Then her aunt rose and turned to the piano. "Now, childie, we must do the next duty that comes to our hand. Let us have a look at this tiresome music!" Milly went at it with a good will, now, and soon conquered the difficulty; and then, set free, she went up into her bedroom and knelt down at her bedside for one moment. "Lord Jesus," she said, "I want to love Thee and serve Thee all my life—teach me how!" CHAPTER VIII. "SERVES HIM RIGHT!" "NOW, Aunt Ruth! See, the fire is blazing, and the wintry prospect is shut out, let us have a story or something!" Their Aunt glanced on their eager faces, illumined by the firelight, and she smiled as she paused an instant. "Serves him right!" she exclaimed, and the children looked round almost startled. They heard such words from each other occasionally, but certainly not from their gentle Aunt. "'Serves him right,'" she repeated. "'He did it to me, and it's just as well he should feel the pinch himself!'" "'What did he do, Rollo?' asked a school-fellow, curiously." "'When I went down in class the other day, you should have seen the look in George's eyes! As he took his place above me, he muttered beneath his breath, "You should have worked harder last night, then it wouldn't have happened!" He knew I had a frightful headache, and could barely see a line.'" "'Well,' said his school-fellow, 'George has got his deserts this time, for Joey hid his book till the last minute, and then found it, as innocent as anything, and we knew he'd be bound to go down, for he hadn't a moment to prepare.'" "Rollo turned away, but his heart was heavy. It was all very well to be glad that his overbearing school-fellow had gone down in class; but such a trick as that was beyond him." "He raced off to his dinner at home, and his footmarks were the only ones across the snowy fields." "When he got in, the dinner was not quite ready, and he went and sat down in front of the fire, by which his little crippled sister lay on her couch." "'Isn't all right to-day, Rollo?' she asked, wistfully." "He looked up, then back to the fire." "'Nothing particular,' he mumbled." "'I'm sure there is,' she said gently." "'It's only that George Runton is such a cad, and I said it served him right to go down in his class—'" "'Well? Did you get blamed for saying that?' she asked." "'By nobody but myself. I had a sort of feeling it wasn't nice of me: but I don't know why exactly. It did serve him right, and yet—'" "'I know!' said Mary, very tenderly; 'it wasn't like "His compassions" was it?'" "'His compassions?' asked Rollo, equally gently, for this little suffering sister was his pet and darling." "'Don't you know it says, "His compassions fail not; they are new every morning." I'm often glad of that.'" "'Why particularly?'"