"I hate myself," she went on, angrily kicking her foot about; "but it was all those stockings. Mamma knows I hate mending above everything else; and do abominate to sit in all the evening doing horrid work. Certainly mamma did wish me to do them this afternoon; but I did not wish to, and so there it is. Now I want to go down; they will be talking all the nice things while I am away, and arranging everything, and my temper will have lost it all. I don't know how to get over my temper, I'm sure. It always overcomes me, and always will."
Then, as she lay still, somehow the thought came over her of that evening before they came to South Bay, and of Nellie's words as she sat so quietly reading her Bible:
"'I can do all things through Christ, which strengtheneth me.'"
Ada's eyes filled again with softer tears. "How patient Nellie was that day! Was that Christ's strength? It must have been. Perhaps, if I were to ask—"
She slipped on to her knees by her bedside, and after a minute or two she said, in a broken voice—
"Lord Jesus Christ, I am so weak and so wrong, and I do not know how to get on alone; but, oh, forgive me! Give me of Thy strength, and help me to overcome!"
It was Ada's first real prayer, and she rose from her knees a new creature. Yes, a new creature in Christ Jesus. It was very simple, so simple that she was astonished; but she had found out that she was a helpless sinner, and Jesus a mighty Saviour. There only wanted the link between these two truths, and that link was, that she was willing to take Him for her Saviour. And she did; she knew it distinctly; and, with a happiness never before experienced, after a few moments' silence, she unlocked her door and went downstairs. When she re-entered the dining room, Arthur had joined them, and was sitting with his arms on the table, looking very interested.
Ada went up to Christina and gave her a soft little kiss, saying humbly, "I should very much like to help you, if you would let me."
Christina glanced at her, pressed her hand, and said, "Thank you, dear Ada; there will be plenty to do."
"We were saying," said Nellie, "that it would be difficult to love the dirty, disagreeable children as well as the nice and clean ones."