"People do change, though," he remarked, somewhat irrelevantly. "I never could have believed that Prin would have looked on me and turned away like that."
"Ay," said old Corney, "it was not like a sister, and that's what makes me think you must be mistaken. Well, there's one Friend will never treat you like that, Bert," and he began to sing softly his favourite hymn,—
"'I've found a Friend, oh, such a Friend!'"
"Wouldn't He be ashamed of a ragged little chap like me?" asked Bert wistfully.
The old sailor's face brightened with a beaming smile as he shook his head and said,—
"Not He. Neither our rags nor our sins can separate us from the love of Christ. He is not ashamed to call us His brothers."
The thought dropped like balm on Bert's wounded spirit. Long after Mr. Corney had gone, the refrain of his hymn,—
"'I've found a Friend, oh, such a Friend!'"
Rang on in Bert's heart. That night, for the first time since his accident, he enjoyed sound, refreshing sleep.
After that, his condition daily improved. When he had been a fortnight in the hospital, he was allowed to sit up, and soon he was able to move about the ward. One day he received a great surprise. Some changes were being made in the arrangement of the beds, and there was wheeled into the ward from an adjoining one a woman who looked very ill, though she evidently belonged to the class of convalescents. Turning to look at her as she went by, Bert recognised, to his astonishment, Mrs. Kay. He watched while the nurse placed her in an easy chair and arranged her pillows comfortably; then, when she was left alone, he walked across the ward and stood beside her.