"You almost lead me to feel that not far away there is some
one, good and tender-hearted, who will take me by the hand with
reassuring kindness, as you have."
"And you are right. Why, bless you, my child, religion doesn't do
us much good until we learn to know our Lord as 'good and tender-hearted,'
and so near, too, that we can speak to him, whenever we wish, as
the disciples did in old times. So don't be one bit discouraged;
see, I'll fasten your horse right here in the shade, and by and by
I'll have him fed, for you must spend the day with us, and not go
back until the cool of the evening. It hasn't seemed hospitable
that you should have stood so long here under the trees; and I
didn't mean that you should, but things never turn out as we expect."
"It is often well they don't," thought Ida, as she looked around
the quiet and quaintly beautiful spot, to which a kind Providence
had brought her. It seemed as if her burden already were beginning
to grow lighter.
"Now come in, my child, and tell me all your trouble."
"Please, Mr. Eltinge, may I not go back with you into the garden?"
"Yes, why not? We can talk there just as well;" and he led her
to a rustic seat in a shady walk, while from a tool-house near he
brought out for himself a chair that had lost its back.
Pages:
444
445
446
447
448
449
450
451
452
453
454
455
456
457
458
459
460
461
462
463
464
465
466
467
468