o was wise and powerful and who had promised to bring
us safely through our troubles, we should have no cause to fret and
despond, though we might not understand all that happened by the way.
We might be sure that in the end all would be well."

"If one could only have such a friend!" said Mrs Lee, with an audible
sigh.

"Well, I suppose Jesus Christ is such a friend to those who love Him,"
said Christie, softly. "He's loving and powerful, and He has promised;
and He cannot break His promise, we know. If we would but trust Him!"

Mrs Lee said nothing. The look of care that Christie had seen on her
face many times since she came, and oftener than ever within the last
few weeks, was settling on it now. She leaned her head on her hand, and
sighed many times, as she sat gazing on the face of her baby, who had
fallen asleep on her knee. Christie took up her book; but she could not
help stealing a glance, now and then, at the mother and child.

Thinking of Mrs Lee's troubles, Christie for a time forgot her own; and
it was not so difficult to wait till the next week to see her sister as
she supposed it would be. She had to wait longer than that before their
arrangements were made. Annie wrote to Effie; but as only a weekly mail
reached them, and as even that one might fail, it was some time before
they could expect to hear from her. The days passed very slowly.
Effie's letter seemed a long time in coming.

In the meanwhile April came in, and as the days grew longer and milder,
Christie's anxiety to hear grew more intense. It seemed to her that she
must get away from the town and run home for a little while. The
longing never left her. Her stories to the children were all about the
buds that were beginning to show themselves, and the flowers and birds
that would be coming soon. She told them how all living creatures were
rejoicing in the return of spring, how glad the calves and the young
lambs would be to find themselves in the pastures, that were now
becoming green. She told them how the icy bands that had bound the
little brooks through all the winter-time were broken now by the bright
sunshine, and how by this time the water must have reached the hollow at
the foot of the birch-tree and covered the turf seat there. She told
them how the waters rushed and murmured when they rose so high that the
green buds of the birch-tree dipped into them, and how the wind swayed
the young willows, till she seemed to hear