Then Gretchen dried her eyes and said earnestly: "There is help for you. If you had faith, and would pray, you would feel at once that God was your friend."
"But how can God help me?" groaned Renti, with his face still buried in the ground.
"I don't know, but I'm sure the dear God knows, and if he would help you, you might be good again, as you used to be, Renti. Oh, I can't bear to see you so changed! Do, for my sake, Renti," pleaded Gretchen, entreatingly; "do try to be good! Then we shall all be happy again."
"Then I will," said Renti, rising from the ground; "if you won't cry any more, and won't be angry with me for having been so bad."
"No, indeed; indeed, I won't!" Gretchen assured him. "But I wasn't angry, Renti; I was only sad; and if you will do now as you have promised, what good times we shall have!"
"Do you really think so?" Renti asked doubtfully, for he could think of nothing that would ever make him happy again. "But, Gretchen," he said after a moment's reflection, "what can I do for my mistress to make things come as you say?"
"You must obey at once when she speaks to you, and you must do your work properly. You know very well how it should be done, if you only keep your wits about you. And whenever bad thoughts come into your head about running away and about chopping down trees, you must pray. Then the dear God will help you when there is no other comfort. You know the poem says:
"For if your faith be sure,
And your courage endure,
God will be your friend."
Renti listened attentively to all that Gretchen said. After thinking the matter over, he said resolutely, "Yes, I will try; but will you come here to the stone wall next Sunday afternoon, so that I can tell you how I have succeeded?"
"Yes, I will come," Gretchen promised him; "but you must not come unless you have permission, else you will spoil it all again. Now you must go home; it struck four a long time ago."