CHAPTER IV
“Did she come again?” asked Maddie, who had got upon her knees in front of Alice, with mouth and eyes and ears wide open for the story.
“Oh yes; many and many a time,” said Alice. “And she taught the little girl to see her Father’s love in the trees, and the flowers, and all about, as she walked amid his beautiful creation; and she learned to be a neat, tidy little girl, instead of the dirty, miserable creature that sat crying in the dirt by the roadside when she first saw her friend. The lady taught her to look upon herself as greatly beloved by her Father, and after that she was not miserable any more.”
“Did you ever see the little princess?” asked Lolly, raising her head from Alice’s lap and looking earnestly at her.
“Yes, indeed. Every day since the lady came to her,” said Alice. “She lives in the same cottage now; but it has grown to be a beautiful place; for God’s flowers are all about it, and God’s sun streams in at the window, and all over the mossy roof, like a golden flood,—and God himself is always with her to keep her from harm and from being lonely or sad.” And as Alice said this, the tears glistened in her blue eyes, as the dew-drops sparkle through the sunlight in the violets.
“We’ll go and see her now,” continued she; “and I’ll show you two other little exiled princesses.” And she took Lolly and Maddie down by the brook-side, and bade them look in
her great mirror; and there they saw themselves and Alice—all children of the great King.
“Ah, now I know!” said Maddie, clapping her hands. “You are the little princess, Alice, and Miss Mason is the good lady. Is she so nice as all that?”
“Just as nice, dear Maddie,” replied Alice; “and if you and Lolly will go with me to the Sunday-school, she’ll tell us a great many more beautiful stories, to help us on our way to our heavenly home.
“But come. It is nearly time for us to go now. Mother will be looking for me. Good-bye.”
And the little girl with the sunny heart bounded into the cottage with a smile and a kiss for her mother.
CHAPTER V.
When Alice left the children, they went sauntering along the road towards home. Very slowly they walked, and not joyously and hopefully, as little children do who think of their father’s house as the brightest and dearest spot in the whole world.
It was a long distance from the brown cottage of their friend; but the freshness of the evening made it delightful to be out, and they had been resting so many hours that they were not weary. Besides, the twinkling stars came out in the sky, and there was shining above them the calm, bright moon; and altogether it was so serene and lovely, that they almost wished they could be always walking in some pleasant path that should have no unpleasant thing at the end—such as they felt their home
to be. Presently they came to a bend in the road, and a few steps from the corner was a low-roofed house, a ruinous-looking place, with rags stuffed in the broken window-panes. There were green fields around it, and tall trees gracefully waving near it; but the old house spoiled the landscape by its slovenly, shabby appearance.
A dim light was burning in the room nearest the children; and as they approached, they could see their father and mother sitting at a table, eating their coarse supper of bread and cold salt pork.
Lolly thought what a pleasant table Alice had by the brook-side, and the scent of the violets seemed even now to reach her, and the music of the waters was in her ears, and the bright, happy face of her little playmate came freshly before her, making the dingy room where her parents sat,
with the gloom of the dim light and the tattered dusty furniture, still more uninviting and cheerless.
Lolly lingered outside the door, while Maddie entered. She sat down upon the step, and called to mind all that Alice had said to them that day.
She was younger than Maddie by a year or two, but her soul was older—that is, it was more thoughtful and earnest; and instead of dwelling always on the things of earth, she had a wistful longing for something higher and better, which Alice’s words had begun to satisfy.
The cool breeze played upon her cheek, and the sound of the air, as it rustled the leaves, and the breath of the flower-scented meadows fell soothingly upon her senses; and as she looked up into the starry sky, with its myriads of gleaming lights, and recalled the story, she felt within herself
that indeed she was a little princess as well as Alice, and that far above all the glory of the heavens her Father was awaiting her return to the heavenly palace.
“Maddie and I mustn’t forget these things,” said she to herself; “but must try to get ready for our better home.”
So much was Lolly thinking of the things she had heard in the story, that she might have sat there in the dew all night, but that her mother called her to eat her supper and go to bed.
Maddie was already fast asleep upon a trundle-bed, that was pushed under the great bed by day, and drawn out at night; for there were only the two rooms in the house, and they had to make the most of all the space.
Lolly had never felt the house so small and close as on this night; for
her soul was swelling with such large free thoughts, that the four narrow walls of the bedroom seemed to press in upon her and almost to stop her breath.
She could not go to bed until she had opened the window and looked up once more into the bright sky; and as she did so, she said very earnestly, “O my Father!”
She did not know any prayers. She had never been taught to call upon God. Most that she had ever heard of the other life was through Alice’s story that day; and her heart was so glad of the knowledge, that it already began to go out towards her heavenly home and her gracious Father.
As she spoke these words, there came such a happy feeling to her spirit—a feeling that she was not alone, but that she was watched over
and protected; and with a sense of security and safety, such as she had never before known, she lay down beside her sister, and was soon sweetly slumbering.