"Don't, my dear," said her mother deprecatingly. "But then," said Nellie, her eyes filling with tears, "if we thought of all those things, we should never be happy for a moment." "That's just it," answered Maude; "if I had any thing I valued very much in life (which I haven't), I should be thinking all the time I should lose it." "That would be dreadful," said Nellie; "but I think God is better to us than that." "But, Nellie, people's best-loved ones do die sometimes," said Maude. "Yes," she answered thoughtfully; "but don't you think, Mrs. Elliot, we cannot always understand what God does, and must wait?" Mrs. Elliot answered somewhat constrainedly, "My dear, you must not appeal to me. I have not been able to understand the dealings of Providence." "Somehow," said Nellie hesitating, "mamma thinks that we shall be able to understand some day, though we cannot now." "It is often very hard and very mysterious," said Mrs. Elliot, looking along the lane in a hopeless kind of way that made Nellie's heart ache. Maude sprang up, and went to peep round a bend, to look for the others, and Nellie put her hand softly on Mrs. Elliot's. "I would rather trust Him!" she said gently, looking with full eyes into the careworn widow's face. "I do not know, my dear; life has been a long struggle with me, and I have had but little joy, and now my best is gone, and I have nothing left but an empty chair and an empty heart." "It must be dreadful," said Nellie; "but, oh, forgive me, if I say that I know Jesus Christ is able to give you comfort and peace." "Thank you, dear. I know at least that you think so," answered Mrs. Elliot, pressing her hand kindly. "Here they come," said Maude. "How pretty they look winding up the road in their fresh muslin dresses and sailor hats." "We have overtaken you at last," said Hope; "and we have been settling the order of march for the next stage; three little ones are to ride next." "Jump in, then," said Mrs. Elliot; and they all again set forward. Nellie had turned to pick some wild roses in the hedge, and Wilmot followed her, saying, "Those are quite dusty, Miss Arundel, to what we shall find further on, unless you particularly want these?" Nellie raised her head, and Wilmot saw traces of tears on her face. She glanced at him, and away, in some confusion, and said, nervously throwing those down she had already gathered, "Oh, it does not matter in the least. I only thought they were so pretty." She hastened after the others, while Wilmot exclaimed: "There is not the least hurry, Miss Arundel; we all do just as we like." "The others would not 'like' to be kept back by us," she answered, laughing a little.