"Yes," said Mrs. Seymour, softly. "She's a dear mother-Meg, isn't she?"
"Cherry and me's goin' to stay 'long of her," he said, addressing himself to Mrs. Blunt.
"I know you are. You're happy children."
Cherry smiled brightly; and then Mrs. Blunt, having said her say, bethought herself of her children and hurried away, only pausing at the door to say, "T'other one's cut out, and we'll make it as soon as we can; only to-morrer's Sunday."
Yes, to-morrow was Sunday; and in the afternoon the little coffin was carried away and laid in the cold ground; while Meg, shedding no more tears, but full of peace, listened to Cherry's musical voice. Though she was very small for her age, she was a good scholar, and read fluently. Meg had chosen the account, in the eleventh chapter of John, of the Lord's sympathy: how He waited, that He might bless the more abundantly; how He wept, showing Himself the comforter of all who mourn; how He raised the dead, and gave precious promises of everlasting life to all who believe in Him.
Cherry and Meg, both mourning, and both needing the Heavenly food which should sustain their souls, found in that chapter, and above all in that beloved Saviour of whom the chapter treats, the rest and comfort that they needed.
When Jem came back from seeing the earth laid over his child, he met the glance of Meg's serene eyes and wondered.
She held out her hand and clasped his.
"Jem," she said, "come and read this over again to us, and then you'll get comforted, as we have been."
So Jem sat down and read it all through again, and got lifted, as they had been, from the dark grave to the bright sky, where He dwells "who liveth, and was dead," and is "alive for evermore."