‘And why not?’

’Oh, I know it is true!  I know I shall see him again! but, sir, he was a Christian.’

‘And so prepared to die, was he not?’

‘Yes, sir, and my poor baby—­’

‘If it is taken away it will go to him in heaven.’

’Oh no, oh no! my baby must not die!  My James was good, and has talked to me hours, and hours, about being ready to die, but I used to laugh at him—­that goes to my heart the worst, sir, to laugh at him who was as gentle as that baby, him who is in his grave now.  Oh if I could forget that!  He is in heaven, sir, but I—­I shall never get there!  It’s of no use to read the Bible to me, and talk to me—­James used to pray for me, but it was of no use, I am too wicked.  But if you can save the baby, sir, if God will let the child live, I shall have a little comfort.’

Mr Maurice had succeeded in rousing the poor woman’s feelings, but he found that she felt more acutely than he imagined, and he now brought to his aid the still small voice of the Gospel.  He told her of the fountain in which sin might be washed away, he told her of the place where the weary might find rest, and pointed her to the Lord Jesus Christ, for mercy; but though she appeared to listen, her thoughts were evidently fixed upon her husband and child, and the truths he uttered fell unheeded on her ear.  After talking some time, he again read a portion of the Bible, prayed with the poor woman, and went away.

‘Oh, how I pity her, father,’ said Harry, when they were on their way home.  ’Do you really think the little baby will get well?—­I do hope it will.’

’That is a natural wish, my child; but God knows what is best, and if He should see fit to remove it, we have no right to murmur.’

’No, father, but poor Mrs Gilman will feel so dreadfully, for then she will be entirely alone.  She told us, you know, that before she married James Gilman she was a poor servant girl, and an orphan, and she don’t know whether she has any relatives or not.  It will be very hard for her to see everything she loves taken from her and buried in the grave.’

’So it will, my dear boy, and she deserves all our sympathy; but it may be that a kind Heavenly Parent, since she has no earthly ones to guide her, is using these means to draw the poor widow nearer to Him.  If this chastisement is sent by His hand, it will undoubtedly be in love and mercy.’

‘Do you think, father, that Mrs Gilman loves her little James too well?’

’I will answer your question by asking another, Harry.  Do you think her love for the child interferes with that she owes to God?’

Harry was for a few moments silent.  At last he answered, ’She certainly loves him better than she does God, and that is not right; but you always told Effie and me that we could not love each other too well.’

’And I told you right, provided that love is made subservient to a holier one.  But your first duty is, in the words of our Saviour, “to love the Lord thy God with all thy heart.”  Obedience to this precept involves a great many other duties, but none of these should interfere with the great first command.’