"You want me to think as you do, don't you? I may come at it some day, but not yet. You have made me realise what faith can do. Whether I shall ever arrive at it, is a different matter."
"If you could only see how lost one is without a centre," cried Sidney, "and how much we owe to the One Who made us."
Monica looked thoughtfully at her, but made no reply.
"Oh," Sidney went on earnestly, "it is just being illustrated over again with you and Chuckles. How you have toiled and slaved for that child! How anxiously you have worked and saved to bequeath to him a good inheritance. How you even were ready to sacrifice your life for his, and have, in saving him, condemned yourself to a crippled life. He realises it all so little; he does not understand. He takes it all as a matter of course, and seems to have no sense of gratitude or wish to please the one who has loved him so. Isn't that how we treat our Father?"
The words sank into Monica's heart. She began to see dimly a little of what she had missed in her life; but she said nothing, only turned the conversation into another channel.
And presently Randolph returned with the chattering boy.
"We've been having a lovely time. Cousin Ran has been telling me about snakes. Aunt Monnie, I'd like to go out to India one day and do what Cousin Ran is doing. Miss Sid says he's an Empire builder. I should like to build an Empire. It's such a big thing to do."
"You won't be ready for that just yet," said Monica.
"And you have to take care of your aunt, Chuckles," said Sidney. "She will want someone to love her and care for her when we have gone."
"Is Cousin Ran going to take you away from us? That's horribly nasty of him."