<p>Then Rose came over to where she sat, and knelt down by her and Lester.</p>
+
+<p>"How does he look?" she asked yearningly, laying her hand on her
+child's.</p>
+
+<p>Gertrude was gazing in his little face.</p>
+
+<p>"I think he looks decidedly less frail than two days ago. Not so
+pinched and weary."</p>
+
+<p>"That is what 'I' said!" exclaimed Rose joyfully. "Fritz was afraid it
+was my fancy."</p>
+
+<p>The child lay on the sofa with a light shawl thrown over him, his eyes
+open and turning to watch them as they moved about, but without any
+recognition in them.</p>
+
+<p>"When he knows me," said Rose softly, "I shall begin to hope—really."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah! You hope now, little mother," said Fritz tenderly. "Hope? Why if I
+had as much faith in some things as you have in Lester's knowing you by
+and by, I should be on the high-road to being all you want me to be!"</p>
+
+<p>He spoke lightly, covering an earnest thought beneath his jest.</p>
+
+<p>"I have faith in both," said Rose, looking up, "or rather, I have faith
+in God about you both."</p>
+
+<p>They all knew that she spoke truly. But what seemed such a very simple
+matter to some people was an insurmountable difficulty to Fritz.</p>
+
+<p>"I can't make myself a Christian," he thought. And forgot that Rose had
+often responded,—</p>
+
+<p>"No, dear Fritz, but He says, 'Him that cometh unto Me, I will in no
+wise cast out.' You have not tried to come yet."</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter" id="image084" style="max-width: 25.3125em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/image084.jpg" alt="image084"></figure>
+
+<p><br><br><br></p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter" id="image085" style="max-width: 25.3125em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/image085.jpg" alt="image085"></figure>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<h3><a id="Chapter_45">CHAPTER XLV.</a></h3>
+
+<p class="t3">
+<b>TILL WEDNESDAY.</b><br>
+</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<p>"WE only wanted to see you before we went home," said Rose, when
+Gertrude, having taken off her hat, had settled herself into one of the
+luxurious arm-chairs, with Lester on her lap. "I am very anxious to get
+home, to say nothing of telling all to dear mother."</p>
+
+<p>"I shall see them off to-morrow morning, and then go down to Dr.
+Blank's country house," said Otto. "He says I am to be introduced to
+the invalid boy, and am to spend Sunday with them."</p>
+
+<p>"Them?" echoed Gertrude.</p>
+
+<p>"I did not tell you that it is his brother and sister who are going for
+this long sailing voyage, for the sake of their only son, who is heir
+to their fortune."</p>
+
+<p>"And what will you have to do with the boy?"</p>
+
+<p>"He needs constant care and watching, and yet bright companionship. I
+don't know that I shall suit in that latter respect. Perhaps I shall
+now."</p>
+
+<p>He smiled archly at Gertrude, but went on with his explanations, which
+were intensely interesting to her, as she had heard hardly anything
+that day at Kensington.</p>
+
+<p>"Then, when I have spent a year in going round the world, he says I am
+to come back and finish my studies. He says I shall have a good deal
+of time on board ship, for the boy's parents take his education upon
+themselves, and take infinite pains with him."</p>
+
+<p>"Is he mentally afflicted, then?" asked Gertrude.</p>
+
+<p>"It is of that nature; he is improving, and they have hopes that he
+will be quite restored eventually."</p>
+
+<p>"How sad it must be for them!" said Gertrude.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, very. They do little else than go about with him from place to
+place. But they have boundless confidence in Dr. Blank."</p>
+
+<p>"No one who has been to him for advice could feel anything else," said
+Rose. "Gertrude, I should like you to have seen how he took to Otto
+from the first. His eyes seem to see everything."</p>
+
+<p>"Did he give any reason for his fancy?" asked Gertrude.</p>
+
+<p>"Only his treatment of little Lester. He said directly he saw his way
+with Lester, he knew that he was worth training in his special branch
+of the profession. Fritz says Otto's fortune is made."</p>
+
+<p>"It was made to-day," said Otto, smiling; at which all the others could
+not help smiling too.</p>
+
+<p>"When do they sail?" asked Gertrude, partly because she was very
+desirous of knowing, and partly to turn the subject.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah," said Otto, "I have not told you that! The fact is, I can hardly
+bear to think of it. Yet it must be said."</p>
+
+<p>"And it is—" said Gertrude, while her heart sank at the long parting.
+Her life had seemed nothing but partings lately.</p>
+
+<p>"On Wednesday."</p>
+
+<p>"We can bear it!" she said, looking up. "We have so much now."</p>
+
+<p>Otto did not answer. He had turned to the window, but after a moment he
+came back.</p>
+
+<p>"When must you go, dear Gertrude?"</p>
+
+<p>"I ought to be at home by seven, I thought. They did not name a time,
+but as Mrs. Shaddock is ill, and little Randall very poorly too—"</p>
+
+<p>"And shall I be able to see you again? Gertrude, do not shake your
+head—surely when they hear all they will spare you?"</p>
+
+<p>"They have been so kind already," said Gertrude, "but, Otto—"</p>
+
+<p>"No 'buts,'" said Otto. "I must call on Mr. Shaddock on Monday before
+I go down to Lanriffe to get some of my belongings. I shall ask him to
+allow you to come to Gravesend to see us off."</p>
+
+<p>"I can ask—" said Gertrude, hesitating. Her wishes pulled her one way,
+her objection to be further troublesome another.</p>
+
+<p>"That will be best," said Fritz, turning to Otto. "Nobody with any
+consideration would refuse such a request as that. A whole year!"</p>
+
+<p>The afternoon passed all too quickly. Gertrude sat and caressed little
+Lester, feeling as if she could never part with him. Rose hovered over
+the two as if too full of joy and sympathy to say much. Fritz paced up
+and down the room watching them all, and joining in whatever was said.
