e unclasped his arms from her
neck, and hurried away, saying to herself "Shall I ever see his face any
more?"

CHAPTER TWENTY.

NEITHER FORGOTTEN NOR FORSAKEN.

Her first night in the hospital was very dreary. No one can be
surprised to hear that she shed some sorrowful tears. She was not taken
into a public ward, the kindness of Mrs Seaton procured for her a
private room while she should be there. There were two beds in it, but
the other was unoccupied, and after the first arrangements had been made
for her comfort, she was left alone.

How solitary she felt as she sat listening to the street-noises, and to
the voices and footsteps that came from other parts of the house. The
street was so narrow and so far beneath that she could see nothing that
was passing in it. The weather-beaten roofs and glimpses of dusty
tree-tops that formed the view reminded her of the sorrowful days she
had passed in Mrs Lee's attic-nursery, and a feeling very like the old
miserable home-sickness of that time made her close her eyes and drop
her face upon her hands.

Poor Christie! She had never prayed half so earnestly that she might be
strong and well again as she now prayed that she might not be left to
fall into an impatient, murmuring spirit. She shrank from the thought
of a renewal of these heart-sick longings as she had never shrunk from
the thought of enduring bodily pain. She prayed with all her heart
that, whatever suffering lay before her, God would give her strength and
patience to bear it--that she might be made willing to abide His time,
with no impatient longings as to what the end might be.

God has many ways in which He comforts His children. Leaning her tired
head on the low window-sill, Christie slept and dreamed, and in her
dream, peace came to her spirit. A strange, soft light spread around
her, like the gleam she had once seen fall on the sea in the early
morning. Only the sea seemed near now, and there were strange, bright
forms flitting over it, and on the other side, far-away yet near, her
mother beckoned to her. She knew it was her mother. Her smile was the
very same, and the loving look in her eyes. But, oh, she had grown so
beautiful! Gazing and stretching her arms towards her, she seemed
conscious of a sweet and awful Presence, before which the shining sea
and the bright forms, and even her mother's glorified face, vanished.

_have called thee by thy name. Thou art Mine_.

_I go to pr