"Ah yes; I will give you this. It will tell you what to do." And she put the book into the child's hands. "You will read a chapter every day till I come?" The little girl gladly promised, but was sad at the parting; for never an hour passed so cheerily as the hour with the kind teacher. "You may be sure I'll come again, for _He_ sends me," said the lady. And she looked up once more with the heavenly face, and then stooped till her soft lips touched the child's forehead; and, while the pressure of the gentle kiss thrilled through the very soul of the little girl, her friend was gone. CHAPTER IV "Did she come again?" asked Maddie, who had got upon her knees in front of Alice, with mouth and eyes and ears wide open for the story. "Oh yes; many and many a time," said Alice. "And she taught the little girl to see her Father's love in the trees, and the flowers, and all about, as she walked amid his beautiful creation; and she learned to be a neat, tidy little girl, instead of the dirty, miserable creature that sat crying in the dirt by the roadside when she first saw her friend. The lady taught her to look upon herself as greatly beloved by her Father, and after that she was not miserable any more." "Did you ever see the little princess?" asked Lolly, raising her head from Alice's lap and looking earnestly at her. "Yes, indeed. Every day since the lady came to her," said Alice. "She lives in the same cottage now; but it has grown to be a beautiful place; for God's flowers are all about it, and God's sun streams in at the window, and all over the mossy roof, like a golden flood,--and God himself is always with her to keep her from harm and from being lonely or sad." And as Alice said this, the tears glistened in her blue eyes, as the dew-drops sparkle through the sunlight in the violets. "We'll go and see her now," continued she; "and I'll show you two other little exiled princesses." And she took Lolly and Maddie down by the brook-side, and bade them look in her great mirror; and there they saw themselves and Alice--all children of the great King. "Ah, now I know!" said Maddie, clapping her hands. "_You_ are the little princess, Alice, and Miss Mason is the good lady. Is she so nice as all that?" "_Just as nice_, dear Maddie," replied Alice; "and if you and Lolly will go with me to the Sunday-school, she'll tell us a great many more beautiful stories, to help us on our way to our heavenly home. "But come. It is nearly time for us to go now. Mother will be looking for me. Good-bye." And the little girl with the sunny heart bounded into the cottage with a smile and a kiss for her mother. CHAPTER V. When Alice left the children, they went sauntering along the road towards home. Very slowly they walked, and not joyously and hopefully, as little children do who think of their father's house as the brightest and dearest spot in the whole world.