"What can be thought of the beautiful flowers of usefulness, then, when we hear that this delicate plant of God's Word is being choked by such worldliness? We know that the root and the delicate green blade are pining and withering, and therefore these flowers can only be poor imitations of what the real ones would be. But now, my dear young ladies, having had our little talk, you will let me get you a glass of milk and a biscuit." And the old lady bustled about in spite of their assurances that they did not need anything. Mabel sat silently wondering over the strange turn her patronizing of the poor had suddenly taken. But the old woman's words—her new reading of the parable of the sower—had likewise made a deep impression upon her mind. It had been presented to her in a new aspect. It was not simply the written word that might be listened to and forgotten, and listened to again, but the very Life of God—the Word—the Light which lighteth every man—the Christ-life in the heart that was meant. And this, like a tender blade of corn, was likely to be choked by giving way to the very thoughts, and feelings, and passions that had ruled her life lately. Very quietly she sat and pondered over these things while she ate her biscuit and sipped her milk, while Isabel chatted with their hostess. Then arose the question,—Had this seed of grace ever been planted in her heart? And then she repeated the well-known lines: "'Tis a point I long to know— Oft it causes anxious thought— Do I love the Lord or no? Am I his, or am I not?" But she found no answer to her question. —————— CHAPTER V. THE MUSICAL PARTY. AS time went on, Mrs. Randolph relaxed her vigilance over Mabel's lessons. And it soon came to be the rule that whenever her aunt and elder cousin spent the evening from home, she went down to the drawing-room with Isabel and her uncle. It was a sort of stolen pleasure that they all enjoyed, and for which Isabel dressed with even more care than usual, wearing a white muslin or light silk dress for these pleasant home evenings. "Make yourself look as pretty as you can, Mabel," she would say, "for papa likes pretty things." And so Mabel's one light silk dress was frequently donned, and unfortunately soon lost its freshness—a fact, however, that she scarcely noticed until it was announced that her aunt would give a musical party, and her uncle suggested that she should take an active part in it. "Mabel can play better than most girls," he remarked one morning at breakfast-time, when the musical party was being discussed. "What do you say, Isabel?" "Yes, indeed, papa, she can," replied the young lady. For Isabel had generously insisted that as her cousin could play better than herself, her father should enjoy the pleasure of hearing her when they all spent the evening together.