"Well, I shall never forget the sight of your face when that tea went over. That sight was worth all the sermons I ever heard!"

"Wouldn't Bessie be glad if she knew! I'm not a bit sorry she spilt the tea, now. It would be worth the spoiling of all my dresses if it makes you want--_Him!_"--the last word very softly. Her eyes were on the silver star, but the secret of the star was too sacred to speak of.

"But," added Phebe, "you must not give me one bit of praise for keeping calm; I should have been as mad as anybody,--_but for Him_."

"And do you think of Him as always with you?"

"Sometimes I forget, and it is then that things go wrong."

That evening Phebe found Bessie busily engaged in unpicking the skirt of the unfortunate dress.

"I'll buy stuff to match it," exclaimed Bessie, "if I have to walk all the way to Paris!"

"Well, my dear, you cannot do that, because of the English Channel, but I want you to thank G.o.d you spilt that tea."

"Thank G.o.d I spilt that tea! What do you mean?"

And then Phebe told her story.

"Ah, it was not the tea, it was the blessed peace in your dear face that did it! It's just like your dear loving ways to want to give me a share in it! I tell you, mother is quite correct, I am the most exasperating girl that ever was! But"--and she looked up with a tender little smile--"I've caught a little bit of your secret to-day. As you stood up there with the tea all trickling down your dress, I fancied I saw Jesus just behind you! It was that which kept me from answering mother back."

"That was just splendid, Bessie, I am proud of you!"

"What, in spite of this!" holding up the stained breadth.

"Yes, in spite of that and a dozen like it! What is that worth compared with my Bessie? And Nanna would say just the same."

CHAPTER XXI

PARTNERS!

One December evening, after the opening of Sunshine Hall, Janie was telling little Jack wonderful stories about what people did at Christmas.

"Nearly always when people go away for a long time, they come back at Christmas, and bring such lots of nice things with them."

"My daddy's gone away," said the child, "mummy said so."

"Yes, I know he has," said the slow-witted Janie.

"Will he come back at Kiss-mus?"

"Perhaps he will."

"And will he bring Jacky nice things?"

"Of course he will, when he comes."

That expectation quite took root in the little brain, and when "Kiss-mus" morning came, his first words were "Has my daddy come? I want my daddy!"

The mother was quite startled, and wondered what had given the child this idea. Janie explained it afterwards, when a considerable amount of brain-searching had been done. It took a wooden horse on wheels, a box of chocolate and a box of bricks to get the little fellow to dry his tears.

The next Christmas, strange to say, there was the same expectation and the same disappointment, but with added sorrow. The child was older, and if it could appreciate good things more, also felt sorrow more. He had mingled with other children, whose fathers made much of them. "Perhaps daddy will come at Christmas," he would say to himself.

Christmas morning came, but again no daddy.

"Why doesn't daddy come?" he sobbed out on his mother's breast.

"I don't know, darling."

"Has he forgotten me?" he asked, turning up his tear-stained face to hers.

"I do not know." The words had to be uttered. There was no way in which she could truthfully cover up the silence of years. To the sensitive child the words were like a cruel blow; after building upon the father's return to be told that father might have forgotten him was more than he could bear, and in his grief, to his little mind, the doubt became a certainty--his father had forgotten him! It was the child-soul's first knowledge of Gethsemane.

The mother strained him pa.s.sionately to her, showering both tears and kisses upon the little tear-stained face. "But mummy has not forgotten!

Mummy never will forget!" she wailed over him.

From that hour a new feeling took possession of little Jack. If his father had forgotten him, it was very likely the mother was also forgotten. Mummy must feel lonely too, but he would not forget her, and when he was a man he would work for her. He would be her champion and defender--not that he used these words to himself, they were rather too long for him, but the idea they expressed was in his brave, loyal little heart. Nanna often wondered at the quaint little ways in which he showed himself his mother's protector, but never knew the heart-sorrow which had given birth to them.

The child's grief was an added weight to the mother's heart. She saw that her burden was no longer one which she had to bear alone, but that her child, her innocent, sunny-haired child, with the face of an angel, and brother to an angel, had to feel some of its weight also.

Away in Holland a gardener will patiently labour for even twenty years to bring one hyacinth to perfection. Its soil is often changed, and the hand, though moved by a heart which dearly loves the flower, does not hesitate to even use the knife to the sensitive root.

With still greater patience bends the Great Gardener over the flowers of the Kingdom.

And still there was no letter from Ralph. She had left off writing now, not knowing into whose hands her letters might fall. At last she ventured to write to Stephen Collins, asking if he thought there was anything more she could do. He at once replied that he was scanning several Australian papers every week, but had not come across any mention of Ralph, and that he could think of nothing further she could do. It did not seem to him to be at all necessary to seek police aid, though he did not say so in his note. Later on, he sent word that he had written to the proprietor of the hotel to which her letters had been addressed, and he had replied that for a long time six letters had been waiting for Mr. Waring, but a little while ago Mr. Waring had sent a messenger for them. Should that same messenger call again he would do his best to obtain Mr. Waring's address.

This gave Phebe courage to write again, but after some months the hotel proprietor returned the letter, saying that nothing had been heard of Mr. Waring, but that if at any time he did receive news of him it should be forwarded instantly.

After that all was a dark blank. Years pa.s.sed, but not the faintest report of his doings was ever received. "Do you think he is dead, Nanna?" Phebe would often ask, but the old friend could only shake her head and say, "Dear heart, I do not know, but he's somewhere where the Lord knows all about him. We must rest on that."

CHAPTER XXII

LIGHT ON THE PATHWAY

One Friday morning Mrs. Waring received a note from Mr. Hugh Black asking her to call, if possible, and see him at his house that morning, as he wished to consult her on important business.

It was next to impossible for her to do so, as two travellers were expected, but, thinking the visit had to do with the hall or meeting, she sent Bessie in her place, and a note to Mr. Black, saying the bearer was her special friend with whom he could safely talk over any point, or trust with any number of messages.

Reaching the house Bessie was shown into a conservatory where Mr. Black was writing some letters. He received her very courteously, and, as politely as he could do so, gave her to understand the business he wished to discuss with Mrs. Waring had nothing to do with the work among the men, but was quite private. He would, however, explain it all in a letter to Mrs. Waring, if Bessie would be kind enough to wait while he wrote it, and he would himself call on Mrs. Waring the next day. On a little table near by was some fruit and biscuits to which he asked her to help herself. But a fit of shyness seemed to have come over Miss Bessie, and though she looked wistfully at the tempting fruit, she only nibbled away at a biscuit while the letter was being written. It was an innocent-looking little missive Bessie carried home, but not nearly so unimportant as it looked. It did not contain exactly a bomb, but it certainly gave Phebe a shock. Both Nanna and Bessie noticed her excitement, but said nothing, as they were both quite sure they would hear all about it in due course.