{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_75734/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_75734","id":"gutenberg_75734","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/75734","summary":null,"tags":["Amusements -- Juvenile fiction","Category: British Literature","Category: Children & Young Adult Reading","Category: Novels","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Christian converts -- Juvenile fiction","Christian life -- Juvenile fiction","Conduct of life -- Juvenile fiction","Nannies -- Juvenile fiction","Scarlatina -- Juvenile fiction","Siblings -- Juvenile fiction","Youth -- Conduct of life -- Juvenile fiction"],"text":"Transcriber's note: Unusual and inconsistent spelling is as printed.\n\n[Illustration: THE BOYS AND SHE WERE AT DAGGERS DRAWN.]\n\n\n\n                        A THOUGHTLESS SEVEN\n\n\n                                BY\n\n                          AMY LE FEUVRE\n\n       AUTHOR OF \"PROBABLE SONS,\" \"TEDDY'S BUTTON,\" \"ODD,\"\n          \"ERIC'S GOOD NEWS,\" \"A PUZZLING PAIR,\" ETC.\n\n\n\n               _WITH TWENTY-SEVEN ILLUSTRATIONS._\n\n\n                             LONDON\n                   THE RELIGIOUS TRACT SOCIETY\n        4 Bouverie Street and 65 St. Paul's Churchyard E.C.\n\n\n\n                       BY THE SAME AUTHOR\n\n\n     A Bit of Rough Road.        |   Miss Lavender's Boy, and\n     Heather's Mistress.         |     Other Sketches.\n     The Mender.                 |   Me and Nobbles.\n     Odd made Even. A sequel     |   Odd.\n       to \"Odd.\"                 |   A Puzzling Pair.\n     The Carved Cupboard.        |   His Little Daughter.\n     On the Edge of a Moor.      |   Bulbs and Blossoms.\n     Dwell Deep; or, Hilda       |   Bunny's Friends.\n       Thorn's Life Story.       |   Eric's Good News.\n     Jill's Red Bag.             |   Probable Sons.\n     Legend Led.                 |   Teddy's Button.\n     A Little Maid.              |\n\n\n             LONDON: THE RELIGIOUS TRACT SOCIETY\n\n\n\n                             CONTENTS\n\n                               \u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\n\nCHAP.\n\n    I. THOUGHTLESS\n\n   II. THINKING\n\n  III. STARTING\n\n   IV. TELLING\n\n    V. GROWING\n\n   VI. WORKING\n\n  VII. PRAYING\n\n VIII. REAPING\n\n\n\n                        A THOUGHTLESS SEVEN\n\n                          [Illustration]\n\nCHAPTER I\n\nThoughtless\n\n\"SHE'S a good old soul in her way; but we are not infants in the\nnursery, and will manage a jolly sight better without her.\"\n\n\"And we'll have a good fling while we are about it, I say. For she said\nshe would be back in a week.\"\n\n\"I shall do my best to keep order at mealtimes, of course; but I shan't\nbe hard on you the rest of the day. Now, Doodle-doo, leave that cushion\nalone. Remember what the last one did.\"\n\nIt was Sunday afternoon, and we were all enjoying ourselves in the\nschoolroom upstairs. Dinner was over; there was a deluge of rain coming\ndown; and the blazing fire and a bag of chestnuts were keeping us busy.\nIt is needless to say that we were not sitting up in chairs in the\northodox fashion. Pat, the eldest of us, in his eighteenth year, was\nreposing full length on our shabby old couch; Taters was astride on\none end of it; Honey was seated on the coal-scuttle, her feet inside\nthe fender; and Thunder and I were lying flat on the hearthrug; whilst\nDoodle-doo was changing his position every minute, and trying to make\nevery one else do the same.\n\nLest our names should be thought queer ones, I should explain that\nthey were of our own coining; our baptismal ones were too respectable\nto find favour in our eyes. I went by the brief synonym of \"Li,\" or\n\"Lightning,\" as Thunder and I invariably did things together; and I\ncertainly outdid them all in swiftness of thought and action.\n\n[Illustration: I BROUGHT DOWN THE TABLECLOTH TO THE GROUND.]\n\nWe had just recovered from scarlet fever; our parents were abroad,\nand our good old German governess had suddenly been summoned home to\na dying mother. Nurse was with us, of course; but Pixie, a delicate\nlittle fellow of six, who had fared the worst of us all in the fever,\ntook up much of her time and attention, and we elder ones had long ago\nescaped and defiee her rule.\n\n\"Throw us another nut,\" Pat demanded.\n\nI threw, aiming with such exact precision at his nose, that with a yell\nhe sprang up and gave chase to me round the table. Round and round we\nspun, until I brought down the table-cloth to the ground, and with it a\nchina flower-pot of mignonette.\n\nThat sobered us, and we took up our former position again, Honey\nremarking, \"I'm sure we ought to be better employed on Sunday afternoon\nthan making such a row. Why don't some of you get a book to read?\"\n\n\"I've read all the Sunday books again and again,\" I said with a sigh,\nfor books were my delight.\n\n\"No one can keep pace with Li,\" observed Taters thoughtfully, as she\nleft her seat to put another chestnut on the bars; \"why don't you start\nreading the Bible? That would take you a few Sundays to get through.\"\n\nI stared at her. \"The Bible! Why, no one reads that for the sake of\nreading.\"\n\n\"What's the good of it, then?\" demanded Taters, who was nothing if she\nwas not argumentative.\n\n\"To preach from, of course,\" put in Doodle-doo; \"and if I had the\nchance, I wouldn't give such rotten sermons out of it as we heard this\nmorning.\"\n\n\"Well, come on; give us a sermon, if you are so good at it. We'll give\nyou a chance, and a text too. Find him one, Li; there's a Bible on the\nbookshelf.\"\n\nI found the Bible that Pat indicated, opened it in a hurry, and called\nout the first words that met my eye\u2014\"'One thing thou lackest.'\"\n\nHoney looked up gravely and sweetly. \"You're not to make fun,\nDoodle-doo,\" she said.\n\nDoodle-doo held himself erect, and ruffled his cock's-comb, as we\ncalled it, in the importance of his position.\n\n\"Ahem!\" he began. \"My sermon will be brief, but to the point. Pat, one\nthing thou lackest\u2014'tis control of thy beastly temper. Honey, one thing\nthou lackest\u2014'tis female tidiness. Taters, one thing thou lackest\u2014'tis\nthe knowledge that thou art an ignoramus. Thunder, one thing thou\nlackest\u2014'tis a light and contented spirit. Lightning, one thing thou\nlackest\u2014'tis patient perseverance.\"\n\n\"And, Doodle-doo, one thing thou lackest,\" I put in hastily\u2014\"'tis the\nart of keeping thy cackling voice still.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"Well, young people, what is the discussion?\"\n\nWe turned round, and found that Miss Moffat from next door had quietly\nopened the door and come in amongst us. She was a little old maid\nwhom we all loved. All through our illness she had been in and out,\nchanging her dress most carefully each time to avoid spreading the\ninfection. Books and fruit had been plentifully supplied, and we were\nnot surprised to see her hands full of books and papers now.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"A little Sunday reading, my dears. I thought you might be in want of\nsome. Are you telling each other of your faults, may I ask?\"\n\n\"Doodle-doo is trying to preach,\" Tater said, her snub nose well in the\nair; \"but his crows, like those of his namesake, are about nothing at\nall.\"\n\n\"And what is the subject?\"\n\n\"'One thing thou lackest,' was the text I gave him,\" I said glibly.\n\"Don't look so shocked, Miss Moffat; we weren't making fun of it.