“And who brings this good news?”
“Sir, you brought it to me.”
Here my soul melted in an instant, and I could not repress the tears which the emotion excited. The last answer was equally unexpected and affecting. I felt a father’s tenderness and gratitude for a new and first-born child.
Jane wept likewise.
After a little pause she said,—
“O sir! I wish you would speak to my father, and mother, and little brother; for I am afraid they are going on very badly.”
“How so?”
“Sir, they drink, and swear, and quarrel, and do not like what is good; and it does grieve me so, I cannot bear it. If I speak a word to them about it, they are very angry, and laugh, and bid me be quiet, and not set up for their teacher. Sir, I am ashamed to tell you this of them, but I hope it is not wrong; I mean it for their good.”
“I wish your prayers and endeavours for their sake may be blessed; I will also do what I can.”
I then prayed with the child, and promised to visit her constantly.