got up and
began to pull away at the samphire, by way of working off or digesting
the wonderful thought. After working away in silence for some minutes,
Dick said--

"D'ye think God cares for us down here at Bermuda Point?"

Tiny paused, with her hands full of samphire.

"Why shouldn't He?" she said. "I know He cares for me. He loves me," she
added, in a tone of triumph; "my mother told me so. She said He loved me
just as well as she did."

"I'd like to know whether He cares about me," said Dick. "D'ye think yer
could find out for us, Tiny? Yer see everybody likes you--mother, and
father, and Bob; and Harry Hayes showed you his book yesterday. You see
you're a gal, and I think you're pretty," added Dick, critically; "so it
'ud be a wonder if He didn't like you."

"And why shouldn't He love you, Dick?" said Tiny.

Dick looked down at the patched, ragged, nondescript garments that
served him as jacket and trousers, and then at his bare, sunburnt arms
and legs. "Well, I'm just Dick of the Point. I ain't a gal, and I ain't
pretty." Nobody could dispute the latter fact, which Dick himself seemed
to consider conclusive against any interest being taken in him, for he
heaved a sigh as he returned to his work of picking the samphire.

The sigh was not lost on Tiny. "Look here, Dick," she said, "you ain't a
gal, and p'r'aps you ain't pretty, but I love you;" and she threw her
arms round his neck as he stooped over the basket. "I love yer, Dick,
and I'll find out all about it for yer. I'm a'most sure God loves yer
too."

"Oh, He can't yet, yer know," said Dick, drawing his arms across his
eyes to conceal the tears that had suddenly come into them. "I don't
never say no prayers nor nothing. I ain't never heerd about Him, only
when dad swears, till you come and said your prayers to Him."

"Still, He might, yer know," said Tiny; "but if you'll help, I'll find
out all about it."

"What can yer do?" asked Dick.

"Well, I'll tell yer why I want dad to come home soon to-night," said
Tiny, resting her hands on the basket, and looking anxiously across the
sea. "Mother said he'd take the samphire by boat to Fellness, and I
thought perhaps he'd take me too."

"Well, s'pose he did?" said Dick, who could see no connection between a
visit to the village and the attainment of the knowledge they both
desired.

"Why, then I might get a book," said Tiny. "I'd go with dad to sell the
samphire; and then we'd see the shops; and if he