were friends indeed, though they
met for the first time to-day; for they were bound together by the
closest of ties, in that they both served and trusted a common Master!
In that moment, when as it seemed she stood upon the brink of death,
Mrs Asplin's mind travelled with lightning speed over the years which
had passed since she first gave herself and her concerns into the hands
of her Saviour, and trusted Him to care for her in this world and the
next. Had He ever failed her? A thousand times, no! Sickness,
anxiety, even death itself, had visited her home, but the peace which
was Christ's parting gift to His disciples had dwelt in her heart, and
He Himself had never seemed so near as when trouble fell, and for a time
hid the sun in the skies. If she had known beforehand that she was to
lose her first-born darling, to spend long years in painful anxiety
about her husband's health, and to see her children's future crippled
for lack of means to give them the best opportunities, her heart would
have sunk with fear, and she would have declared the trial too great for
her strength; yet He had enabled her to bear them all, and with each
fresh trial had given a fresh revelation of His mercy. She had
submitted to His will, weeping, it may be, but without bitterness or
rebellion, and the reward had come in the serene peacefulness which
possessed her soul. Christ had done all this for her, and now in this
latest trial she looked to Him to support and comfort to the end.

"Thank you, doctor," she murmured once more; and a moment later Peggy
and Mrs Asplin were in the passage, following the old butler towards
the door. It seemed years and years since they had paced it last, but
nothing had changed. The man let them pass out without a glance in
their direction, as though it were the most commonplace thing in the
world for people to receive a death-warrant in the course of half an
hour's visit. The pavement outside was flooded with sunshine, carriages
were driving to and fro; two men walking along together broke into a
peal of laughter as they passed; a newsboy shouted out some item of
popular interest. Nobody knew, nobody cared! The great, noisy, cruel
world jostled on its way as if such things as death and parting had no
meaning in its ears. Peggy's young heart swelled with bitterness. She
dared not speak to Mrs Asplin, dared not trust her own voice, but she
drew the thin hand through her arm, and gripped it with passio