Children -- Religious life -- Juvenile fiction; Christian life -- Juvenile fiction; Tableaux -- Juvenile fiction
"Is there anything you want, Daisy?" he said with a physician's
familiarity.
"No, sir,--I thank you."
"Mrs. Benoit takes good care of you?"
"Very good."
The manner of Daisy's speech was like her looks; childlike enough, and
yet with a deliberate utterance unlike a child.
"What do you think about, as you lie there all day?" he said.
The question had been put with a somewhat careless curiosity; but at
that he saw a pink flush rise and spread itself all over Daisy's pale
face; the grey eyes looked at him steadily, with no doubt of some
thoughts behind them. Dr. Sandford listened for her answer. What _was_
the child thinking about? She spoke at last with that same sweet
deliberateness.
"I have been thinking, Dr. Sandford, about what Jesus did for me."
"What was that?" said the doctor in considerable surprise.
"Because it was so hard for me to keep still to-day, I thought--you
know--how it must have been--"
The flush deepened on the cheeks, and Daisy's eyes were swimming full of
tears. Dr. Sandford looked, in much surprise; perhaps he was at some
pains to comprehend what all this meant.
"How it must have been when?" said he, bending over Daisy's couch.
"You know, Dr. Sandford," she said tenderly. "When he was on the
cross--and couldn't move----"
Daisy gave way. She put her hands over her face. The doctor stood erect,
looking at her; glanced his grave eyes at Mrs. Benoit and at her again;
then made a step towards Juanita.
"No excitement is permitted," he said. "You must keep her from it. Do
you understand?"
"Yes, sir," Juanita said. But her face was all alight.
"Have you been reading some of those stories to her?"
"I have not been reading to her at all to-day, if his honour pleases."
"Daisy," said Dr. Sandford, coming back to the couch, "what put such
thoughts into your head?"
"I felt so badly to-day." She spoke with her usual collectedness again.
"Well, try and not mind it. You will feel better in a day or two. Do you
know when that happened that you were talking about?"
"Yes, sir."
"When was it?"
"More than eighteen hundred years ago."
"Do you think it is worth your while to be troubled for what happened
eighteen hundred years ago?"
"I think it is just the same as if it happened now," said Daisy, without
moving her eyes.
"Do you? By what power of reasoning?"
"I don't think I know how to reason," said Daisy. "It is feeling."
"How does feeling manage it?"
Daisy discerned the tone of the question, looked at her questioner, and
answered with tender seriousness:
"I know the Lord Jesus did that for me; and I know he is in heaven now."
The doctor kept silence a minute. "Daisy," said he, "you are under my
orders at present. You must mind me. You are to take a cup of tea, and a
piece of toast, if you like; then you are to go to sleep and keep quiet,
and not think of anything that happened more than an hour ago. Will
you?"
"I will try to be quiet," said Daisy.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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