"Where is Mrs. Kay now, Mr. Corney?" he asked presently.
"At home with me," he said; "I've hired a room for her in the same house. Her own poor things had been sold for the rent while she was in the hospital. Ah, poor soul! Poor soul!"
"Then you love her still?" said Bert.
"Still!" repeated Mr. Corney. "Why, I love her more than ever I did before. How can I help it, when I see her so miserable? And was not I just such a sinner myself, and did not Jesus love me and save me? And He can save her. But I must be going. It is not well to leave her long alone."
And Mr. Corney went away, leaving Bert with his heart full of a new, strange wonder and pain. Long after Mr. Corney had gone, Bert mused over the sad story he had told. He thought of it in the quiet of midnight, when most of the patients were asleep in the dimly-lighted ward, and no sound broke the stillness save an occasional groan from some sleepless sufferer, or the light movements of the nurse as she ministered to the same.
Grave thoughts were in the boy's mind at that hour, thoughts which gradually quickened into dread. His heart turned to Prin, with a sorrowful longing in which there was now no resentment. He was ashamed that he had felt so bitterly towards her. His thoughts grew more and more oppressive. The dark side of life presented itself to his imagination, and he could not shake off the horror of it. He remembered his father's prayer, and the meaning of it was clear now. Suddenly he sat up in bed, and, with clasped hands, breathed forth in a fervent whisper the words:—
"O God, deliver me from evil—and Prin too—for Jesus' sake!"
[CHAPTER IX]
An Interview with the Princess
BERT'S cure was complete. The outside bandages were removed. He was pronounced fit to go home.