Mrs. Stuart said "Yes" thoughtfully. After a pause, she added, "You put your life in danger too, Archie, for the sake of Nancy Dunn."
Archie was very much astonished at such a remark from his mother. He did not, however, show his astonishment, but said only—"It wasn't for Nancy, mother. I didn't see her to be Nancy till after. I hope I'd do all I could for any girl in danger—though what I did wasn't what Mr. Wilmot did."
"But you'd sooner help Nancy than any other girl?" said Mrs. Stuart.
"Yes—I would," said Archie, his face kindling. "Mother, I love Nannie so much—I do think I could die for her."
"That's easy enough said," rejoined Mrs. Stuart. "It wouldn't be so easy if you'd got to do it. But you're a brave lad, I know. And as the preacher told us to-day—it's one thing to be willing to die for one that loves us, and another thing to die for them that hates us. There wouldn't be many who'd do the last."
"Only Christ," said Archie, wondering anew at his mother's mood.
"Only—Christ," she repeated. "Yes—He did. I don't know as I've hated Him, like some do—but I haven't cared. I haven't thought about Him; and that's bad enough, after all He's done. And I hope I shan't go on so—not any longer. You needn't tell what I'm saying—not to anybody, Archie. But it did seem as if I must say it to somebody. And Mr. Wilmot 'll never come again. He'd have helped me—and there's nobody now."
"Mother, there's One," said Archie shyly; "there's One who'll help, if anybody asks Him—and He's best of all. Mr. Wilmot would tell you to go to Him."
"But if He shouldn't want me?" she said.
"I shouldn't think there's any chance of that, mother," said Archie. "I should think, if He cared enough about you to die for you, when you weren't even born—why, it isn't likely He'd stop caring, and turn away, just the minute you're beginning to want to know Him."