"Do you hear, mama? It says, `Whosoever believeth.' Are you listening, mama?" said Selina eagerly. "My darling, I know not what to believe, or what to do," said Mrs Vane sadly. "I have never in all my life thought about these things." "No," said Selina, turning her eager face towards the stranger. "We have never thought about these things. Could we begin now, do you think? and what must we do?" Frederica and Tessie looked and listened in amazement. It was so unlike Selina to have anything to say to a stranger. Their mother looked as eager as she did, and very anxious; and she said, before the stranger could reply,-- "Yes, the children might begin now. As for me, I can do nothing." "But," said the old man gently, "it does not say _do_, but believe." "Surely, mama, `Whosoever believeth.' And what are we to believe?" "The text says, `Whosoever believeth in Him'." "Yes--that is Jesus. And what are we to believe?" "All that the Bible says of Him. Have you heard about Him at all, my child?" "Yes. In the New Testament. We believe all that. What is the first, Fred? Oh! I remember: `Thou shalt call His name Jesus; for He shall save His people from their sins.'" And Frederica added, "`And they shall call His name Emmanuel, which is, being interpreted, God with us.'" "We are to believe that He saves His people from their sins," said Selina. "Does that mean us too? Who are God's people?" "They who seek to know Him. They who love Him, and do His will. They whom He loves and will save." There was a pause of some minutes; then Selina said,-- "We seek to know Him, and--I love Him. I do not know how to do His will." "His will is written in His Word, and He Himself will teach you," said the stranger. Then Tessie broke in flippantly,-- "But how are we to know? Some say one thing, and some another. Father Jerome says it is the last thing we should do--to read the Bible for ourselves. And how are we to know?" "But we do read it," said Frederica. "And there is no use in asking what Mr Jerome St. Cyr would wish us to do." "But for my part, I think he is quite as likely to be right as those others," said Tessie. "There are many more who are of his opinion than of ours. And it would be a shocking thing to say that all the crowds of people who go to his church are all wrong." "Hush, Tessie dear, and listen," said Selina. "Mama dear, are you very tired? Would you like to hear more?" If Selina could have seen her mother's face, she would not have asked. "Tell us more!" said she. "Begin at the beginning," said Fred, and she read, "Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise."