"And I have been thinking, children, that this is just like Jesus. "We, like those sailors, sorrowful, and helpless, and thirsty, are longing to get to port, that we may be satisfied and lose our misery; and there, all the while, is the life-giving water close to us, only waiting for us to let down the bucket of our faith, and drink, and find that He satisfies every need." [Illustration] [Illustration] CHAPTER XX. CROSSES. AFTER this Christina went home, and Ada gradually resumed her old ways, so far as they could be taken up without the one who had been the moving spring of the house. There were times when she felt the misery of being motherless was almost more than she could bear; times when everything went wrong; when the children were cross, and there was no one to settle the quarrels; when Nellie wished things done which she considered unreasonable; when Arthur was wretched, and she could offer no comfort; when Tom was suffering, and there was no one to appeal to about him. At these times Ada would chafe bitterly against the cruel blow which had ruined her happiness, and she would add to the general discomfort by going about with a cloud on her face, and irritation in her whole manner. Such days as these were hard to bear. Nellie at times well-nigh fainted under their difficulty. But when things seemed at the worst, words would come back to her, and the blessed Spirit would remind her: "When my heart was overwhelmed within me, then Thou knewest my path;" and the thought that God knew, and was ready to help, was sure consolation, and Nellie took courage again. "There cannot be a need greater than He can supply, dear," her father said to her one day, when he found her mending a great heap of stockings, and looking lonely and desolate. She could only kiss his kind face, and go on with her work, blinded with tears. Her dear, unselfish father! But where Nellie could submit, and rest on the assurance of everlasting love, Ada had to fight a hard battle, inch by inch; and in the struggle, she grew older fast, and felt as if the days were years. About a fortnight after Wilmot Elliot's first call, he came again. This time it was in the evening, when they were all sitting together in the drawing room. Arthur was reading aloud, and Dr. Arundel rested in his armchair listening, or perhaps not listening, with his eyes closed. When Wilmot was asked in, Dr. Arundel roused himself, and entered into a pleasant conversation with the young fellow, and Nellie learnt more about his avocations and doings in that hour's talk, than she had done all the while she was at Shellford. More in that way, but not so much in other ways, she thought. Presently the conversation turned on the narrow escape they had all had at the picnic, and Wilmot explained to them many things which Nellie had never yet had the heart to tell them. Arthur was delighted to hear it all, and the circle gathered round their visitor, eagerly asking questions.