\"\n\n\"It is a solemn verse to take up so lightly,\" said our friend gravely.\n\"Do you know the occasion of our Lord's saying those words?\"\n\n\"Yes. Don't preach to us, there's a good soul;\" and Pat threw up his\nlong arms and stretched himself with a terrific yawn.\n\n\"I am on my way to read to a blind woman,\" said Miss Moffitt briskly;\n\"there are your books.\"\n\nThen looking over her spectacles at us in her quaint, sweet way, she\nsaid\u2014\n\n\"There is 'one thing lacking' with each one of you boys and girls. Try\nand find it out for yourselves, and let me know when you succeed in\ngetting it. I should not like to see any of you one day 'weighed in the\nbalances and found wanting.'\"\n\nAnd then she left us.\n\nThere was silence for a few minutes; we were busy distributing the\nliterature which had been brought us.\n\nThen Thunder observed, knitting his black brows into a heavier frown\nthan usual\u2014\n\n\"I shouldn't have thought little Moffat was a religious person; but you\ncan never see through a woman\u2014they're always up to artful dodges.\"\n\n\"She isn't religious,\" Doodle-doo said; \"she only wanted to add force\nto my little preach.\"\n\n\"Shut up,\" said Pat, giving a kick at him as he passed the sofa; \"my\n'beastly temper' won't stand a word more from you.\"\n\n\"She's not a goody person, nor a prig,\" argued Taters, \"so she can't be\nreligious; and her face is as round and ruddy as an apple.\"\n\n\"What is a religious person?\" I asked. \"I don't mean a hypocrite, but a\nreal true one. What do they believe that we don't believe? Why should\nit be such an awfully canty thing to be good?\"\n\n\"Are you going to try it, Li?\"\n\n\"I sometimes think,\" said Honey meditatively, as she deliberately poked\nher slippered foot into the red-hot embers and stirred them into a\nblaze, \"that after all 'we' may be the hypocrites. What did we kneel\ndown and pray for in church this morning?\u2014'Grant that we may hereafter\nlive a godly, righteous, and sober life.' We haven't the smallest\nintention of doing it.\"\n\n\"Don't talk rot!\" was Pat's response to this.\n\nAnd, turning to our books, we dropped the subject.\n\n\n\nCHAPTER II\n\nThinking\n\n[Illustration] \"WHAT'S the row with old Li?\"\n\n\"Give her a pinch, Thunder; she's half asleep.\"\n\n\"She's planning some fiendish trick, I bet.\"\n\nWe were at breakfast, and Honey, who was pouring out the coffee, looked\nacross at me curiously after these remarks.\n\n\"She was talking in her sleep last night, and jumping about like a\ndancing doll; I expect the chestnuts gave her indigestion.\"\n\n\"Rubbish!\" I said quickly. \"If you had had the horrible dreams I had,\nyou wouldn't feel very spry in the morning. It was awful; I didn't\nsleep a wink.\"\n\n\"Li is a wonder,\" said Pat admiringly; \"she dreams wide awake, and eats\nher breakfast fast asleep.\"\n\nI was about to retort angrily, when the door opened, and nurse appeared\nwith Pixie. The seven years between him and Taters made him appear a\nperfect baby to us, and we all petted him accordingly. He was a pale,\nfragile little fellow, with a quaintness and courage all his own; but\nin spite of his old-fashioned talk, he was a thorough child.\n\n\"I want one of you young ladies to take Master Lionel out this morning;\nit's my busy day,\" announced nurse.\n\n\"All right; I'll take him,\" said I.\n\n\"Don't walk him off his legs, and bring him in before twelve o'clock.\"\n\nSaying which, nurse departed; and we began to make our plans for the\nday. Pat and Doodle-doo were going out on their bicycles, Taters and\nHoney out shopping, and, after a little persuasion, Thunder said he\nwould come to the common with Pixie and me. Our house was in a London\nsuburb; but the common stretched away to green fields and lanes, and\nwas a favourite resort of ours.\n\nPixie, as usual, was full of talk, and beguiled the way by his\nextraordinary questions and ideas.\n\nIt was a bright sunny morning, and wonderfully mild for the time of\nyear; so when we arrived at the common, Thunder and I rested on one of\nthe seats, whilst Pixie played about.\n\n\"I wonder when Pater will write and suggest a change of air for us!\"\ngrumbled Thunder. \"We ought to go off to the sea or somewhere! I don't\nthink I shall ever be the same again as I was before that rotten fever!\nI'm quite fagged out now with this bit of a walk!\"\n\n\"Fancy if one of us had died!\" I said lugubriously; for Thunder's\nremarks were never cheering, and I did not feel in a mood to comfort\nhim. \"You or I might have. If we had, I wonder what we should have been\ndoing now?\"\n\nThunder's black brows scowled. \"You needn't have such dismal fancies!\"\n\n\"Well, but,\" I persisted, \"I half think I may be going to die; for\nI had such awful dreams last night! I can't help feeling they were\nwarnings.\"\n\n\"What were they like?\"\n\n\"I kept feeling myself in a pair of scales, and I couldn't make myself\nheavy enough to keep down\u2014I would swing up in the air! I clutched hold\nof the sides of the scale, and pressed down with my whole weight, but\nit was no good, and all the time a voice kept repeating, like the tick\nof a clock, 'Weighed in the balances and found wanting! One thing thou\nlackest!' I woke up in an awful fright, and couldn't get to sleep for\nages, and when I did, I dreamt again, that I was running for my life\naway from Miss Moffat, who, brandishing a red-hot poker close to my\neyes, was shrieking out, 'One thing thou lackest!'\"\n\nThunder laughed.\n\nI added seriously, \"We're a wicked lot, and I'm really and truly going\nto find out the one thing lacking with me. I won't stand another night\nlike last night. What is it, Pixie?\"\n\n[Illustration: \"DID HE SEE ME JUST NOW WHEN I WAS PLAYING?\"]\n\nHe was standing before us with troubled eyes.\n\n\"Is God looking out of the sky this morning?\"\n\n\"I suppose so,\" I said; \"Why?\"\n\n\"Did He see me just now, when I was playing at killing a snake?\"\n\n\"What have you been doing?\" I asked severely.\n\n\"I've cut one of God's dear little worms into two pieces! Will He be\nangry?\"\n\n\"Go and stick them together again!\" laughed Thunder.\n\nBut tears were very near the surface with Pixie, and clasping his\nhands, he went on\u2014\n\n\"I was going to be 'such' a good boy to-day, and I didn't really mean\nto kill the little worm with my stick\u2014it was too soft! Will God forgive\nme, do you think?\"\n\n\"Of course He will,\" I said impatiently; \"you didn't mean to do it.\"\nThen, with a change of tone, I said, \"Will you go to heaven if you die,\nPixie?\"\n\nHe looked at me, then nodded. \"Jesus loves Pixie, and Pixie wants to go\nto Him in heaven very much sometimes!\"\n\nHe ran away to play, and I said with a sigh, \"He has got what we\nhaven't. I shouldn't go to heaven if I died; neither would you, old\nThun! Fancy the difference between Pixie's conscience and ours, if he\nthinks cutting a worm in two an awful sin!\"\n\nThunder remained silent for a little; then he said\u2014\n\n\"Being religious won't suit you, Li; don't you try it! You could never\nkeep up being a prig, if you started!\"\n\n\"Look here!\" I said warmly. \"I don't intend being a prig; but if I like\nto turn religious I shall, and no one shall stop me!