"There was no tree to climb," replied Mrs. Power. "The only thing she could do was to crouch down, crying and trembling on the ground, and try to hide herself under the brambles by the road-side. Her one thought was, ’I’m so glad father’s looking, for he’ll be sure to come and help.’ Sure enough before either the brindled cow or the dog had reached the spot where she lay, her father’s hearty voice was calling to her not to fear, and the next moment she was safe in his strong arms, clinging to him with all her tiny might." "What a good thing he kept his promise and didn’t forget to watch!" exclaimed Julius. "Supposing he’d been looking the other way when the cow got out!" "There’s my lesson," said Mrs. Power, smiling. "To know that her father’s eye was following her all the time was the greatest comfort she had. It is just the same with us in regard to God. If we look on Him as our kind, loving Father and Friend, ready to help and to save, it will only give us joy to think of His watchful eye upon us, noticing everything that happens to us. It will make us more careful than ever not to displease Him, but all the same it will cause us to feel very safe and happy. It is a perfectly different case to that of the poor prisoner living in constant dread of the terrible eye of his jailor." "I think I’ll paint the verse after all," remarked Julius after a pause, in which the boys had been silently considering the matter. "I’d like to feel God was my Friend," he said to himself as he walked home. "But all the same there’s a heap of things I wouldn’t like Him to see." Mr. Field drove up in the motor as Julius arrived at the door. A glance at his face showed the boy that his father had not returned in the best of tempers. His eyebrows were drawn together in a nervous frown, and his voice, as he gave some orders to the chauffeur, was harsh and imperious. "Did you see the earl?" asked Julius. "No, I didn’t," was the abrupt reply. "Don’t come bothering me with questions, Julius. I haven’t time to listen to your chatter just now." The truth was that Mr. Field’s visit to Lanthorne Abbey had not turned out so successful as he had expected it to be. The interview with Judge Simmons had given him the opportunity to call which he had so long and vainly sought, and it was under pretext of seeing him once more that he had set off that day. "I’ll be certain to find them all in on Sunday afternoon," he meditated, as he made his plans, "and as I know the judge is leaving to-morrow early, it will only look neighbourly if I run over to give him a few more tips about that mine before he goes." It was therefore a great disappointment to him to find that the earl was not at home, it being his invariable custom to walk over to tea with his mother every week, at the Dower House about two miles away, where she had resided ever since his father’s death. The countess too was absent, so he was told, when he enquired for her.