ess and the light are both alike to thee.'

"You see, my dear child," said she, as she reverently closed the book,
"we cannot get away from God if we would, and surely we would not try to
hide ourselves from so kind a Friend and Father if we could. Only when
we are doing something that we are ashamed of do we shun the face of one
who loves us; and if we try to flee from the eye of God we may be sure we
are guilty of some wickedness. How much sweeter is it to do what we know
will please him, and look freely up into his face, as a good child
delights to meet his earthly parent's smile!"

The lady rose to go, and the child looked wistfully at her and then at
the little Bible.

"Ah yes; I will give you this. It will tell you what to do." And she
put the book into the child's hands. "You will read a chapter every day
till I come?"

The little girl gladly promised, but was sad at the parting; for never an
hour passed so cheerily as the hour with the kind teacher.

"You may be sure I'll come again, for _He_ sends me," said the lady. And
she looked up once more with the heavenly face, and then stooped till her
soft lips touched the child's forehead; and, while the pressure of the
gentle kiss thrilled through the very soul of the little girl, her friend
was gone.

CHAPTER IV

"Did she come again?" asked Maddie, who had got upon her knees in front
of Alice, with mouth and eyes and ears wide open for the story.

"Oh yes; many and many a time," said Alice. "And she taught the little
girl to see her Father's love in the trees, and the flowers, and all
about, as she walked amid his beautiful creation; and she learned to be a
neat, tidy little girl, instead of the dirty, miserable creature that sat
crying in the dirt by the roadside when she first saw her friend. The
lady taught her to look upon herself as greatly beloved by her Father,
and after that she was not miserable any more."

"Did you ever see the little princess?" asked Lolly, raising her head
from Alice's lap and looking earnestly at her.

"Yes, indeed. Every day since the lady came to her," said Alice. "She
lives in the same cottage now; but it has grown to be a beautiful place;
for God's flowers are all about it, and God's sun streams in at the
window, and all over the mossy roof, like a golden flood,--and God
himself is always with her to keep her from harm and from being lonely or
sad." And as Alice said this, the tears glistened in her blu