\"\n\nI jumped up from the seat, and started running races with Pixie, whilst\nThunder whipped out a thrilling tale from his pocket, and sat on\nreading till it was time to go home. I laughed and talked my loudest\nfor the rest of the day; but I was miserable. \"One thing thou lackest,\"\nrang in my ears. And at last, after our evening meal was over, I\nslipped away from all the noise and laughter in the schoolroom, and\nwent down to the dining-room, where a bright fire was blazing. Then,\ntaking hold of a Bible I found there, I drew up a chair to the fire,\nand commenced studying the story of the young man who lacked the one\nthing.\n\n\"I suppose,\" I said to myself, \"that his fault was not following\nChrist; but it must be awfully difficult to lead a good life! I suppose\nif I was to start I should have to say prayers half an hour long, and\nbe always reading the Bible, which is so dry. I should have to give up\nall fun, and story-books, and fighting with the boys; and then they'd\nall hate me, and vote me a prig! Oh, I couldn't do it! It would be as\ndull as ditch water! Yet I do want, oh, I do want to be sure of heaven!\nI know I'm not right; I know I'm awfully wicked. If only God would\nturn me suddenly into a saint without any trouble on my part! I'm sure\nsome people get converted like that. Yet I don't want to be a regular\ngoody-goody; I despise them so\u2014they're always so full of cant. I don't\nknow what I want. I should like to be right with God, and not be so\nafraid of Him! This young man went away grieved, it says; he couldn't\ndo it. I suppose I shouldn't have to give up riches to follow Christ,\nbecause I haven't any to give up; but I should have to give up other\nthings quite as bad.\"\n\n[Illustration: THEN, WITH A WHOOP AND A RUSH, IN TUMBLED DOODLE-DOO AND\n TATERS! IN AN INSTANT I WAS ON MY FEET; STUFFING THE BIBLE\n UNDER THE CUSHION OF MY CHAIR.]\n\nAnd so I meditated, and at last such an overwhelming sense of my own\nwickedness and shortcomings came over me that I dropped on my knees,\nand put up the first real prayer in life, though perhaps it may sound a\nqueer one.\n\n   \"O God, I'll follow Christ, if You'll make it easy for me. I don't want\nto be turned into a goody person, but I do want to be right at the\nJudgment Day. I do want my sins forgiven, but don't let me have to give\nup all fun. And will You put me straight at once\u2014to-night? I can't stop\ntill to-morrow.\"\n\nThen I waited for something to happen\u2014some wonderful feeling to come\nover me; but it didn't come.\n\nAnd then, with a whoop and a rush, in tumbled Doodle-doo and Taters!\n\nIn an instant I was on my feet; stuffing the Bible under the cushion of\nmy chair.\n\n\"Aha! We've caught the truant! She looks quite guilty. Take hold of her\nlegs, Taters, and I'll take her arms, and we'll find out what she's\nbeen doing!\"\n\nBut I was not so easily caught, and for the next ten minutes we had a\nbreathless chase through the house, until nurse held me fast.\n\n\"Miss Mary, I'm ashamed of you! Nearly fifteen, and romping like a boy!\nGo to the schoolroom and be quiet. You've woke Master Lionel out of his\nfirst sleep, and now he'll be restless for an hour or so. How I wish\nFr\u00e4ulein were here!\"\n\nA wish poor nurse very often expressed!\n\n\n\nCHAPTER III\n\nStarting\n\n[Illustration] I LAY awake that night thinking.\n\nHoney and I shared the same room. She generally made me impatient\nby her leisurely movements, and I was often fast asleep long before\nshe came to bed; but now I lay awake and listened to her heavy\nbreathing\u2014sleep would not come to me.\n\nWhy had not God answered my prayer?\n\nI had been quite honest about it. How was it I felt just the same, and\nnothing had happened? And then again the refrain began in my ears, \"One\nthing thou lackest. Weighed in the balances, and found wanting.\"\n\n\"I do wish I had never found out that troublesome text! I suppose it is\na judgment on me for treating it so lightly. I wonder what became of\nthat young man; where is he now? I suppose he is either in heaven or\nhell this very minute; and if he is in hell, what would he give to have\nanother chance\u2014to have 'my' chance?\"\n\nAnd then I could bear my thoughts no longer. Out of bed I crept; and,\nshivering, knelt in the darkness and cold.\n\n\"O God, I'm afraid I wasn't in earnest. I'm in dead earnest now. I'll\ngive up everything, and won't care what the others say, if only You\nwill forgive and convert me. I'll give up all story-books if they're\nwicked, and will read nothing but the Bible. I'll follow Christ at all\ncosts, however difficult and gloomy it will be. I 'must' be forgiven. I\nask Thee now to save me, for Jesus Christ's sake. Amen.\"\n\nAgain I laid my head down on my pillow, and this time was soon fast\nasleep, never waking till our maid came to call us the next morning.\n\n\"You're rather silent, Li,\" said Honey, as she brushed out her golden\nhair. \"Are you half asleep still?\"\n\n\"No; I'm very much awake,\" was my response. \"I am having very serious\nthoughts. Honey, do you believe God answers prayer?\"\n\n\"I suppose so.\"\n\n\"How do we know He does?\"\n\n\"By getting the answer, I should think. And, of course, the Bible says\nso.\"\n\n\"Where?\" And I rushed to a small table and took hold of my Bible at\nonce.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"I don't know,\" said Honey, eyeing me perplexedly. \"Isn't there a verse\nsomewhere, 'Ask, and it shall be given you'?\"\n\n\"Yes, of course there is. The fact is, last night I asked God to\u2014well,\nyou know, convert me\u2014make me a proper Christian, and I want to know if\nHe has done it. I don't feel any different this morning. Do I look any\ndifferent? Do you think He has done it?\"\n\n\"Li, you aren't making fun, are you?\"\n\n\"Fun! I'm in downright sober earnest! I'm going to follow Christ. I\npromised last night, so no more larks for me. I shall be reading my\nBible most of the day\u2014at least, do you think an hour a day would be\nenough to begin with?\" My tone was rather pitiful, for the prospect\nseemed dreary.\n\nBut Honey did not answer; she looked quite dazed.\n\n\"If I only knew for certain God had answered me, I wouldn't mind,\" I\nwent on; \"but of course I have promised to live as a Christian, and\nI must try. You may have my skates, Honey; if we do get a frost this\nwinter, I shall never skate again. I wonder if I ought to go to church\nevery day?\"\n\n\"You sound as if you're going to die,\" observed Honey.\n\n\"If I was sure it was all right with me, I should like to. I think\ndirectly people are ready for heaven they ought to go there. It is too\ntantalizing to be obliged to stay down here seeing other people having\ngood times, and being out of them oneself. I don't know how I shall do\nit, but I'm going to have a try.\"\n\nBefore we left our room in the morning, we always went through the form\nof kneeling by our bed for a minute. To-day I felt it was no longer a\nform; again I implored for pardon, and asked to be kept straight in the\nnarrow path that led to life; and then we went down to breakfast.\n\n\"If I were you, Li,\" said Honey on the staircase, \"I wouldn't say\nanything to the boys about your feelings\u2014not until you are more sure of\nyourself. I won't breathe a word.\"\n\n\"I never can keep anything secret long,\" I said dubiously; \"but I'll\nhave a try.\"\n\nThe boys did not trouble me; they were full of an expedition they had\nplanned, and this was for all of us to go and see a bachelor uncle of\nours who lived about twelve miles away.\n\n\"We'll take him by surprise,\" said Pat; \"I'll hire a trap from the\nlivery stables round the corner, and drive you girls; and Doodle-doo\nand Thunder can come on their bikes. We shall have to start in about an\nhour. He is sure to stand us a jolly lunch, and it will be no end of a\nspree.