“She is a good sport,” smiled the sick man. “You tell her I remember who she was. She played tennis with the champions and wouldn’t take a handicap. And she gave up her place in a crowded hall once that a little lame girl might see! I wish she would come and see me. It would remind me of my little sister, Betty, who used to love her dearly.”
“Yes,” said the minister, rising and coming to the front, “Anita is a good sport. She’s the best little girl in the town of Marlborough. I could tell you a whole lot more things about her, but I haven’t time now. I’ve got to get back to my evening service. The question is, how soon can we hope to be able to move you over home, where we can look after you personally? There’s a whole church waiting to welcome you. I know, for look at the way they welcomed the man who came in your place! We love him and we’re going to love you just as much,” and he put his arm lovingly around Murray’s shoulder.
“It looks to me as though I shall have a hard time keeping up with the pace you’ve set,” said the sick man, trying to smile.
“No, you won’t. Oh, no! Don’t you think it for a minute. You were born to it, but I’ve just been a great big bluff. Well, good-by. You don’t know how much easier you’ve made the rest for me, now that I know you don’t hold this up against me. I’ll think of you in my room, and teaching my class. I’m glad you’re the kind of fellow you are. I sha’n’t be jealous of you. I shall like to think about it.”
“Nonsense! Man! Don’t talk that way. You’re coming to see me soon again, and we’ll work things out together. I’ve a fancy you and I are going to be awfully good friends.”
“I wish I could,” said Murray wistfully, “but I’ve got an entirely different proposition to face. I’m going back home and give myself up for getting a little girl killed in an automobile accident, and I don’t expect to see freedom again this side of Heaven. But sometimes you think of me and work a little harder just for my sake, because I can’t.”
“Look here, Brother,” said Allan Murray, raising himself on one elbow and looking earnestly at Murray, “don’t you talk like that! The Lord never saved you just to see you imprisoned for life. I’m going to get well in a few days now, and I’m going to spend time seeing you through. I’ll begin right now by praying, and don’t you give up!”
But Murray looked up with a bright smile.
“It’s all right, you know, Buddie, I belong to the Lord Christ now, and what He wants is to go, from now on, with me. I’m ready to face it all if that’s what He wants for the honor of His name. That kind of living makes even dying worth while.”
When they were gone and the nurse came in to turn on the lights and give him his medicine Allan Murray was lying with wide open eyes and an eager expression on his face.