+Otto sat near Gertrude, content to be in her company, and to hear her
+talk to her sister.</p>
+
+<p>At six o'clock, Gertrude said she must go, and Otto prepared to
+accompany her to Hampstead.</p>
+
+<p>Rose did not know how to part from her. She clung to her and whispered
+words of thanks and blessing, for had not Gertrude been the means of
+restoring her child?</p>
+
+<p>"Look here, sister Gertrude," said Fritz, taking her hand, when at last
+she really was going. "You tell those people that Rose and I want you
+with Lester! Rose will have to have somebody to be out all day with
+him, why not you? She will slave herself to death else. You tell them
+so, and come home to us! I never thought of it before!"</p>
+
+<p>"And you must not now, dear Fritz," she answered gratefully, "indeed
+you must not. I could not leave them with my work half done. It is bad
+enough to think of only a year."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, that you will have to tell them," interposed Otto.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," she said, "but not the other. I must stay with them a year, at
+any rate, if they want me. I have Randall to win yet!"</p>
+
+<p>An hour after, Gertrude walked into the house, having said good-bye
+to Otto; good-bye till the Wednesday which he assured her he should
+arrange for, and then a long good-bye such as they did not like to
+think of.</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter" id="image086" style="max-width: 25.3125em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/image086.jpg" alt="image086"></figure>
+
+<p><br><br><br></p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter" id="image087" style="max-width: 25.3125em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/image087.jpg" alt="image087"></figure>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<h3><a id="Chapter_46">CHAPTER XLVI.</a></h3>
+
+<p class="t3">
+<b>NURSE'S PLAN.</b><br>
+</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<p>GERTRUDE stood within the threshold.</p>
+
+<p>She heard Conway's voice speaking in a hushed tone on the stairs, she
+saw Mollie's skirts at the corner, and heard her reply In the same awed
+way, and then both turned and saw her, and came quickly down to her.</p>
+
+<p>"Miss Ashlyn!" Mollie whispered. "Mother has been so dreadfully ill all
+the afternoon, and we have been obliged to send for the doctor. And now
+he has come it is worse still, because he has seen Randall, and he says
+he has the scarlet fever."</p>
+
+<p>"What?" asked Gertrude in a startled tone, but she had heard well
+enough.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," added Conway; "is it not dreadful? Father is not yet home, and
+we are not to even tell mother, her heart is in such a weak state—and
+Dr. Forde says either Randall must be taken somewhere to be nursed, or
+we must all go away from home."</p>
+
+<p>They had mechanically moved into the dining-room, and stood round the
+end of the table looking at each other.</p>
+
+<p>"Nurse says," pursued Ned, who was sitting with his lessons in his
+hand, "that if she could leave mother, she would take him somewhere.
+But then she cannot, or mother might die, and besides, we don't know of
+any place. And it must be done in a hurry, that is the worst of it."</p>
+
+<p>"Where is Randall?" asked Gertrude.</p>
+
+<p>"He is in the nursery at the top. Nurse would not have him put to bed
+till you came, because she wanted to consult you about a plan she has
+thought of."</p>
+
+<p>"I will go to her, then. Is she up there?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes—but do not go in, Miss Ashlyn; call nurse outside."</p>
+
+<p>"Very well, but somebody must go in, you know."</p>
+
+<p>She ran up-stairs, and tapped lightly at the closed door.</p>
+
+<p>Nurse came out at once.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Miss Ashlyn!" she said in a low voice. "We are in trouble, and no
+mistake. If his mother could be asked—but the doctor absolutely forbids
+that. I have thought of one way out of it, but I hardly dare ask such a
+thing. Have you ever had it, miss?"</p>
+
+<p>"When a child, I believe I did."</p>
+
+<p>That was not the thing that nurse hardly dared ask.</p>
+
+<p>"Miss Ashlyn—if we could find a house—a cottage—or an empty house near
+where they would take him in, could you go with him there? I know his
+parents would not hear of a hospital, and I have heard of such things
+being done, if I only knew where—"</p>
+
+<p>"You want me to find such a place and take him—to-night?"</p>
+
+<p>"That is the only thing I could think of," apologized nurse. "I would
+go in a minute, but I should never forgive myself if my doing so caused
+his mother's death. The doctor says the slightest alarm might be fatal
+in her present state."</p>
+
+<p>Gertrude felt stunned, while nurse could do nothing but gaze anxiously
+in her face. How little she knew all that was passing in her mind!</p>
+
+<p>"May I have five minutes to consider it?" asked Gertrude, feeling as if
+all the world were turning round.</p>
+
+<p>She went to her room and shut the door.</p>
+
+<p>Slowly, with her hands pressing her forehead till it ached with the
+pressure, she knelt down by the side of her bed.</p>
+
+<p>She could not pray; she could only think of the five minutes at her
+disposal for her decision, and the numberless things which she must
+decide.</p>
+
+<p>Wednesday! Where would be her promise to Otto to come down to Gravesend
+to bid him farewell? If she were established as sole nurse to little
+Randall, she would not be able to leave him to go to Gravesend?</p>
+
+<p>And even if she could leave him, how about carrying a chance of
+infection to that out-bound vessel, which would contain so many
+precious lives? How about carrying infection to that only boy whose
+life was so infinitely precious to his parents? That boy whom Otto had
+already undertaken to guard and cherish to the best of his ability?</p>
+
+<p>And then, supposing she could undergo the sacrifice of not seeing Otto
+again, for whom was this sacrifice to be made? For Randall, whom in
+that moment of anguish she acknowledged as having almost regarded as
+her enemy!</p>
+
+<p>"I cannot do it," she moaned. "I cannot—it is too hard, too much. Oh,
+how could nurse ask it?"</p>
+
+<p>And then amidst her tears she bethought herself of praying.</p>
+
+<p>"Lord, what wilt 'Thou' have me to do?" she whispered.</p>
+
+<p>If she could have asked any one's advice! If Otto could be consulted!
+If he should bid her do it, would she not gladly, cheerfully?</p>
+
+<p>"Lord, what wilt 'Thou' have me to do?"</p>
+
+<p>Then she gave up all her questioning, all her disappointment, all her
+anxiety into His hands, and as she knelt, a wonderful peace stole over
+her.</p>
+
+<p>"If thine enemy—" Gertrude started at the word. Surely, surely, it
+could not be that she was cherishing such a thought! "'If thine enemy
+hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink.'"</p>
+
+<p>"O my Lord," she whispered, "I will do whatever Thou dost point out!
+Thou knowest best, only let me have Thee with me, whatever it is, and
+wherever I am!"</p>
+
+<p>She rose from her knees, and with the tears still wet on her face, she
+went back to nurse.</p>
+
+<p>At her soft knock nurse came back, looking intently in her face.</p>
+
+<p>"If his father wishes it, I will do it. I believe I know a house to
+which I could take him at once."</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter" id="image088" style="max-width: 25.3125em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/image088.jpg" alt="image088"></figure>
+
+<p><br><br><br></p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter" id="image089" style="max-width: 25.3125em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/image089.jpg" alt="image089"></figure>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<h3><a id="Chapter_47">CHAPTER XLVII.</a></h3>
+
+<p class="t3">
+<b>THE STRANGE HOUSE AGAIN.</b><br>
+</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<p>"WHAT does she say?" asked Conway, coming to the foot of the stairs as
+Gertrude came down.</p>
+
+<p>"Will you come with me, Conway? I have a question to ask before I can
+propose nurse's plan to your father."</p>
+
+<p>She moved to the front door.</p>
+
+<p>"Now?" asked Conway.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; it will not take us long."</p>
+
+<p>They went out into the darkness, and Gertrude turned towards the
+Strange House at once.</p>
+
+<p>"Here?" asked Conway, utter astonishment in his tone.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; I believe Mrs. Swift will help us."</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Swift came at once to the door, and, without noticing Conway in
+the dark, she exclaimed the moment she saw Gertrude—</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, miss! Such a wonderful thing! My husband has seen a doctor, miss,
+and he has told me what to do. It's bronchitis, miss; that's what it
+is!"</p>
+
+<p>"I am very glad you were able to prevail upon him—"</p>
+
+<p>"It was like this, miss. There was a doctor's carriage going up and
+down for ever so long this afternoon, and I watched it till I felt
+nearly frantic. Then I thought, dear miss, of what you had said about
+my Mighty Helper, and I did ask Him to make it all plain. Then I went
+straight to my husband, and told him there was a doctor outside, and
+might I call him in?"</p>
+
+<p>"I am so glad—"</p>
+
+<p>"He was awfully bad just then, and he said yes; so I told the coachman,
+and presently in he came."</p>
+
+<p>"I am truly glad," said Gertrude again; "I hope he will soon be much
+better."</p>
+
+<p>"I can never thank you, miss, for all you have done for me. As I have
+been helped so much in this, I shall go on to other things."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said Gertrude, thinking of the words which often ran through her
+mind, "Because Thou hast been my help, therefore under the shadow of
+Thy wings will I rejoice." "Yes, indeed, you will find it so over and
+over."</p>
+
+<p>"It is kind of you to come in, miss—"</p>
+
+<p>"I did not come just now for kindness," said Gertrude, feeling that
+her words were binding her at once to the plan which involved her
+imprisonment for weeks, "but to ask a great favour."</p>
+
+<p>"A favour of 'me,' miss?"</p>
+
+<p>Then Gertrude briefly explained the case, and made her request, which
+was, supposing of course that Mr. Shaddock approved the plan when he
+heard it, that Mrs. Swift should lend them two rooms in which to nurse
+little Randall, and help her by cleaning and cooking for her, and by
+communicating with the outward world for her.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Swift ran to ask her husband, and in a few minutes came back with
+her reply.</p>
+
+<p>And when she was gone, Conway drew nearer Gertrude, and said in a low
+tone—</p>
+
+<p>"Miss Ashlyn, I should like to shake hands. I do declare it is the
+kindest thing I ever heard. And considering my mother's state, and
+that all of us should have to turn out, nobody knows where, it is an
+admirable idea. But it is asking a great deal of you!" He held out his
+hand and shook hers warmly. "I feel I have not behaved to you as I
+should—not been right down jolly, you know."</p>
+
+<p>Gertrude understood, but she only said, "Thank you, Conway," very
+softly. Her heart was very full; for what would Otto feel when he
+realized that they should not be able to say good-bye?</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Swift returned and brought an earnest consent with her. "My
+husband said, 'If we can do anything for the young lady that has been
+such a comfort to you, let us do it by all means.'"</p>
+
+<p>So Gertrude and Conway went back.</p>
+
+<p>"I wonder if your father will be at home yet?" she said as they entered
+their own garden.</p>
+
+<p>As they mounted the steps, a figure stood there holding a beautiful
+bunch of flowers.</p>
+
+<p>"Gertrude!" said a voice.</p>
+
+<p>"Otto!" she responded.</p>
+
+<p>"I got half-way home, and then I saw these flowers, and I felt as if I
+must bring them to you. I did not intend to come in."</p>
+
+<p>"This is Conway," said Gertrude, introducing him, "of whom you have
+heard. I have come home to find great trouble. I must not ask you in,
+but—"</p>
+
+<p>"I will leave you to speak to your friend," said Conway as the door
+opened. "Mr. Leigh, we are in sad trouble; my little brother has
+scarlet fever, and we dare not ask you in. Miss Ashlyn has been a
+brick, and has proposed—But she will tell you."</p>
+
+<p>And so what Gertrude had dreaded above all things—the fear of
+grieving Otto, and letting him go forth on that long voyage without a
+farewell—never came to pass!</p>
+
+<p>In the few minutes in which they stood on the doorstep, he gave
+his entire sanction to her plan. And, while making light of his
+disappointment at not seeing her again, so strengthened her in what
