Alfred felt ready to cry too. He said,
“But you know if you are a good boy you will go to heaven too, William, and see your dear mamma in that beautiful place.”
“Yes, I know it,” said William. “She told me so before she died. She said if I was a good boy it would not be long before I should come to her; and that then she would not go away from me any more.”
Alfred was an affectionate child. His heart was full of sorrow for little William. All the way home he could talk of nothing else: but he was glad when his papa told him that William’s father had promised to let his little boy come over, on the next week, and spend several days with them.
William came; and soon felt quite at home. Mrs. Penrose liked to hear him talk of his good mother; and all the family loved him, for he was a good-tempered and interesting little fellow.
The evening after Alfred’s first visit to William, he told his sister Jane about him. The next morning she brought him a folded paper, and, as she opened it, said,
“Alfred, I thought so much of your little friend last night that I wrote some verses about him, which I will read to you.”
The verses were as follows; and were headed,
THE MOTHERLESS BOY.
It is the hour when I was wont,