She came out of her room, followed by her husband, who had brushed himself up as well as he was able.
Three or four of the children pressed out also, and Meg, seeing this, offered a hand to two of them, which gratified them very much.
Jem waited till Blunt came up, and they paced along together, while Mrs. Blunt joined Cherry, and so they came to the Mission Room where Jem and Meg generally attended.
Jem went in first with his little frail burden, and when he had found seats for his friends, he followed Meg to where they usually sat.
When the hymn began, Dickie raised his head from Jem's breast with a light in his face. Meg was afraid he would speak, but Jem warned him by a low word, and after another moment Meg saw tear after tear come from his little sightless eyes. The first he had shed since he had been their child, she thought; and she took his little hand in hers and kissed it.
But that hymn went to another heart besides Dickie's.
Mrs. Blunt's husband sat as one in a dream. Where had he heard those words before?—
"There is a Fountain filled with Blood,
Drawn from Immanuel's veins;
And sinners plunged beneath that flood,
Lose all their guilty stains."
He closed his eyes, and he saw a certain bare room with a lot of little children sitting round; a teacher sat close to them, who was leading them in a clear voice, while the little ones followed and joined in as they could.
"And sinners plunged beneath that flood!"