+both felt was right that she saw him finally walk away with a brave
+heart.</p>
+
+<p>And as she carried her bunch of flowers to her own room, she could only
+remember his brave, cheery words as he parted from her: "Gertrude, we
+have every reason to trust our Father!"</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter" id="image090" style="max-width: 25.3125em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/image090.jpg" alt="image090"></figure>
+
+<p><br><br><br></p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter" id="image091" style="max-width: 25.3125em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/image091.jpg" alt="image091"></figure>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<h3><a id="Chapter_48">CHAPTER XLVIII.</a></h3>
+
+<p class="t3">
+<b>RANDALL'S REQUEST.</b><br>
+</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<p>ON the first landing, Gertrude met Mr. Shaddock.</p>
+
+<p>"I have seen Conway, and he has explained all about it," he said in a
+low tone. "And now nurse says the greatest thing is to get him out of
+the house as quickly as possible—because of the others."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," assented Gertrude; "I will collect a few of my things, and then
+we will go. How shall we get him carried across to the other house?"</p>
+
+<p>"I can do that," said his father. "How long shall you be? Miss Ashlyn,
+I cannot express all I feel for your self-denying kindness. If it were
+not for my wife, I would not permit it. But if she were to miss all the
+children, or even nurse, I do not know what would be the consequence."</p>
+
+<p>"I quite understand all that," said Gertrude, "and indeed I am glad to
+be able to help you."</p>
+
+<p>For an instant her voice trembled; she thought of herself banished from
+all she loved, shut up with one who would rather have dispensed with
+her help or company. But it was only for a moment.</p>
+
+<p>Otto's words came back with a sense of strength. "It is quite right,"
+he had said.</p>
+
+<p>And, remembering this, she had looked up once more.</p>
+
+<p>"I shall not be much more than five minutes. Will you tell nurse so,
+and ask her to get Randall ready?"</p>
+
+<p>In less than half an hour a heavy bundle, muffled in a blanket, was
+carried down-stairs. And then the door of the Strange House opened,
+and Mr. Shaddock deposited his little son on the horsehair sofa in the
+kitchen, and turned to look into Mrs. Swift's face.</p>
+
+<p>"I have not done as much as I could have wished," she said, addressing
+Gertrude, "but the dear little boy's bed is ready, and I have lighted a
+fire up there. Dear miss, I will make you as comfortable as I can."</p>
+
+<p>Gertrude held out her hand to Mr. Shaddock.</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps you had better not stay," she said, "because of the others. I
+will take all the care of him that I can, and be as kind to him as—as
+you were to our little Lester."</p>
+
+<p>"I am sure you will," said Mr. Shaddock huskily. "I will send the
+doctor in, in the morning, and will speak to you, Miss Ashlyn, in the
+garden every morning and evening."</p>
+
+<p>With a farewell touch on the head to his little son, and a smothered
+"God bless you," he turned away at last, and Gertrude was left in
+charge.</p>
+
+<p>She and Mrs. Swift lifted poor little Randall to his room, and
+then they set about making him comfortable, unpacking nurse's
+thoughtfully-prepared basket, and arranging all things so that he might
+miss home comforts as little as possible.</p>
+
+<p>He was very tired and miserable, and rolled himself up under the
+bedclothes directly, and would not respond to their questions. But when
+Mrs. Swift had gone out to get some necessary supplies, he opened his
+eyes, and seeing Gertrude's lovely bunch of flowers upon the table,
+said slowly—</p>
+
+<p>"Where did those come from?"</p>
+
+<p>"From a friend."</p>
+
+<p>"Who?"</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Leigh."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh!"</p>
+
+<p>"Do you like them?"</p>
+
+<p>She got up to put them near enough for him to smell them.</p>
+
+<p>"Are they for me?" he asked.</p>
+
+<p>"You and I can enjoy them together."</p>
+
+<p>"I would rather they were mine. Can't I have them?"</p>
+
+<p>"Can you not share them with me?"</p>
+
+<p>He shook his head. "I hate sharing," he said irritably, closing his
+eyes.</p>
+
+<p>Gertrude's heart smote her. Did she hate sharing? Why did she mind
+Randall having her flowers?</p>
+
+<p>And then she thought of him as of one of the "little children" whom
+her blessed Saviour would call to His arms and bless. Could she grudge
+giving anything to one whom He would bless?</p>
+
+<p>But Randall seemed to sleep, and she sat in silence by him, thinking
+and praying, seeing herself in a light in which she had never seen
+herself before—she saw herself selfish!</p>
+
+<p>Would Randall never wake? How long would that heavy, restless sleep
+last?</p>
+
+<p>Then she heard a carriage drive up. And in a minute a bell rang, and
+she remembered, with a start, that she had promised to answer the door
+while Mrs. Swift was out.</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Shaddock directed me here to see his little boy," said a
+gentleman, whom Gertrude rightly guessed was the doctor. She led
+the way up-stairs, and was thankful to receive all the necessary
+instructions, and to know exactly what to do.</p>
+
+<p>"I am to look in twice a day," he said on leaving, "and you need not
+feel that the anxiety rests on you, Miss Ashlyn. You are doing these
+people a great service, and you will be happy, I trust, in feeling
+that."</p>
+
+<p>He went rapidly down-stairs, and Gertrude felt that a load had been
+lifted from her shoulders.</p>
+
+<p>"How kind my dear Lord is to me!" she thought. "I felt as if I could
+hardly bear the anticipation of this long night, and now it seems quite
+different."</p>
+
+<p>Randall had been roused by the doctor's visit, and lay looking at
+Gertrude in silence.</p>
+
+<p>"I wish I were in my nursery," he said at length.</p>
+
+<p>Gertrude rose, and brought the flowers and put them on a chair close to
+his pillow. He looked at them without speaking.</p>
+
+<p>"They are for you, dear!" she said very quietly.</p>
+
+<p>"For my very own?"</p>
+
+<p>"For your very own!" she answered.</p>
+
+<p>And while he gave a little smile of pleasure, Gertrude felt that she