\"\n\n\"And who'll pay for the trap?\" asked Taters.\n\n\"Oh, I'll stand that! I've been saving lately, and you girls must pay\nme some of it back when you get your next pocket-money.\"\n\nIt sounded delightful, but I wondered if I ought to go. However, as\nnurse seemed to agree to it, only telling Pat to be sure to choose a\nquiet horse, I thought I could safely venture.\n\n\"And I will have a good read of my Bible when I come home, and say a\nfew hymns to myself on the way. That will keep me in a religious frame\nof mind.\"\n\nWith these resolves, I set off with the others, as lighthearted as\nany. Pat was a good driver. When father was at home, he was constantly\ndriving round the country with him; and now, spinning along the high\nroad with the fresh keen air blowing full in our faces, our spirits\nrose, and I talked more nonsense than any of them.\n\nAs we drew near the house, Honey said, \"Uncle Bob has never been near\nus since we were first taken ill. Suppose he should be afraid of the\ninfection?\"\n\n\"That's just the fun of it,\" laughed Taters; \"he won't be able to help\nhimself, and I'll give him such a hug when I get near him!\"\n\n[Illustration: \"THAT'S JUST THE FUN OF IT,\" SAID TATERS.]\n\n\"We're out of quarantine,\" said Pat, rather grandly, \"and if the old\nchap shows the white feather, I'll soon bring him to reason.\"\n\nAlas! When we reached the house, the closed shutters told us that he\nwas away.\n\n\"Never mind,\" said Honey; \"Mrs. Sykes will give us lunch.\"\n\nBut this the old housekeeper did not seem disposed to do. She came to\nthe door in her rustling black silk, and eyed us in stern disapproval.\n\n\"Your uncle is away in London for a month. We heard you were all ill of\nthe scarlet fever. It seems a very unseasonable day for you to be out;\nI should think you had better get home as quickly as possible, for I\nbelieve there is a storm coming.\"\n\n\"That we're not going to do before having something to eat,\" said Pat\ndeterminedly. \"Get out, girls; and Sykes will get us some bread and\ncheese, if she has nothing else in the house.\"\n\nIn we all trooped, to Mrs. Sykes's great disgust; but she had a meal\nprepared for us which we thoroughly enjoyed, and then we spent the rest\nof our time rambling over the house and grounds, until Pat said we must\nreturn.\n\n\"Give our love to the old chap!\" shouted out Doodle-doo, as we were\nstarting off in style from the front door. \"He'll be awfully put out\nwhen he knows he has missed us.\"\n\nMrs. Sykes muttered something like \"A merciful escape!\" and closed the\ndoor sharply in our faces.\n\nBut we knew her ways, and only laughed.\n\n[Illustration: \"GIVE OUR LOVE TO THE OLD CHAP!\" SHOUTED DOODLE-DOO,\n AS WE WERE STARTING OFF IN STYLE.]\n\nWe had hardly got a mile away from the house, when down came a torrent\nof rain, and a severe storm burst full upon us.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IV\n\nTelling\n\nNONE of us had umbrellas, and though we girls buttoned up our jackets\nand pulled the rugs well over our knees, we got soaked through. And\nthen, as a vivid flash of lightning flashed upon us, followed by a\ndeafening clap of thunder, our horse reared, then bolted.\n\nThe trap swayed from side to side. Pat muttered between clenched teeth,\n\"Sit still, and hold your tongues!\"\n\nAnd still as death we sat, gripping hold of the back of the seat, and\nexpecting every moment to be upset.\n\n[Illustration: OUR HORSE REARED, THEN BOLTED.]\n\n\"Am I ready to die?\" flashed through my mind; and again I sent up an\nagonizing cry,\u2014\n\n   \"O God, forgive, and save me!\"\n\nWe dashed on; the hedges seemed to fly past us; but the road was a\nstraight and even one. Gradually the horse's pace slackened, and at\nlast, with a tremendous effort, Pat was able to pull up. Then we looked\nat each other. Honey was as white as a sheet; Pat was wiping the\nperspiration from his brow; and Taters was the only one who laughed,\nbut her laugh was an hysterical one.\n\n\"A near shave for us!\" was Pat's comment.\n\nAnd not another word did he say till we reached home, for we were all\nconsiderably sobered by our adventure.\n\nI crept away to my room as soon as I could, and thanked God on my\nknees for having preserved us. I felt, if He had heard and answered\none prayer, He would another; and I went to bed that night a little\ncomforted.\n\n\nThe next morning I ran in next door to ask Miss Moffat for a book she\nhad promised to lend Honey. I found her writing letters in her snug\nlittle sitting-room; but she turned round at once and made me sit down\nby the fire and have a chat with her. Somehow or other I soon found\nmyself telling her all that was in my heart. She had a way of getting\neverything out of us, and I could never be reticent with her.\n\n\"And do you think you have now got the 'one thing lacking,' my dear?\"\n\n\"I don't know. What do you say was the one thing lacking with that\nyoung man, Miss Moffat?\"\n\n\"He lacked union with Christ,\" Miss Moffat said softly. \"He could not\nmake up his mind to link his life on to our Lord's; and, believe me,\nMary, you will never be able to live a happy Christian life unless you\nget in touch with your Saviour.\"\n\n\"I don't think a Christian life can be a happy one,\" I said gloomily;\n\"it is life with all the enjoyment taken out of it. But I've promised\nto live it, and I can't go back from it.\"\n\nMiss Moffat looked at me with something like tears in her eyes.\n\n\"Oh, child, child, what a wrong start you are making! You say you have\nasked God to forgive you and save you. How can He do it, when He has\nsaid no sinner shall come into His presence?\"\n\n\"I suppose,\" said I thoughtfully, \"He will do it because Christ died\nfor sinners\u2014Christ died for me.\"\n\nAs I said the words a strange sense of peace crept into my heart.\n\n\"Yes,\" Miss Moffat went on; \"you have the right foundation. But if you\nhave just been received into the fold, and have obtained forgiveness\nof sins, and the gift of eternal life\u2014if you have been made an heir of\nglory\u2014whom must you thank for it?\"\n\n\"The Lord Jesus Christ,\" I said slowly.\n\n\"And doesn't your heart glow with the thought of all His love for you?\nHave you no word of thanks to Him? You talk as if you are to live a\nChrist-like life without Christ! The thing is impossible. Open your\nempty little heart to Him, and He will come in and flood your life with\njoy and gladness. A Christian life a gloomy one! Oh, how little, how\nvery little, you know! Get linked on to Christ, my dear; get to know\nHim as your personal Friend, and you will find you love Him better\nevery day you live\u2014ah! And you'll get to understand a little of His\nmighty love for you!\"\n\nMiss Moffat spoke enthusiastically. I could only stare at her, for her\nwords then were above and beyond my comprehension.\n\nThen I sighed, though a spark of hope sprang up in my breast.\n\n\"Do you think God has answered my prayer?\" I asked.\n\nMiss Moffat turned over the leaves of her well-worn Bible.\n\n\"'If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our\nsins.' Faithful\u2014for He never breaks His word; just\u2014because Christ has\nsuffered instead of us. What do you think, Mary?\"\n\nI did not answer for a minute; then I said, \"But I don't feel any\ndifferent.\"\n\n\"Let your feelings alone; rest on this verse. Run your finger along it\nevery day, and say, 'God says this. I'll believe it, though I don't\nfeel it.' If you keep on at that, the feeling will come. But your\nsalvation does not depend on your feelings.