Family life -- Juvenile fiction; Voyages and travels -- Juvenile fiction
Had she then got home? Was this happy, restful place not even England?
Was all the dull and weary wandering over, and had she got home--to the
best home--the home where Jesus dwelt? She really thought it must be
so, and this would account for the softness of this little bed, and the
delicious purity of the beautiful room. Yes, she heard the singing very
distinctly; "welcome home" came over and over again to her ears. She
opened her eyes. Yes, surely this was heaven, and those were the angels
singing. How soft and full and rich their voices sounded.
She tried to raise her head off her pillow, but this she found she
could not manage. Where she lay, however, she could see all over the
small room. She was alone, with just the faint, sweet breath of roses
fanning her cheeks, and that delicious music in the distance. Yes, she
certainly must be in the home of Jesus, and soon He would come to see
her, and she would talk with Him face to face.
She remembered in a dim kind of way that she had gone to sleep in great
trouble and perplexity. But there was no trouble lying on her heart
now. She was in the home where no one had any trouble; and when she
told Jesus all her story, he would make everything right. Just then a
voice, singing the same sweet refrain, came along the passage. As it
got near, the music ceased, the door softly opened, and a young woman
with golden hair and the brightest of bright faces came softly in.
Seeing Cecile with her eyes open, she went gladly up to the bed, and,
bending over her, said in a full but gentle voice:
"Ah! dear English little one, how glad I am that you are better!"
"Yes, I'm quite well," answered Cecile, in her feeble tone. Then she
added, looking up wistfully: "Please, how soon may I see Jesus?"
At these words the pleased expression vanished from the young woman's
face. She looked at Cecile in pity and alarm, and saying softly to
herself, "Ah! she isn't better, then," turned away with a sigh; but
Cecile lifted a feeble hand to detain her.
"Please, I'm much better. I'm quite well," she said. "This is heaven,
isn't it?"
"No," answered the young woman. She was less alarmed now, and she
turned and gazed hard at the child. "No," she said, "we thought you
were going to heaven. But I do believe you really are better. No, my
dear little girl! this is very different from heaven. This is only a
French farm; a farm in the Landes--pretty enough! but still very
different from heaven. You have been very ill, and have been lying on
that little bed for the last fortnight, and we did fear that you'd die.
We brought you here, and, thanks to my good mother-in-law and our
doctor, we have, I do trust, brought you through, and now you must
sleep and not talk any more."
"But please, ma'am, if this is a French farm, how do you speak English?"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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