+had given away Otto's last gift!</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter" id="image092" style="max-width: 25.3125em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/image092.jpg" alt="image092"></figure>
+
+<p><br><br><br></p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter" id="image093" style="max-width: 25.3125em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/image093.jpg" alt="image093"></figure>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<h3><a id="Chapter_49">CHAPTER XLIX.</a></h3>
+
+<p class="t3">
+<b>WEDNESDAY.</b><br>
+</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<p>THEN followed weary oppressed days for the little invalid, in which
+Gertrude watched and tended him with untiring patience.</p>
+
+<p>Four very slow days, during which she knew that Otto was near, and must
+be making his hasty preparations for his long journey.</p>
+
+<p>He and she had decided that no communication whatever must pass from
+her to him, because of the nature of the illness from which Randall was
+suffering, as well as the nature of the case which Otto was taking up.</p>
+
+<p>"If my boy took it, or any one had it on board, I should hardly be able
+to forgive myself," he had said, "so we will run no risk whatever. I
+can write to you every day; that will be my only comfort."</p>
+
+<p>"And I shall not have that comfort," she had answered sadly, "because I
+can send no letter to you!"</p>
+
+<p>Each morning Mr. Shaddock brought messages and dainty food from the
+next house, meeting Gertrude in the garden and hearing all particulars
+of his little son.</p>
+
+<p>"My wife keeps on asking for Randall, but I have told her that he has
+an infectious complaint, but is under your care, and that the doctor
+sees him twice every day."</p>
+
+<p>"That is the greatest comfort," said Gertrude.</p>
+
+<p>Wednesday came at last, and with the postman another bunch of flowers
+and a good-bye letter from Otto.</p>
+
+<p>"I felt last night as if I must come and look at you through the
+window, but I am glad that I did not give way to it. I feel our duty is
+plain, and though it costs us a great deal, we will try to be happy in
+it."</p>
+
+<p>Gertrude too was glad he had not come, though all that Tuesday she had
+hoped and feared alternately that he would.</p>
+
+<p>Now the last chance was over, and he was gone!</p>
+
+<p>She laid her head down on Randall's bed and wept her good-bye till she
+had no tears left.</p>
+
+<p>The child had been very ill all night, and she and Mrs. Swift had
+shared the watch, each taking half the night. To-day, however, she
+fancied there was a change for the better, and she anxiously waited the
+doctor's arrival to hear her hopes confirmed.</p>
+
+<p>She was just wiping away her tears, and was going to raise her head,
+when Randall's hot little hand was put out and touched her forehead.</p>
+
+<p>"Miss Ashlyn."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, dear?"</p>
+
+<p>"Where am I? Oh, I remember! Is it morning yet? May I get up?"</p>
+
+<p>He tried to start up, but found himself too weak.</p>
+
+<p>"My flowers are very fresh this morning," he said with a little smile,
+as he saw the new bunch just where the faded ones had stood.</p>
+
+<p>"Are they not sweet?" she answered.</p>
+
+<p>"Were you sorry you gave them to me?" he asked wistfully. "I think
+you've been crying."</p>
+
+<p>"I was glad I gave them to you, dear. These are some fresh ones that
+Otto sent to me to-day, because he is gone away."</p>
+
+<p>There was a pause. Randall lay looking at the flowers meditatively, but
+he did not ask for them.</p>
+
+<p>"Where are the others?" he asked at last.</p>
+
+<p>"I have thrown them away. I could not keep them after they were faded
+you know, dear, because of the scarlet fever."</p>
+
+<p>He assented, adding, however, "Did they fade in one night?"</p>
+
+<p>"You have been ill four nights, dear."</p>
+
+<p>"Have I? Well, I thought it was a long time! Sometimes I saw you
+sitting there, and sometimes didn't know where I was. That was funny,
+wasn't it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Very funny, but people do feel like that when they are ill."</p>
+
+<p>"I s'pose they do. Then sometimes I felt very cross, Miss Ashlyn, and
+wished you would go away. But all the same, you seemed very kind to me,
+and did not turn cross, as I am sure anybody might."</p>
+
+<p>"You see, I knew you were ill, and did not know what you did," she
+answered gently.</p>
+
+<p>Again Randall was silent. He took his jelly, and bore her attentions
+as if used to them. But his eyes, which before had hardly seemed to
+recognize her, now were quietly looking in her face, with a look she
+had never seen in them before.</p>
+
+<p>"Am I getting better?" he asked presently.</p>
+
+<p>"I think you are, dear."</p>
+
+<p>"I'm glad of that. I did not want to die."</p>
+
+<p>"When the Lord Jesus is our Saviour, it does not matter whether we live
+or die," she responded. "If we live, it will be to try to please Him
+and be His; if we die, we shall be glad to go to Him: as glad, Randall,
+as a little tired child is to run to its mother's arms!"</p>
+
+<p>"I'm very tired, I think," he answered, "and I wish I could run into my
+mother's arms!"</p>
+
+<p>"I wish you could, dear," she answered, her eyes watering with
+sympathetic tears, "but though your dear mother cannot come to you
+because she is ill, the Lord Jesus is always near, and loves you so
+much, and will rest you so sweetly if you ask Him!"</p>
+
+<p>"I have never asked Him anything. Hugh has, but I always thought Hugh
+was a baby."</p>
+
+<p>"We cannot do without Jesus," said Gertrude earnestly, "and I would
+not—oh, for the world."</p>
+
+<p>"I see that," answered Randal wearily, "and I'm sorry I called Hugh a
+cry-baby—very sorry."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, are you, dear? I am so glad."</p>
+
+<p>"Glad?"</p>
+
+<p>"Glad that you are sorry for it. Now, dear, you have talked quite
+enough. But just turn round on your pillow and rest your head on its
+cool softness, and say to yourself, 'Jesus loves Randall! He will rest
+me if I come to Him! Jesus loves me.'"</p>
+
+<p>The child did not answer in words. He gave one glance at her, and then
+turned as she had advised, nestling his head into his pillow, as if
+weary and satisfied.</p>
+
+<p>Whether he had taken the rest of her advice, she did not know. But from
+his deep peaceful sigh as he fell asleep, she thought he had.</p>
+
+<p>After all, that was a happy Wednesday.</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter" id="image094" style="max-width: 25.3125em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/image094.jpg" alt="image094"></figure>
