people thought she wasn't quite canny, and nobody would live in the cottage after she died. Come away, quick; we must try and find the way for ourselves.' 'Oh, Stella! what shall we do?' poor little Kathleen asked, almost crying. She had not Stella's nerve, and was, besides, very tired. 'Think,' Stella said very quietly, 'and' Stella stood quite still for a moment or two, and Kathleen guessed what she was doing. Ever since Stella had been a very little child, she had been in the habit of praying. If she wanted anything, or wanted anything to happen, she used to ask God that her wish might be given her, if it was right that she should have it. It did not matter how simple or small the wish might be, she always believed that nothing said from a faithful heart was small in God's sight. She did not expect her prayers to be always answered; if it was God's will they would be. She only prayed. But the art of praying, this habit of raising her heart to God,-not merely saying her morning and evening prayers,—the trust in Him that it brought, all this was helping Stella onward, and strengthening her heart and her faith for any trials and storms that might come in her after life. Just now, when she wanted to pray, it came upon her that she had hardly a right to lift her heart up to God. It came into her mind that she had just been guilty of a very great act of disobedience, that she had betrayed the trust placed in her, and that she had brought poor Kathleen into this scrape also; for Kathleen knew nothing of where the boundaries were. Quickly Stella recognised her fault, and a sharp pang of contrition went through her; and then she said her few words of prayer for help. O return through the woods was impossible, for by this time they could not have seen their way, though it was still light enough outside, and the stars were beginning to come. out in the soft blue sky. Stella had an instinctive feeling that if they kept going round to the left, they must get out somewhere in the Desborough direction; and so, summoning courage, the little girls began their march again. It really was exploring in earnest now; but they neither of them made the remark. They walked on in silence, their feet getting wetter every moment in the long heather, and their hair and clothes more dank with the heavy dew. 'Suppose we have to stay out all night, Stella,' Kathleen at last whispered, 'what shall we do? and how frightened nurse will be!' |