\"\n\nI got up to go, and kissed our little friend enthusiastically.\n\n\"You're a dear, Miss Moffat! You've comforted me a lot. And you don't\nthink God wants to take away my pleasures if I'm a Christian?\"\n\nMiss Moffat smiled.\n\n\"He loves you, my child. He loves to see you happy. He will fill your\nlife with blessing, if you are willing to let Him.\"\n\nI walked back to our house thinking. And then a few minutes after I\nburst into the schoolroom. The boys were cooking toffee; Taters was\ndressing our black cat in a paper frock and cap; and Honey was trying\nvainly to write a letter to mother. I flung Honey's book on the table.\n\n\"I've something to tell you all!\" I said.\n\n[Illustration: I TOOK UP THE SOFA CUSHIONS, AND FLUNG THEM\n WITH ALL MY FORCE AT THE BOYS' HEADS.]\n\n\"Hulloo! Anything grand? Why, Li is quite excited! Out with it; your\neyes are nearly starting out of your head!\"\n\nI stood erect, and faced them all.\n\n\"It's something very good for me. I'm a Christian.\"\n\nA shout of laughter from the boys.\n\n\"Just found that out? What are we? Heathen?\"\n\nI was not disconcerted.\n\n\"I tell you I'm quite different to what I was a few days ago. I found\nout the answer to Miss Moffat's question, and I'm going to be really\nand truly religious.\"\n\nPat tapped his forehead significantly.\n\n\"Poor Li! She has been rather queer the last day or two, but I didn't\nthink it would come to this!\"\n\n\"Li pious! If you lived to be a hundred, you couldn't be: so don't you\ncome here trying to green us!\"\n\nExasperated by these jeers, I took up the sofa cushions\u2014our favourite\nimplements of warfare\u2014and flung them with all my force at the boys'\nheads, exclaiming hotly\u2014\n\n\"I am! I don't care what you say, and how you laugh! I know myself\nbetter than you do, and if I choose to be 'pious,' as you call it, I\nshall!\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAnd then, dashing out of the room, I rushed to our bedroom, and\nflinging myself on my bed, burst into tears.\n\n\n\nCHAPTER V\n\nGrowing\n\n[Illustration] \"DINNER, my good woman! It's very easy to tell you what\nwe should like for dinner. A good seaside one, of course! We'll begin\nwith scalloped oysters, some broiled mackerel, and boiled cod, with\nshrimp sauce, lobster salad\u2014\"\n\n\"Some starfish jelly, and limpet tart, and crab cream to follow\u2014\"\n\n\"And seaweed sandwiches and salt-water ices to finish up with!\"\n\nOur landlady's face was a picture, as these volleys were fired at her;\nand Fr\u00e4ulein turned upon us with a sharp rebuke.\n\n\"Go down to the beach, and let me not see you till dinner! You are an\noverwhelming torrent when it is business that I wish to talk!\"\n\n\nIt was a fortnight later; Fr\u00e4ulein had returned to us at the end of a\nweek, and, acting upon a letter she had received from our parents, had\nbrought us all down to a seaside village on the sunny south coast.\n\nIt was the beginning of March, early in the year for lodgers; but\nwe liked the emptiness of the place, and were enjoying ourselves\nimmensely. I did not find that my spiritual experiences were making\nmy life less happy. Of course the boys teased me unmercifully. Every\nmorning they would ask, \"Still pious, Li? Isn't the fit over?\"\n\nBut as they always would tease about something, I did not mind; and\nfound that I could laugh and joke with them the same as usual. Miss\nMoffat helped me a great deal; and I was beginning to like reading my\nBible. Not that I could yet spend a long time over it without becoming\nweary; but Miss Moffat told me I must not expect to walk before I could\ncrawl, and she advised me to read a short portion at a time, thinking\nover it, and praying to be taught.\n\nIt was a cheering thought to me that God liked to see me happy. I never\ncould keep grave for long, and my heart being at rest about the future,\nand at peace about my sins, made a wonderful difference to me.\n\nThis morning, when we had scattered on the beach, and Thunder and I had\ntaken refuge under a breakwater for a few minutes' rest, he turned to\nme and said, \"I don't believe you're the genuine article, Li! It's a\nsham and delusion!\"\n\n\"What is?\"\n\n[Illustration: \"I DON'T BELIEVE YOU'RE THE GENUINE ARTICLE, LI!\n IT'S A SHAM AND DELUSION!\"]\n\n\"Your Christianity\u2014or conversion\u2014as you call it.\"\n\n\"Why do you think so?\"\n\n\"Oh, because it hasn't changed you!\"\n\n\"I hope it has,\" I said soberly.\n\n\"Well, you're just as cheeky as you always were; it hasn't lengthened\nyour face, or choked the fun out of you.\"\n\n\"I hope it never will; but it has made a lot of difference to me\ninside. I'm not afraid of God any more. I feel I belong to Him, and am\ngetting to love Him. I think it's a very jolly thing to be a Christian,\nand I wish you would be one too.\"\n\nThunder gave a short laugh. \"It's well enough for girls; but if you\nwere at a public school, as we are, you'd know a fellow couldn't be\nreligious. There are a few who try it on, but they're in their own set,\nand are too slow for words!\"\n\n\"Well,\" said I quickly, \"it's their own stupidity if it makes them\nslow; it isn't religion!\"\n\nWe were interrupted here by the breathless arrival of Doodle-doo and\nTaters.\n\n\"Hi! You two, come on! We're going out for a sail!\"\n\nI was on my feet instantly, and down at the water's edge the next\nminute, where Pat was holding a parley with the boatman, whose smart\nlittle craft lay by.\n\n\"Now, look here, my good fellow,\" Pat was saying, \"I wasn't born\nyesterday, and there won't be room for you. We either have the boat to\nourselves, or we chuck up the sail altogether! Take your choice!\"\n\n\"I say!\" I said aside to Honey. \"The boys aren't going to take us out\nafter what Fr\u00e4ulein said?\"\n\n\"Oh, bother Fr\u00e4ulein,\" said Honey: \"she's such an old fuss! Pat has\nmanaged a sailing-boat before this.\"\n\n[Illustration: \"I'M NOT COMING,\" I SAID, DRAWING BACK.]\n\nI was silent. It was a bright, sunny morning, and I longed to go. Yet\nonly yesterday Fr\u00e4ulein had positively forbidden us girls to go in a\nsailing-boat without a proper boatman; and though I had not a particle\nof fear myself, my conscience was becoming more tender, and I felt we\nought not to disobey her. Pat, meanwhile, had overruled the boatman's\nobjections, and was marshalling us carefully into the boat.\n\n\"I'm not coming,\" I said, drawing back. \"You know we've been forbidden;\nand we could go for a row just as easy; Fr\u00e4ulein doesn't mind that.\"\n\n\"Don't be a little fool!\" was his quick rejoinder. \"Old Fr\u00e4u will have\nforgotten she gave such an order when she sees us back safe and sound!\nWhat has made you so unusually squeamish?\"\n\n\"It's her pious fit!\" cried Doodle-doo. \"Let the little dear alone!\nShe's going to be a naughty girl no more!\"\n\n\"Come on; don't make an ass of yourself!\" said Thunder, tugging hold\nof my arm as he spoke. \"Weren't you saying just now that your religion\nwouldn't turn you into a molly-coddle?\"\n\n\"Are you afraid?\" laughed Taters, already taking a seat in the boat.\n\nIt was my first battle. Strangely enough, up to now nothing had\nhappened to put my religion to the test.\n\n\"I'm not afraid,\" I said slowly, looking wistfully at the boat; \"but\nyou're right\u2014my religion won't let me go. I must be left behind.\"\n\nIt seemed rather hard lines to me; but they were all so excited about\ngetting off that they did not waste time in persuasion.