ut this ought to be the chief thing for you as well as for David,
ought it not?"

"I have not thought about it, Aunt Mary."

"You have not taken time. You have fallen on easy days hitherto. It
would have been difficult to convince you that, to be a servant of God,
a follower of the Lord Jesus is the chief thing--the only thing, while
each day brought with it enough to satisfy you. This trouble, which has
come upon you all, may have been needed--to make you think about it."

Philip answered nothing, but sat gazing at the clouds, or at the leaves
which rustled at the window, with his cheek upon his hand. There is a
time to keep silence and a time to speak, and Mrs Inglis could not be
sure on which of these she had fallen. She longed to say just the right
word to him, but hitherto her words had fallen like water on the rock,
which, in the first gleam of sunshine, disappears. He always listened,
grave or smiling, as the occasion seemed to demand. He listened with
eagerness, pleased at her interest in him, pleased to be treated like
one of the children, to be praised or chidden, and, for all that she
could see, as well pleased with the one as with the other. As she sat
watching him in silence, Mrs Inglis thought of Violet's complaint
against him. "He is not in earnest. He cares only for his own
pleasure."

"Ah! well! The Master knows how to deal with him, though I do not," she
said to herself. Aloud, she said, "You must not suppose that I mean
that religion is for a time of trouble, more than for a time of
prosperity. It is the chief thing always--the only thing. But, in a
time of trouble, our need of something beyond what is in ourselves, or
in the world, is brought home to us. Philip, dear lad, it is a
wonderful thing to be a soldier and servant of the Lord Jesus. It is a
service which satisfies--which ennobles. All else may fail us, or
fetter us, or lead us astray. But, belonging to Christ--being one with
Him--nothing can harm us truly. Are you to lose all this, Philip?
Letting it pass by you--not _thinking_ about it?"

She had no time to add more, nor had he time to answer her, even if he
could have found the words. For first David came in, and then Jem, all
black and dirty from the forge, and, proud of it, evidently. His
greeting was rather noisy, after the free-and-easy manner which Jem
affected about this time. David's greeting was quiet enough, but a
great deal more frank and friendly, than