Bert nodded again.
"Well, Jesus is our great copy. We look at Him and see what our lives should be. This Book tells us about Him, you know."
And the old sailor laid his hand on the well-worn volume Bert had often seen him reading.
"The Gospels are just one grand lesson in love," he said. "What made Jesus so different from every other man? I take it was just that His heart was overflowing with love to God and love to man. That's why He was the sinless One, in my opinion. If our hearts were full of love to others, we could not do them wrong; and if we loved God perfectly, we could not break His commandments. But our love is so different from God's. There was one I thought I loved, but I grieved her sore. Ay, lad, I should know what sin is, if anybody does, for I've been an awful sinner."
Bert looked at the old man in astonishment. His voice had quavered as he spoke, and it seemed to the boy that there were tears in his eyes.
"Why, Mr. Corney," Bert exclaimed, "I shouldn't think that you had been so bad!"
"Ay, but I was bad," said Mr. Corney, still speaking with emotion. "I broke my mother's heart by my sin. She was so fond of her children. There were only the two of us—my sister and I. Priscilla was always well-behaved, but I—I brought my mother sore sorrow and disgrace, and then I ran away to sea, and I never saw her again, for a year later she died."
The old man paused, as if the recollection was too painful for him to dwell upon. While he talked, he had been spreading the table for their simple meal. The kettle was boiling now, so he proceeded to make the cocoa.
Bert brought a hearty appetite to the table. He had not enjoyed a meal so much since Prin left him. He felt that he had gained a friend in the old sailor. When the time came to say "good-night," Cetywayo too showed himself friendly, for he suffered the boy to stroke his head without arching his back and spitting. Bert lingered for a moment on the doorstep ere he crept into the corner where he slept.
Many persons were in the street on this warm night. The sound of drunken revelry came from the public-house close by. A crowd had gathered about a house on the opposite side of the street to witness a fierce dispute between a husband and wife. At another time Bert would have rushed into the thick of the crowd to see what was going on; but to-night he felt no curiosity on the subject.