EUPHRASIA read slowly, for there was no need to hurry. She had nothing else to occupy her time. When she had reached the last verse, it took shape in the tones of Mrs. Landor, and she knew then where she had heard the words. She saw herself in Mrs. Landor's room, with Mrs. Landor by her side. "My dear, try for yourself! Only try, and prove for yourself how kind and true a Master He is!" This also came back in Mrs. Landor's quiet voice. "Is He so kind?" the girl asked dreamily. "So very very kind! I have always thought of Him as good and just and true—all that, of course. And angry, if one did wrong—only 'angry' never seems quite the right word. But KIND—'most wonderfully kind'—is that what God is really and truly like?" Another utterance sprang from her very heart,—"If He is, how I could love Him!" "Why don't I?" came next. "I suppose I haven't known before what He is really like—that He is so truly kind." Recollections arose, unbidden, of the "old old story" of how the Son of God went to and fro on earth, ever with infinite kindness listening to all who spoke, answering all who petitioned, accompanying all who asked Him to go. "He was kind—He is kind—and He was—is—God! He is just the same now as then. No difference at all. 'The heart of the Eternal is most wonderfully kind!' Doesn't that mean that He is kind still, even when He sends trouble, because He only sends it for our good? . . . I wonder how this can be for my good, except to make me do next time exactly what I think I ought. Yes, it may be that. But wouldn't my visit alone have been disappointing enough without the accident? I did expect so much from it; and it has all turned out to be worth nothing,—Letitia to be no real friend at all. Wouldn't that have been punishment enough, I wonder, without my having to be shut up here for a whole month or more, where nobody wants me? And I can do no good to anybody, and I am wanted at home! Is it just a punishment for being wilful? Well, I shan't soon forget it all! "'There is no place where earth's sorrows Are more felt than up in heaven—' "Is that true too? I never even thought of such a thing before. Are the angels sorry up There when any of us are in trouble?—sorry now because I am dull and alone! And most of all, is God Himself sorry, even though He has sent the trouble? Of course, I brought it on myself by being careless and in a hurry, and by coming here at all. But still I suppose God allowed it. And now, perhaps, all the while He really is sorry for me, because He is so wonderfully kind!" Euphrasia was startled to find some quick drops falling. "How do you do?" a voice said by her side, not an echo this time of past utterances. Mr. Wells took her hand as he spoke. "Did you not hear me ask leave to come in? The door was open, and I saw you lying here in full view." "Oh, was the door open? I didn't know. I thought I was alone." Euphrasia spoke shamefacedly, conscious of huskiness and wet eyes.