Oh no!' he cried again. 'Tell me, Miss Anne, what will He do for me
besides forgiving me?'

'Look, Stephen,' she replied, pointing to the distant sky where the sun
was going down amid purple clouds, and bidding him turn to the grey
horizon where the sun had risen in the morning; 'listen: "As far as the
east is from the west, so far hath He removed our transgressions from
us." And again: "He will turn again, He will have compassion upon us; He
will subdue our iniquities; and Thou wilt cast all their sins into the
depths of the sea." And again: "For I will be merciful to their
unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no
more." This is the forgiveness of our Father, Stephen.'

'Oh, how different to mine!' cried Stephen, hiding his face in his
hands.

'Yet,' said Miss Anne, 'you may claim the promise made to us by our
Lord: "If ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will
also forgive you," in a far richer measure, with infinite
long-suffering, and a multitude of tender mercies.'

'Lord, forgive me, for Jesus Christ's sake!' murmured Stephen.

But the dusk was gathering, and the others were returning to them under
the old yew-tree, for there was the long ride over the hills to
Danesford, and the time for parting was come. The day was done; and on
the morrow new work must be entered upon. The path of the commandments
had yet to be trodden, step by step, through temptation and conflict,
and weakness and weariness, until the end was reached.

Stephen felt something of this as he walked home for the last time to
the cinder-hill cabin; and, taking down the old Bible covered with green
baize, read aloud to his grandfather and Martha the chapter his father
had taught him on his death-bed; bending his head in deep and humble
prayer after he had read the last verse: 'Be ye therefore perfect, even
as your Father in heaven is perfect.'

THE END.

* * * * *

STORIES BY HESBA STRETTON.

Cobwebs and Cables.
Half Brothers.
Through a Needle's Eye.
Carola.
Bede's Charity.
David Lloyd's Last Will.
The Children of Cloverley.
Fern's Hollow.
The Fishers of Derby Haven.
Pilgrim Street.
A Thorny Path.
Enoch Roden's Training.
In the Hollow of His Hand.

_The Religious Tract Society, London_.

End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Fern's Hollow, by Hesba Stretton

*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FERN'S HOLLOW ***

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