'And so The Shepherd Beautiful is giving you another of His lambs to mind.'
I thought it was such a perfect name for Him, it appealed to me more at that moment than any of the other lovely ones that daddy calls Him by. After a little while father said,—
'Shall I tell you something, darling, that I have never told any one before?'
'Please, father.'
'It was many years ago, quite soon after I was married. Your mother and I were walking over the downs. They were all "trimmed" with sheep. She was so amused at the lambs, because she thought they were dreadfully impertinent to their mothers sometimes, and then she said with a sweet look in her eyes,—
'"Anthony, The Shepherd Beautiful is going to give us one of His lambs to mind."
'Instead of being pleased I got in a sudden panic about it, as husbands do sometimes, and your mother laughed at me and shook my arm, and looked round at all the sunny grasslands filled with sheep and said,—
'"Oh, Anthony, don't grieve for me, because it's only like walking in a sunny meadow dappled with shade. When I come to the shadow at the end, I know that if I just walk round the corner, I shall find the Shepherd Beautiful doling out lambs. Oh, Anthony" (and she shook my arm again) "wouldn't it be amusing if the morning I got there He was a bit absent-minded or got muddled with His counting, and doled me out two instead of one to mind. Oh, I would run away so fast with them lest He should ask for one of them back.'"
Then, after a pause, father added,—
'And you see, darling, He was a "bit absent-minded" that morning, and now He's just asked for one of them back.'