\n\n[Illustration: IN PLAYING WITH PIXIE I FORGOT MY TROUBLE.]\n\nPat called out, \"Go back to old Fr\u00e4u, and tell her of the wickedness\nof her pupils! In Sunday-school books we should all be drowned as a\npunishment! You and she had better watch on the beach for our bodies to\nbe washed ashore!\"\n\nI watched them go with tears in my eyes. Oh, it was hard sometimes to\nbe good! Why were forbidden things so nice?\n\nAnd then Pixie came running up to me, and in playing with him I forgot\nmy trouble. We built sand castles, and destroyed them; and then, tired\nout, I sat down on the shingle, and Pixie threw himself upon me.\n\n\"Tell me a story, Li, 'bout one of those little ships that go away\nright into the sky. Pixie would like to go out in a ship with a big\nknife, and cut away all those dull old clouds that hide the blue sky.\"\n\nIt was nearly dinner-time when the sailing-boat returned. All were in\nhigh spirits, laughing at me for having missed such fun.\n\nBut when we got back to our lodgings, Fr\u00e4ulein was very angry, and kept\nHoney and Taters indoors for the rest of the afternoon.\n\n\"Oh, we're a bad lot!\" said Pat, listening to Fr\u00e4ulein's scolding\nwith the greatest equanimity. \"But you're going to have one saint\namongst your pupils now, who will comfort and cheer your heart! Old\nLi's wicked days are over! Don't you see the difference in her face?\nA kind of what-a-good-girl-am-I smirk in the corner of her mouth; a\nwhat-a-wicked-set-I-live-amongst twist one side of her nose; and a\noh-how-frivolous-is-earth roll in the whites of her eyes!\"\n\nI got up and inspected myself in the mirror over the fireplace.\n\n\"I wish I could see a change,\" I said; \"it's the one thing that doesn't\nlook religious about me; but Miss Moffat's face isn't a religious\none\u2014that's my comfort!\"\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VI\n\nWorking\n\n[Illustration] I HAD some ups and downs after this, but I was quickly\ncorrected if I made a slip; the others seemed to keep a lynx-eyed watch\non every word and movement, and if it had not been for Miss Moffat's\nletter, I really think I should have got thoroughly disheartened. She\nsaid in it,\u2014\n\n   \"Don't think you won't tumble, my dear; young feet are very uncertain.\nBut when you've fallen, let the Lord pick you up again; He won't lose\npatience with you.\"\n\nSome days were records of failure on failure; but I was beginning to\nfind prayer a great comfort, and, to my great delight, I was feeling a\nwarm love filling my heart for the One who had done, and was doing, so\nmuch for me.\n\n\"It's a great comfort, Honey,\" I said one morning, as we were dressing\nin our bedroom, \"that fresh days keep coming. How dreadful if we had\none long eternal day with no break!\"\n\n\"Why?\" she asked.\n\n\"Because it gives one a fresh start. Now, yesterday, you know how I\nwent on; I lost my temper with Taters, was rude to Fr\u00e4ulein, and ended\nby being sent off to bed an hour earlier for having that row with Pat,\nand smashing our landlady's hideous lamp in the hall! Well, to-day I'm\nstarting again, quite fresh and jolly!\"\n\n\"You're an awfully queer Christian,\" said Honey. \"I don't believe\nyou're a proper one.\"\n\n\"So you always say; but I can't be perfect all at once\u2014Miss Moffat says\nI can't. Do you think I am getting on a little bit?\"\n\nI added this rather pleadingly, and Honey responded warmly, \"You're\na brick! The boys say so, though they do tease you so. Pat said\nyesterday he would never have given you credit for so much pluck and\nperseverance. I'm sure you're as happy as any of us, and not a bit\npriggish, so far.\"\n\n\"Then,\" said I, a little shyly, \"I wish you'd try it too, Honey. I've\nbeen reading in my Bible to-day about the disciples following Jesus,\nand the one who went to the other and said, 'Come and see.' I wish you\nwould 'come and see,' Honey!\"\n\n[Illustration: HONEY WAS FASTENING HER COLLAR.]\n\nHoney didn't answer. She was fastening her collar, which didn't seem to\nmeet without a great deal of tugging, and her face grew red.\n\n\"I'll wait and see how you go on first,\" she said. \"I've thought a lot\nlately, and if you can be religious, I don't see why I couldn't; but I\nshan't do anything yet.\"\n\nI felt very pleased at this, and from that time asked God in my prayers\nto make Honey decide to serve Him. She was always much more gentle and\nthoughtful than I was; and I often told her she would find it much\neasier than I did.\n\nThe time at the seaside went much quicker than it did at home. We\nwere out nearly all day long, and we explored the country for miles\nround. Fr\u00e4ulein was the only one who felt dull; she loved the town\nwith all the shops and people; and then, too, she was always having\nthe disagreeable duty of having to act as peacemaker between us and\nour landlady, who vowed she had never before had such a noisy set of\nlodgers. The boys and she were at daggers drawn, and I really think she\nwould have liked to turn us out, if it had not been the empty time of\nyear.\n\nOn Sunday morning we heard a sermon that made a great impression\non me. We went to a little country church, and I liked the simple\nold-fashioned service there. The text we had was:\n\n   \"'As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to\nanother, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.'\"\n\nThe vicar said a lot about Christians being so lazy and careless as\nthey were, and not working for God; and he showed us that God would\nhave no idle stewards on His property. It made me feel very ashamed of\nmyself, when I remembered that for nearly four weeks I had known about\nand received this gift from God, and yet I had never tried to pass the\ngood news on to any one. And when I came home I determined that I would\ntry harder than ever to get Honey to join me; and after I had got her,\nI would try for Thunder.\n\nBut, beyond promising to read a few verses from the Bible with me every\nmorning, Honey still resisted my persuasion.\n\n\"There's plenty of time, Li. I don't feel my sins a burden, as you did,\nand I'm getting rather tired of your preaches. Leave me alone. I mean\nto be religious some day, but not yet.\"\n\nOne morning Thunder and I had been for a long ramble along the shore,\nwhen, coming back, we saw a great commotion on the beach. We found\nFr\u00e4ulein jabbering away in excited German to several fishermen, and\nnurse rushing backwards and forwards looking quite demented, whilst Pat\nand the others were talking at the top of their voices, and all were\nlooking anxious and scared.\n\nWe were soon told what had happened; Pixie was lost, and the general\nfear was that he had drifted out to sea in a boat.\n\nHoney was the last one with him; she was lying in a boat tied up on the\nbeach reading a book, when he came and joined her. Now, when Honey read\na story-book she always got so engrossed in it that she never noticed\nanything going on about her. Pixie played about, talking to himself,\nand she remembers seeing him twisting and untwisting the rope, and\nsaying something about wanting to sail away to the sky, but she did not\ntake much notice of it at the time. She left him soon after, for a few\nminutes, whilst she went to exchange her book with one that Taters had,\nand when she came back no Pixie was to be seen. She was not alarmed,\nfor she concluded nurse had come to fetch him indoors, and it was only\njust before we came up that they discovered that Pixie was missing.