out_.

"_Whatever ye ask in My name, it shall be done unto you_.

"_Ask, and ye shall receive; seek, and ye shall find_.

"_If ye, then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children,
how much more shall your Father in heaven give His Holy Spirit unto
those who ask Him_.

"And the Psalm says:--

"And in the day of trouble great
See that thou call on Me;
I will deliver thee, and thou
My name shalt glorify."

"Can't you sing?" asked Mrs Lee, coaxingly.

It was a long time before Christie could conquer her shyness so as to
sing even with the children, but she had no thought of shyness now. She
began the twentieth, and then the twenty-third Psalm, singing them to
old Scotch tunes--rippling notes of strange, wild melody, like what we
seldom hear in our churches nowadays. The child's voice had a clear,
silvery sweetness, melting away in tender cadences; and breathing words
suited to such times of need as come to all, whatever else may pass them
by, it did more than soothe Mrs Lee, it comforted her.

"Yea, though I walk through Death's dark vale,
Yet will I fear no ill;
For Thou art with me, and Thy rod
And staff me comfort still."

And so she sang on, her voice growing softer and lower, till Mrs Lee
fell asleep, and slept as she had not slept before for months, calmly as
a child; and Christie stood beside her, listening to her gentle
breathing, and saying to herself:

"I wonder if I have done her any good?"

Then she went back to her seat upon the stairs, and before she had sat
there long in the darkness the blessed knowledge came to her that,
whether she had done any good or not, she had gained much within the
last two hours. In trying to comfort another she had herself been
comforted.

"I can ask for the best blessing that God has to give, and keep asking
till I get it. Why should I not?" And no bitterness was mingled with
her tears, though they still fell fast. "I will try and do right, and
trust, and have patience, and God will guide me, I know He will."

And so she sat in the dark, sometimes slumbering, sometimes thinking,
till the baby's whimpering cry summoned her back to her usual care.

The next week was better in all respects than the last. Letty grew well
rapidly, and her mother improved a little day by day. The doctor,
looking now and then into the attic-nursery, gave them hope at last that
the little ones might escape the fever for this time; and Christie's