"This is where I spent my summer holiday," she said lovingly, as if the place were dear to her.
"Oh!" said Rose. "That is why you said you must come out near the pear blossoms. I see now. Were there bees there?"
"It was an ideal place. I was in urgent need of rest and refreshment and quiet (as you know), and I heard of this little cottage on the borders of the Downs. This clematis-covered porch was my entrance, and the other door was the good woman's. I could go out on the Downs with my camp chair, and sit and look at the sea, and feel the breezes blow round me, or I could bask in the sunshine to my heart's content, sheltered by the cottage from the cold winds."
"And the bees?" asked Rose.
"Yes, the bees seem to link themselves with the restful thoughts of those days, for when I was near the cottage, with its flowers, their song seemed to tell me over and over again what I think I shall never forget—"
"And that was—?" asked Jean, putting her soft hand into her auntie's.
All the children knew that Aunt Ruth had had some great trial, but they had never been told what it was.
"The lesson I learned in that peaceful time was, 'The Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord will give grace and glory; no good thing will He withhold from them that walk uprightly.'"
"I learned, dears, that God wishes to be to us all a Sun and a Shield. As a Sun, He warms and cheers us with the light of His countenance; as a Shield, He shelters us from that which would hurt us and do us harm."
"Just as those hives were put in the sunniest place, so they were also put in a sheltered place. 'A Sun and Shield.' God is near us for both; and when the cold winds of trouble, or sorrow, or temptation blow, we must hide in Him, for He is our Shield."