“Father! O Father! Must I forgive Uncle Edward? I don’t see how I can.”
“I’m afraid you must, Christie, if you look to follow Christ.”
“But how can I? To use dear Aunt Alice so cruelly!”
“How can God forgive thee and me, Christie, that have used His blessed Son far, far worser than Uncle Edward hath used Aunt Alice, or ever could use her?”
“Father, have you forgiven him?”
It was a hard question. Next after his little Christie herself, the dearest thing in the world to Roger Hall was his sister Alice. He hesitated an instant.
“No, you haven’t,” said Christie, in a tone of satisfaction. “Then I’m sure I don’t need if you haven’t.”
“Dost thou mean, then, to follow Roger Hall, instead of the Lord Jesus?”
Christie parried that difficult query by another.
“Father, love you Uncle Edward?”