Nay then, said Mercy, I will look no more on him, for I will not have a clog to my soul. Prudence:--If you go on as you have set out, and work so hard for the poor, he will soon cool. So the next time he came, he found her at her work. What, still at it? said he. Mercy:--Yes. Mr. Brisk:--How much can you earn in the day. Mercy:--I work at these things for the good of those for whom I do them; and more than this, to do the will of Him who was slain on the cross for me. With that his face fell, and he came no more to see her. Prudence:--Did I not tell you that Mr. Brisk would soon flee from you? Yea, he may seem to love Mercy, but Mercy and he should not tread the same road of life side by side. Now Matthew, the son of Christiana, fell sick, so they sent to Mr. Skill to cure him. Then said he: Tell me what he eats. Christiana:--Well, there is no food here but what is good. Mr. Skill:--This boy has in him a crude mass of food, which if I do not use the means to get rid of, he will die. Samuel said to Christiana, What was it that you saw Matthew pick up and eat when we came from the gate which is at the head of this way? Christiana:--It was some of the fruit that grows there; I chid him for it. Skill:--I felt sure that it was some bad food; now that fruit hurts more than all, for it is the fruit from Beelzebub's grounds. Did no one warn you of it? Some fall down dead when they eat it. Then Christiana wept and said, What shall I do for my son? Pray, Sir, try your best to cure him, let it cost what it may. Then Skill gave strange drugs to him, which he would not take. So Christiana put one of them to the tip of her tongue. Oh, Matthew, said she, it is sweet, sweet as balm; if you love me, if you love Mercy, if you love your life, do take it! So in time he did, and felt grief for his sin. He quite lost the pain, so that with a staff he could walk, and went from room to room to talk with Mercy, Prudence, Piety and Charity. Christiana:--Pray, Sir, what else are these Pills good for? Skill:--They are good for all those that go on their way to The Celestial City. Christiana:--I pray of you to make me up a large box full of them, for if I can get these, I will take none else. Skill:--I make no doubt that if a man will but use them as he should, he could not die. But good Christiana, these pills will be of no use if you do not give them as I have done, and that is, in a glass of grief for the sins of those who take them. So he gave some to Christiana and the rest of her boys, and to Mercy; he bade Matthew, too, keep a good look out that he ate no more green plums; then he gave them a kiss, and went his way. Now, as they had spent some time here, they made a move to go. Then Joseph, who was Christiana's third, son, said to her: You were to send to the house of Mr. Interpreter to beg him to grant that Mr. Great-heart should go with us as our guide. Good boy! said Christiana, I had not thought of it.