\n\n[Illustration: WE FOUND FR\u00c4ULEIN JABBERING AWAY IN EXCITED GERMAN\n TO SEVERAL FISHERMEN.]\n\n\"And not only is he gone,\" said Honey tearfully, turning to me, \"but\nthe boat is missing! He must have undone the rope, and the tide has\ncome in, and he must have drifted out to sea!\"\n\nI looked anxiously out on the ocean. It was a calm day, and a few\nfishing-smacks were going out to sea, but there was no sign of a boat\nanywhere.\n\n\"We must do something,\" said Pat, with energy, \"and the sooner we set\nto work the better. We shall not be likely to find him after dark. If\nhe has drifted out to sea, we must follow.\"\n\nAnd in an incredibly short time, he and Doodle-doo, Thunder and a\nstalwart boatman, were rowing out in the direction they thought the\nboat might have gone.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nCHAPTER VII\n\nPraying\n\nI DON'T think I ever remember a more miserable day than it was after\nPixie was missing. Honey was inconsolable; the boys returned late at\nnight, tired out, and thoroughly disheartened at their unsuccessful\nsearch; Fr\u00e4ulein and nurse were dissolved in tears, and both seemed\nperfectly helpless to make any suggestions.\n\n\"He may have been picked up by some steamer or fishing-smack,\" I said,\ntrying to speak hopefully.\n\n\"I know he is drowned!\" wailed Honey.\n\n\"And it will be your doing!\" said Pat severely. \"You left a baby in an\nopen boat, with the tide coming in around him; and when you found he\nhad disappeared you never troubled yourself, or told any one for a full\nhour after!\"\n\nHoney was too miserable to defend herself. Pixie was the darling of us\nall, and the boys were too alarmed to show any mercy. I tried to cheer\nher up, and then was assailed with\u2014\n\n\"Oh, do shut up with your 'hopes' and 'perhaps,' Li! Your grins are as\nbad as Honey's snivels. I suppose you think a saint ought to show a\nstony front at a time like this!\"\n\n[Illustration: \"HERE I IS, AND A BIG FISH.\"]\n\n\"I'm not going to imagine the worst, to please you,\" I said stoutly;\n\"for I've been praying for Pixie ever since he was missing, and I\nbelieve God will send him back to us again.\"\n\n\"Cant!\" muttered Doodle-doo; but Honey whispered\u2014\n\n\"If God answers your prayer, Li, I'll become a Christian, like you.\"\n\nAnd then, about half-past ten, when Fr\u00e4ulein was urging us to go to\nbed, and Pat had just returned from visiting the coastguard station on\nthe cliff, we heard a knock at the door, and a rush of small feet along\nthe passage.\n\n\"Hear I is, and a big fish for my supper! And Pixie saw a lot of fish\ncaught in a net!\" He marched in amongst us, his hat on the back of\nhis head, hugging a slippery fish in his arms, which he deposited in\ntriumph on Fr\u00e4ulein's lap. A fisherman followed him in, and explained\nthat he had found him in the boat drifting out to sea, as we had\nfeared, and had taken him on board his smack.\n\n\"The coolest little chap I h'ever set eyes on! Said he was going to\ntouch the sky, and warn't half pleased at havin' to come back without\na-doin' it.\"\n\nPixie could not understand the reason for such hugs and embraces as he\nreceived, and no one had the heart to scold him, until nurse said\u2014\n\n\"And don't you think it was very naughty to go off in a boat like that,\nand give us all such a fright?\"\n\nPixie looked round on us serenely.\n\n\"The boat ran away hisself. Pixie only sat quite still and bumped up\nand down.\"\n\n\"Weren't you frightened when you got out to sea?\" asked Taters.\n\nHe shook his curly head. \"O' course I wasn't. When the boat jumped up\nand down very high, I asked Jesus to come in and sit by me; and I fink\nhe did. And I asked Jesus to take me frough the sky into heaven; but\nthis man broughted me back before I got there. And Pixie is very tired,\nand he'll go to bed, and have the fish for his breakfus!\"\n\nNurse carried him off, and we all followed his example; but before we\ngot into bed, I said to Honey\u2014\n\n\"Don't you feel very thankful Pixie is safe?\"\n\n\"I should think I did! It's like a mountain's weight off me!\"\n\n\"Well, then, aren't you going to do what you said!\"\n\nHoney looked doubtfully at me. \"Yes, I really will, but not to-night;\nI'm too tired.\"\n\nI lost patience with her. \"You put off and off; and you'll never do\nit! I hate such shilly-shallying! Why can't you make up your mind one\nway or the other? Say downright you don't mean to change, instead of\npretending you want to, and never doing it! I'm sick of your saying\nthat 'by-and-by' you'll do it! If you don't take care, you'll put it\noff till too late, and then where will you be? You're as weak as water!\"\n\n\"Thank you!\" said Honey placidly, though I could tell by her face she\nwas angry. \"And you're a hypocrite if your temper can flare up over\nnothing so!\"\n\nI dashed into bed, and worked off my indignation under the bedclothes.\n\nA quarter of an hour later, thoroughly ashamed of myself, I sprang up\nand went over to Honey's bed.\n\n\"I'm awfully sorry,\" I said penitently; \"do forgive me! But you don't\nknow how I long for you to be as happy as I am; and I'm so afraid you\nwill never do it unless you make a start now. God has been so good in\npreserving Pixie's life.\"\n\nHoney was not demonstrative\u2014none of us were\u2014but she gave my arm a\nsqueeze.\n\n\"All right, Li! I don't really think you a hypocrite, but don't give me\nup yet. I really will start soon, but not to-night; and I have thanked\nGod for sending Pixie back\u2014I really have.\"\n\nI crept back into bed a little comforted, and then I determined that\nI would pray three or four times every day that Honey and Thunder\nmight become true Christians. \"If God can answer one prayer, He will\nanother,\" I argued; \"and I expect He would much rather have them\nChristians than save Pixie from drowning; for I should think He would\nbe glad to have such a darling in heaven!\"\n\nAnd so I prayed, and waited, and wondered why God did not answer my\nprayer sooner; for both Honey and Thunder seemed, in my eyes, to be as\nfar off as ever.\n\n\"A letter from your mother!\" said Fr\u00e4ulein one morning. \"And we home\nshall go at once. The workmen have papered and washed the house, and\nyour father and mother are also returning quickly.\"\n\nI seized hold of Doodle-doo and spun him round and round the table in\ndelight\u2014\n\n\"Hurray! We've been here long enough. When shall we go? To-day?\"\n\n\"I'll tell old Skim-milk, and see her face when she hears the news!\"\n\nAnd Doodle-doo rushed from the room to break the tidings to our\nlandlady, whom we had nicknamed \"Skim-milk\" from the poverty of that\narticle when brought to our table.\n\n[Illustration: \"THE HOUSE OF THE FATTEST OLD FURY THAT EVER LIVED\n ON THE BEST TITBITS OF HER LODGERS!\"]\n\nHe returned chuckling.\n\n\"What did she say?\" we demanded.\n\n\"She tossed up the tip of her nose. 'A blessed thing for me, afore my\ncarpets get wored to rags, and my paint scratched off, and my house\ngets the name in the Terrace of containin' the vulgarest, noisiest,\nimpertinentest set of children, big enough to know better!'\"\n\n\"And what did you say?\"\n\n\"I was very solemn. 'Do you know what name your house has got? The\nhouse of the fattest old fury that ever lived on the best titbits\nof her lodgers, and pried into their pockets and drawers for odd\nhalfpence!' Then she looked round for a broomstick, and I walked off!