"I can't tell you, Jill. There is the cost of a missionary going out; he or she are the means, with God's help, of converting a heathen. But every little helps."
"Mr. Errington says the Chilton Common people are heathen!"
"Yes, dear, he means they are living without any thought of God."
"But we did that before you came to us. Really and truly, Miss Falkner, we never thought about God at all. And I'm afraid I didn't want to. You see no one had told us about the Golden City. And I didn't know that Jesus loved us so, and would help us, and keep on forgiving us."
Jill's face was earnest and sweet. Her governess stooped and kissed her.
"But you know about it now, dear, and you must try to help others who are still ignorant."
Jill nodded, then ran away to play.
Autumn came, and then winter. Mr. Errington's energy never flagged; and it was a happy day for the children when the foundation-stone was laid for the mission-room on Chilton Common.
Mona was asked to lay it, but for some time she hesitated, and suggested that Jill should do it instead. Jill flatly refused, and Miss Falkner encouraged her in her refusal.