manage

"No, it's not likely; and even if she should, you will with some one for the other children. I am quite willing to trust my patients with this careful little person, since she is not afraid. The little fellow seems quite fond of her. I suppose you don't mind being kept awake a little for one night ?" he said, as he again stooped over the flushed face of the little boy.

"Oh, no! And even if I go to sleep, I wake very easily. The least movement wakes me. I think you can trust me, ma'am; and I can call you or Mrs. Greenly at any moment, you know."

"I have trusted her all the winter, as I have never been able to trust any one with the children before," said Mrs. Lee to the doctor. "Christie has been very good to the children, and to me too. I am only afraid I have put too much on her such a child as she is."

Christie's face, which had been pale enough before, crimsoned all over with pleasure at the words of Mrs. Lee. "I am quite strong; at least, I am much stronger than I look," she said.

'Well, you are to stay with little Harry to-night, at any rate, and I hope I may find him much better in the morning," said the doctor.

He gave some further directions about the child's drink and medicine, and went away. Christie heard him in the passage urging upon Mrs. Lee the necessity of keeping herself quiet and taking rest. The child, he assured her, was in no danger; but he would not answer for the consequences to herself should she suffer her over-anxiety to bring on a return of the illness from which she had only just recovered. He did not leave her till he saw her resting on the sofa in her own room; and Christie did not see her again till the house had become quiet for the night.

Mrs. Greenly had paid one brief visit to the sick-room, and then, weary with the exertions of the week, betook herself to the attic-nursery to rest. Christie was left quite alone, but her solitary musings were not so sad as they had been many a time. And sitting there in the dim light of the night-lamp, she said to herself, "I can never, never have such sad thoughts again."

CHAPTER X.

THE SHADOW OF DEATH.

T was past midnight when Mrs. Lee entered the nursery again. Little Harry was on the bed, and his weary nurse was preparing to lie down

beside him.

"He seems to be sleeping quietly," said his mother, as she bent over him.

"Yes, ma'am—much more quietly than he did last night. I think he will have a good night," said Christie. Mrs. Lee seated herself on the side of the low bed, and listened to his quick, irregular breathing.

"I was beginning to hope that all the others might escape, now that Letty is so well," she said; "but if Harry gets over it I shall be glad. It is always well that children should have these diseases while they are at home, if they must have them—poor darlings!"

She looked grave, and even sad as she spoke; but her face was not so pale, and she did not look so hopeless as she had done when the doctor was present.

"I feel quite rested and refreshed," she said, after a few moments. "I have been asleep two or three hours. You

had better go upstairs and lie down awhile, and I will stay with Harry the rest of the night. You look very tired, Christie."

"I was just going to lie down here," said Christie.

Do you think you need to sit up, ma'am? He seems sleeping so quietly, and the least movement he can make will wake me. I can keep a light burning, and call you at any moment. I do not think you need to sit up."

"I am afraid you will not rest much with him, if his least movement will wake you," said Mrs. Lee, doubtfully. "Oh, I wake and sleep again very easily," said Christie, cheerfully. "I am used to it now."

Still Mrs. Lee lingered, watching the child with anxious eyes, and now and then sighing deeply. Christie sent many a pitying glance towards her, wondering if any trouble that she knew nothing of was added to the anxiety with which she regarded her child. She longed to be able to comfort her. Her heart was full of sympathy for her— sympathy which she did not venture to express in words. She did not even let her looks express it, but took up her Bible, that she might not seem to be watching her. Mrs. Lee roused herself at last, and turning to Christie, said: "Mrs. Greenly tells me that Mr. G., the famous preacher, was in town to-day. And, by-the-by, you must have heard him. He preached in Church this morn

ing. You were there, I suppose ?"

"Yes; I was there," said Christie, with great interest. "There was a strange minister preached; but I didn't know that he was a great man. That was the reason there was such a crowd of people, I suppose. I wondered why it was."

"You didn't like him, then? or you didn't think him a great man ?" said Mrs. Lee, smiling.

M

"Oh, yes," said she, eagerly; "I liked him. But I wasn't thinking about him as a great man; I wasn't thinking of him at all-only of what he said."

"He told you something new, then?" said Mrs. Lee. "No! Oh, no! Nothing new; nothing that I had not heard many times before. And yet it seemed to come to me as new!" she added, a strange, sweet smile passing over her face.

"What did he say that was new to you?"

"Some things he said that I shall never forget. He was telling us of God's love to man, shown in many ways, but most and best of all in the work of redemption. It wasn't new, what he said; and yet-I don't know how it was-I seemed to see it as I never saw it before." And again the same bright smile flashed over her countenance.

"The work of redemption ?" repeated Mrs. Lee; and there was a questioning tone in her voice that made Christie look at her doubtfully before replying.

"Yes; you know, 'God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him might not perish, but have eternal life.' And 'All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all.' And there are many more verses in the Bible like this. One of them says, 'When there was no eye to pity, or hand to save, God's eye pitied, and His own arm brought salvation.' I'm not sure that these are the exact words, but that is the meaning of the verse."

66

Brought salvation !" repeated Mrs. Lee. That means that God's people will be saved, and will go to heaven when they die ?"

"Yes," said Christie, hesitatingly. "It means that; but it means something more. We don't have to wait till