\"\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VIII\n\nReaping\n\nWE were glad to get home. I think we were getting tired of our long\nholidays, and were not sorry when the day was fixed for the boys to go\nback to school after the Easter holidays.\n\nAnd we all enjoyed having father and mother back again. Mother was a\ngreat invalid, but she was always ready to help and listen to any of\nus, if we went to her with our troubles; and father spoilt us all\u2014so\nFr\u00e4ulein and nurse said. He was always ready to take us sightseeing\nabout London, and we were never tired of accompanying him.\n\nThe evening before the boys went back to school we were having a small\nfarewell gathering. We always had them every quarter, and cook used to\nmake us a huge iced cake with \"farewell\" in pink letters all round it,\nwhich we much appreciated.\n\nMiss Moffat was with us, and so was Uncle Bob, and we spent the evening\nin games and merriment. It was during some dumb charades, with which we\nwere winding up, that Thunder and I were alone for a few minutes. I had\nbeen longing to say something to him before he went back to school, and\nnow this seemed the opportunity.\n\n\"You'll write to me, won't you, Thun?\"\n\n\"Don't I always?\"\n\n\"And, Thun, will you try what I have tried?\"\n\nThunder looked at me for a moment without speaking, then he said\ngruffly\u2014\n\n\"I have.\"\n\n\"Oh, when? How splendid!\"\n\n\"A week or two ago.\"\n\n\"And have you really started? Oh, Thunder, you might have told me!\"\n\n\"I meant to; but you know how hard it is to talk. I've been watching\nyou, and I felt I was all wrong. I think I'm on the right track now,\nonly it's the life at school I dread. You might, you know, pray for me,\nLi, when I'm gone.\"\n\nNo more would he say, and I was so overcome that tears crowded to my\neyes. It seemed too good to be true, and yet it was only the answer\nto my prayers. I knew Thunder was too thoughtful and thorough to be\nanything but real. He always had held on doggedly to anything that he\nhad taken up, and, as Miss Moffat would say, he would have unseen power\nto help him along; so I had not much fear for his future.\n\n[Illustration: \"OH, WHEN? HOW SPLENDID!\"]\n\n\"Why, Mary, you're sunshine itself!\" said Miss Moffat to me later that\nevening. \"What makes you so radiant?\"\n\nI gave her a good squeeze. \"Thunder,\" I said.\n\nShe understood, for she raised her eyebrows, and then nodded and smiled.\n\nJust before she left us, when I was putting on her cloak in the hall, I\nwhispered\u2014\n\n\"Isn't it lovely? But I wish it was Honey.\"\n\nMiss Moffat smiled. \"Pray and work for her, dear child.\"\n\nThe boys went. We girls settled down to a very quiet routine of lessons\nwith Fr\u00e4ulein, and felt dull after our long time of idleness and\ndissipation. And so the spring wore on and summer came, and still Honey\nwavered and said \"By-and-by\" when I talked to her.\n\nOne lovely summer's afternoon we were gathering round the schoolroom\ntable with black looks. It had been a trying day; Fr\u00e4ulein had a\nheadache, and was unusually fidgety and cross, and the heat and\nconfinement had made us careless and idle. After dinner Fr\u00e4ulein went\nto rest in her room, leaving us each so many French exercises to write\nout as impositions, and forbidding us to leave the schoolroom till we\nhad finished them.\n\n\"It's a beastly shame!\" cried Taters, stamping her foot in anger when\nFr\u00e4ulein had departed. \"And I'm not going to do mine. Look!\"\n\nAnd taking up her exercise-book, naughty Taters deliberately tore it to\npieces and scattered the fragments out of the open window.\n\nWe were rather aghast at this proceeding, for Fr\u00e4ulein was not a person\nto be trifled with.\n\n\"You're a little silly,\" Honey said; \"it will only be worse for you in\nthe end.\"\n\n\"It's too bad of Fr\u00e4ulein,\" I grumbled. \"If I was a governess with a\nheadache, I would give fewer lessons to my pupils, not more.\"\n\n\"Even a saint can grumble!\" said Taters, mockingly, and then she ran\nout of the room.\n\nWe heard her whistling on the staircase, and then suddenly there was an\nawful crash, a piercing shriek, and dead silence.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nHoney and I rushed to the door, and I shall never forget the moment\nwhen, looking over the balusters, we saw Taters\u2014a confused heap in the\nhall below. She had been sliding on the rails, a forbidden pastime, and\nin some way or other had overbalanced herself.\n\nMother rushed from her room, and was the first to lift her up; the\nservants and Fr\u00e4ulein crowded round, and then nurse came up and drew us\ninto the nursery.\n\nHoney was as white as death, and shaking like a leaf. \"She isn't dead,\nnurse! Oh, she can't be dead!\"\n\n\"Pray God she mayn't be!\" responded nurse. And she left us with Pixie,\nwhile she went to give her help.\n\nOur doctor came almost immediately, and there were hushed voices and\nfootsteps all the evening. We were told when we went to bed that Taters\nwas alive, but she had broken an arm, and concussion of the brain was\nfeared.\n\n\nFor weeks she lay between life and death. Honey and I were too\nmiserable for words. And I kept praying in my heart, \"O God, heal her;\nlet her live\u2014save her!\"\n\nBut at last she began to recover, and the first day that we heard the\ngood news from nurse, \"The doctor says she'll do nicely now,\" Honey\nturned to me with earnest resolve in her face\u2014\n\n\"Li, I've been fighting against God and holding back all this time. Now\nI will give myself up to Him. I want to be a Christian like you. I have\nbeen miserable about myself ever since you altered so. Tell me what to\ndo.\"\n\nI tried to tell her, but somehow it was not very easy until I got hold\nof my Bible, and then that made it clear. I made her look at \"Him that\ncometh to Me I will in no wise cast out.\"\n\nAnd then she said, \"That will do, Li,\" and left the room.\n\nI did not go near her, but put up a tiny prayer to God that He would\ntake her as I felt He had taken me, and again I thanked Him for\nanswered prayer.\n\nIt was some days before Honey felt sure of herself, but at last she\nseemed to get the peace of mind she was wanting.\n\n\"It is so good of God to have been so patient with me,\" she said. \"I\nbelieve if Taters had not been nearly killed, I should never have made\nup my mind; but I never felt before how quickly we could die. Oh, Li,\nsuppose Taters had been killed on the spot!\"\n\nI shuddered. \"God has saved her,\" I said, \"and now we must pray for\nher. I should like her to start too. Wouldn't it be splendid if we\nthree were all of the same mind before the boys came back from their\nholidays?\"\n\nTaters was much impressed during her illness, but she disappointed us\nwhen she was well again, for she seemed more thoughtless than ever.\n\nMiss Moffat comforted me when I talked it over with her, by saying,\n\"God has been good in letting you reap two of your family, my child. Go\non praying and working, and remember, with you young people, that the\nlife tells more than the words.\"\n\n\"And I suppose it teaches us to be patient and persevering in prayer!\"\n\nMiss Moffat nodded and smiled. \"'Let us not be weary in well doing: for\nin due season we shall reap, if we faint not.'\"\n\n\n\n                            THE END\n\n\n\n                          PRINTED BY\n                 HAZELL, WATSON, AND VINEY, LD.\n                     LONDON AND AYLESBURY.","title":"A thoughtless seven","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":10577}