+
+<p><br><br><br></p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter" id="image095" style="max-width: 25.3125em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/image095.jpg" alt="image095"></figure>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<h3><a id="Chapter_50">CHAPTER L.</a></h3>
+
+<p class="t3">
+<b>IN THE CABINET.</b><br>
+</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<p>MRS. SWIFT was sitting with Randall one morning while Gertrude went
+out for the constitutional which the doctor insisted on, and he had
+been chatting to her about all his affairs with great volubility, she
+listening, as she said to her husband afterwards, "with one ear," and
+meanwhile plying her needle and thinking her own thoughts as well.</p>
+
+<p>"Where's Miss Ashlyn?" he asked at length.</p>
+
+<p>"Out for a walk, or else she's gone in to see my husband."</p>
+
+<p>"Is he better?" asked Randall, with interest.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes!—a deal better. He's better every way since Miss Ashlyn came to
+see us."</p>
+
+<p>"Then you are glad I've been ill here?"</p>
+
+<p>"Very glad," answered Mrs. Swift heartily.</p>
+
+<p>"So am I—"</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Swift looked up at him with surprise.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I'm very glad," said Randall. "Do you know, all that time that my
+throat was so bad, she used to read to me out of her little Bible, or
+say a verse now and then, till it got right into my head. Wasn't that
+funny? Now I can't forget it, and I don't want to either."</p>
+
+<p>"That is very nice, I'm sure, dear. What words was it that you can't
+forget?"</p>
+
+<p>"I think she said them oftener than any others. Sometimes I'd sort of
+wake up, and there she would be feeding me with little bits of ice, and
+saying so softly, it didn't disturb me a bit, 'Him that cometh to Me, I
+will in no wise cast out.' I've never forgotten it, now I'm better."</p>
+
+<p>"Those are beautiful words—she said them to me. Have you come to Jesus
+too, dear, and found He speaks true?"</p>
+
+<p>Randall did not answer. His eyes shone, but the "yes" which he murmured
+was hardly audible.</p>
+
+<p>"I made up my mind to tell her something yesterday," he said presently.</p>
+
+<p>"Miss Ashlyn?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes,—I want to ask her something, and to tell her something too."</p>
+
+<p>"She is coming up-stairs, now," said Mrs. Swift, rising to leave the
+room, "so I'll go down to my husband and repeat to him your text, dear!
+It's always best to pass on good things!"</p>
+
+<p>Randall smiled, and as Gertrude entered, she caught the look.</p>
+
+<p>"What is it?" she asked brightly.</p>
+
+<p>"I want you to let me do something!"</p>
+
+<p>"To get up to-day? You may if you like; the doctor has permitted it."</p>
+
+<p>He shook his head. "It is not that," he said. "Only—I've got nobody but
+you here, and I want you to let me call you—Gertrude!"</p>
+
+<p>She bent and kissed his forehead, answering softly, "If you love me
+enough to wish it, I will let you, gladly, Randall."</p>
+
+<p>He put his two arms round her neck. "I do love you—now," he whispered.</p>
+
+<p>She sat down by him, still holding his hand and stroking it softly.</p>
+
+<p>"Do you love me—now?" he questioned with a comical little look which
+made her ready to laugh and cry both at once.</p>
+
+<p>"Indeed, I do."</p>
+
+<p>"You did not always? I don't wonder, because I was very nasty. But you
+didn't love me till lately, did you, Gertrude?"</p>
+
+<p>How could she answer? How could she acknowledge that there was a time
+when this child had seemed almost an enemy? Still he was gazing in her
+face expecting a reply.</p>
+
+<p>"I began loving you when I remembered how much Jesus loved you," she
+answered at length.</p>
+
+<p>He pressed her hand in both his. "Ah, that was nice!" he murmured.</p>
+
+<p>And Gertrude saw that the love of Jesus can bind together what else
+might never be bound, can make the crooked straight, and the rough
+places plain; so that each one of His loved ones may boast joyfully, "I
+can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me."</p>
+
+<p>Presently Randall started up with fresh energy.</p>
+
+<p>"Gertrude! Oh, how kind you are to let me call you so! Gertrude, I'm
+going to tell you about the Museum that day."</p>
+
+<p>"Are you, dear?"</p>
+
+<p>A week ago the thought would have made her shiver. Now she rejoiced
+that she could think of it calmly, almost without pain.</p>
+
+<p>"I didn't get lost—" began Randall.</p>
+
+<p>"I knew that, dear."</p>
+
+<p>"Did you? Why didn't you get me punished then? Well, I didn't get lost,
+I lost myself. When Mr. Leigh left me in the doorway to go to you, I
+waited till he was behind a big bit of furniture, and I just slipped
+into a corner, and when no one was looking, I got into one of the old
+cabinets! I could see you through the crack of the door searching about
+for me."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Randall!"</p>
+
+<p>Still he looked in her face with quiet eyes. "I did it on purpose to
+annoy you—I wasn't a bit sorry, I was very glad."</p>
+
+<p>"But you are not now?" she said anxiously.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, no! Gertrude, you've been so very good to me that I ought to tell
+you what made me sorry. Shall I?"</p>
+
+<p>Her eyes were answer enough.</p>
+
+<p>"It was yesterday—at least I think I was rather sorry before—but when
+you told me to just say to myself, 'Jesus loves me,' all at once I
+thought, how could Jesus love such a naughty, wicked little boy? And
+then thought how kind He was not to cast out anybody, but to forgive
+them; and then I asked Him to forgive me; and after that I was so
+sorry—oh, so sorry for everything I have done wrong."</p>
+
+<p>And as Gertrude kissed him again, she felt more glad than she could
+say. Her prayer had indeed been answered abundantly.</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter" id="image096" style="max-width: 25.3125em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/image096.jpg" alt="image096"></figure>
+
+<p><br><br><br></p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter" id="image097" style="max-width: 25.3125em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/image097.jpg" alt="image097"></figure>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<h3><a id="Chapter_51">CHAPTER LI.</a></h3>
