There was a pause in their conversation.
Then her little face brightened.
"But I suppose we're fortunate, too, for we have the Comforter going about with us in the world now."
"Ah!" said old Mr. Cardwell, "I thought you would start that hare again. How's the old shepherd? Seen him lately?"
"Yes, one day last week. I met him in the road, taking his sheep to another field, and Sandy was with him. Timothy knows you. I asked him if he did. And he feels very sorry for our Pirate, because he wanted to go to the war, didn't he? And they wouldn't have him, because he had a bad heart?"
"That was the way of it. Bad luck has been in this house for twenty years—ever since I lost my wife."
"Did she die?" Faith asked with interest.
"Yes, caught a cold—and died after three days' illness. Everything went wrong after that."
"You must have felt just like the disciples did," said Faith thoughtfully.
The old man did not reply. A shadow had come across his face, but there was a softer look in his eyes as he thought about the wife he had adored.