+
+<p class="t3">
+<b>AT LANRIFFE.</b><br>
+</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<p>AFTER that, Randall quickly recovered, and very soon was running about
+the Strange House, and even walking in Mr. Swift's well-kept garden,
+where Mr. Swift himself walked slowly round the paths, his hands in his
+pockets to keep them from trying to pick up the weeds, which as yet he
+was too weak to do.</p>
+
+<p>"Who'd think," he said to his wife, "that weeds would get ahead in
+three weeks as these have done! I'm a'most ashamed to say as this
+garden belongs to me."</p>
+
+<p>He watched the child wistfully, as day by day Randall gained strength
+and grew more and more such as their own Johnnie had been. But when
+his wife saw the sad look in his eyes, she would say, with unusual
+gentleness, "He's in better keeping than ours, husband, and I can
+hardly wish him back. There are no weeds and no sin in heaven!"</p>
+
+<p>When prudence permitted, and all the disinfecting was properly gone
+through, the doctor advised that Randall should be taken to the seaside
+before he mixed again with his brothers and sisters. So Gertrude was
+allowed to write to her mother at Lanriffe, asking her to find a
+cottage where they could be received. And in a very short time, she and
+Randall were standing on the beach, drinking in the autumn air, and
+feeling the salt spray dash in their faces from the restless sea.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Ashlyn prepared everything beforehand for their comfort, and,
+waiting just a day to allow the sea breezes to blow upon them, she came
+to see her child, who had passed through so much since they had parted
+only so few weeks ago.</p>
+
+<p>Randall was out on the beach in front of the cottage, when Gertrude was
+at last clasped in her mother's arms.</p>
+
+<p>There was so much to tell, and so much to ask, that at first they
+seemed to have nothing to say.</p>
+
+<p>"My dear, you look—as if you had been a long journey, and had come back
+different!"</p>
+
+<p>"The same in love to you," faltered Gertrude, for her mother's look was
+almost more than she could bear.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah! Absence does not make much difference in child-love and
+mother-love," answered Mrs. Ashlyn.</p>
+
+<p>"And your eyes?" asked Gertrude, looking lovingly in the patient face.</p>
+
+<p>"Not worse, my dear. I have been saving them up. Phyllis is such a
+treasure now you are gone; she does everything for me."</p>
+
+<p>"I guessed she would."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; and Otto! Directly you were gone, Otto came to me and told me he
+intended to be my son."</p>
+
+<p>"Did he?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes—not only in name, as a sort of pretence, but a son in real
+earnest. He told me of his love for you, and asked my consent."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, mother! And you never told me! But of course you did not."</p>
+
+<p>"I left him to tell his own tale. And now he is gone abroad, Phyllis
+and I seem too lonely. You intend to stay in London, my child?"</p>
+
+<p>Did her mother speak wistfully?</p>
+
+<p>"I must—I think I ought; indeed, I wish it for every reason. You would
+not have me leave them, mother?"</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Ashlyn did not at once reply.</p>
+
+<p>So Gertrude continued—</p>
+
+<p>"You see, mother, Mrs. Shaddock has learned to trust me, and I should
+like to go back and help her. There is much to teach the children that
+they have never even heard of! Hugh wants help—Mollie is so nice in
+many ways, but so indulged and independent. I do really think that it
+would be unkind to leave them now, after all their kindness."</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Ashlyn did not press the matter further, and the conversation then
+turned on Mrs. Shaddock's health, which Gertrude explained was not yet
+satisfactory, though she was much better than she had been.</p>
+
+<p>"I did not know she was subject to such attacks," said Mrs. Ashlyn.</p>
+
+<p>"She has only had one other as serious as this," answered Gertrude,
+"but many slight warnings. Poor little Randall's piece of mischief has
+cost him and his mother very dear."</p>
+
+<p>"Have they any idea how he took this?"</p>
+
+<p>"We have no idea. People have suggested that there was some poison
+lurking in the old cabinet where he hid himself, but I am at a loss
+to guess what it could have been. He says he sat for ever so long on
+a form watching for us, by a woman who had a very funny smell in her
+shawl. Of course that may have been it; people are so careless about
+carrying infection!"</p>
+
+<p>"Rose is longing to see you," said her mother, "but will wait for a day
+or two. It was very kind of the Shaddocks to plan your coming here, my
+dear."</p>
+
+<p>"They are full of such kindnesses. I never saw people so thoughtful for
+others before—except you, mother; you are always everything!" she added
+fondly.</p>
+
+<p>"You have heard from Otto?" asked her mother, returning her kiss.</p>
+
+<p>"He writes by every mail that he can. His letters are full of incidents
+of the voyage—the strange people he meets, the amusing things they do
+and say, the dogs that people bring with them, the pets they patronize,
+the absurdities they perpetrate. It reads like a story, only more
+interesting!"</p>
+
+<p>"I expect it is," said Mrs. Ashlyn, smiling.</p>
+
+<p>"The boy has quite taken to him, and is improving every day. How I long
+to see Lester, to know if 'he' has gained anything!"</p>
+
+<p><br><br><br></p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter" id="image098" style="max-width: 25.3125em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/image098.jpg" alt="image098"></figure>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<h3><a id="Chapter_52">CHAPTER LII.</a></h3>
+
+<p class="t3">
+<b>RANDALL'S RETURN.</b><br>
+</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<p>"HERE is London!" said Randall, as the houses thickened fast, and the
+fields melted as it were into brick walls and chimneys, while the
+express train flew past them.</p>
+
+<p>"Where?" asked a girl with a beautiful face, who was sitting opposite
+to Randall, looking out eagerly.</p>
+
+<p>Randall gave a little laugh, at which Phyllis coloured vividly.</p>
+
+<p>"I have never seen London, you know," she said apologetically.</p>
+
+<p>"It is everywhere," said Randall, waving his hand about, "all these
+houses, and churches, and gardens, and factories, and Board Schools,
+and everything are London!"</p>
+
+<p>"I see," answered Phyllis.</p>
+
+<p>"Never mind, Phyllis," said Rose, who was seated by her, "you will have
+to be a little 'country cousin' for a few days. When you go back to
+Lanriffe, you will be 'the London young lady.'"</p>
+
+<p>"I do not wish to be anything but what I am," said Phyllis quietly.</p>
+
+<p>"I wonder what Dr. Blank will say of Lester?" remarked Gertrude,
+looking down at him as he nestled against her shoulder.</p>
+
+<p>The little boy glanced up at her as she spoke. They sometimes
+fancied—was it only fancy?—that he did look up when his name was spoken.</p>
+
+<p>Randall and Gertrude had been at Lanriffe for more than a month, and
+were now returning to spend Christmas at Hampstead.</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<p>The weather had been unusually mild for the time of year, and Randall
+had passed most of his time out of doors, catching all the air and
+sunshine he could.</p>
+
+<p>Soon after their arrival, Rose had brought little Lester over from
+Camptown on a visit to her mother and Phyllis. And Randall had found a
+new delight in tending the little invalid, wheeling him about in his
+easy carriage, and talking to him of what he saw around him.</p>
+
+<p>Those looking on so anxiously and eagerly noticed that the child was
+more bright when Randall came near him, and would put out his arms to
+welcome him. That even sometimes there was a movement of his lips as if
+he were trying to speak; and once a rippling laugh broke from him at
+one of Randall's sallies.</p>
+
+<p>The boy was devoted to him, and one day when they were left for a few
+minutes on the beach together, he was seen to coax him from his little
+carriage, and tenderly to lead him a few steps along the firm sand. By
+the end of the month he had begun to run about, and each day strength
+of body seemed to be coming back to him.</p>
+
+<p>"Randall," Gertrude had said on the last evening before they were to
+return home, "you have been very, very kind to Lester, and Rose and I
+love you dearly for it."</p>
+
+<p>Randall threw his arms round her neck.</p>
+
+<p>"I never was kind to anybody before, but I thought now I loved the Lord
+Jesus—it seemed the only thing I could do for Him."</p>
+
+<p>If ever Gertrude felt happy and thankful, it was at that moment.</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<p>So the train that bore Gertrude and Randall back to Hampstead, bore
+Mrs. Ashlyn to consult an oculist, as well as Rose and Lester to see
+Dr. Blank, Phyllis having been invited meanwhile to pay a visit to
+Mollie Shaddock.</p>
+
+<p>But Rose was not to stay long in London. She was to meet her husband
+from one of his frequent journeys. And after the physician had examined
+little Lester, she and her mother were to return home together.</p>
+
+<p>Rose and Fritz had arranged to take up their abode with Mrs. Ashlyn and
+Phyllis at their seaside cottage.</p>
+
+<p>This had been Rose's own thought.</p>
+
+<p>"Mother!" she had said one day. "Here am I lonely at Camptown when
+Fritz is away, and there are you lonely at Lanriffe. Suppose we pack
+up our furniture and come over to you? Gertrude will never come back
+for more than a brief visit, because she is going to stay with her
+Shaddocks till Otto comes back. And then, why, mother, Dr. Blank told
+me they would be married directly, as he needs Otto so much, and he
+wants to see them settled!"</p>
+
+<p>"But, my dear—" Mrs. Leigh had begun.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I know all about the furniture and all that! Fritz and I have made
+a grand calculation, and he wants you to give anything you can spare to
+Otto and Gertrude, and we will bring ours to your house. He was going
+to buy them some, but instead, he will put a hundred or two in the bank
+for you. That will be a little help all round."</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Ashlyn was greatly astonished, but when she had time to think of
+Fritz's plan, she liked it the more she thought of it. To have Rose and
+Phyllis always near her, and to be able to cherish little Lester—well,
+nothing could be nicer.</p>
+
+<p>And Rose had whispered "that she never need think of care any more
+about money matters, because Fritz said he had enough for everybody!"</p>
+
+<p>So the party in the train were in very good spirits. And when they
+separated, Rose and her mother to the Great Northern Hotel once
+more, and Gertrude and her two young companions to Hampstead, it was
+difficult to say which was the happiest or most hopeful party of the
+two.</p>
+
+<p>When the cab stopped at the house at Hampstead, Conway sprang down the
+steps to meet them.</p>
+
+<p>"Welcome back!" he exclaimed. "Welcome back!"</p>
+
+<p>And there in the hall was Mollie, ready to greet Phyllis, while Ned and
+Hugh stood behind with Daisy, waiting for their turn.</p>
+
+<p>"How grown Randall is!" said Mrs. Shaddock, when, after tea, he stood
+within her arms for the twentieth time at least. "And how different!"</p>
+
+<p>"I 'am' different," whispered Randall. Then, as Gertrude passed near,
+he held out his hand to her and drew her close. "Am I not different,
+Gertrude?"</p>
+
+<p>And Gertrude thankfully answered, "Yes, indeed, darling."</p>
+
+<p><br><br><br></p>
+
+<p class="t3">
+THE END.<br>
+</p>
+
+<p><br><br><br></p>
+
+<div style='text-align:center'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 76759 ***</div>
+</body>
+</html>
+
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diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt
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+This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements,
+metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be
+in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES.
+
+Procedures for determining public domain status are described in
+the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org.
+
+No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in
+jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize
+this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright
+status under the laws that apply to them.
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
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+Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for eBook #76759
+(https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/76759)