"I mean to work myself, mother. I have given up all thought of being a gentleman," he urged.
"My son must be a gentleman, whatever else he may be," said his mother, smiling. "I only want you to fit yourself for work, dear Guy, and when that is done, I will not refuse to profit by your labours. You do not yet recognise God's will and providence in our lot, as I had begun to hope."
"Oh, mother, it will drive me mad to see you obliged to work! I cannot bear it!" exclaimed the boy.
"Then, Guy, I must follow the troubled father to kneel at the feet of Jesus, until He in pity casts out the evil spirit that torments my child, my only son; you cannot see and sympathise until this is done. I have no desire to over-tax my strength, or grieve my children; I am only trying to follow, as nearly as I can see it, the loving Hand that beckons in what only our own wilfulness and discontent can prevent from being a 'way of pleasantness' and a 'path of peace.'"
Maude drew closer to her mother and tenderly kissed her brow.
"Oh, Guy," said she, "why do you add to our sorrow by your naughty anger against God? Do you think He does not love this dear mother better than we do? And couldn't He have prevented all that has happened if He thought it right? Take care, dear brother, or we shall have the hard pain of finding out that she has to suffer for our sakes, because we are rebellious and proud, and must be humbled and proved, and made good somehow."
"People can be good, I suppose, without having such miserable things happening to them," said Guy.
"A trial, to be such, must strike where we feel it," said Mrs. Falconer. "Many things might have happened, and have produced no effect. This, which has altered the whole tenor of our lives, must produce some effect. Our Heavenly Father chastens only for our profit; therefore I feel He has sent us a blessing in disguise. Let us penetrate the disguise to find the blessing, and so honour Him in adversity as we should not have been able to do in our late comparative prosperity. And, Guy, if ever we should have the means of helping others, how much wiser and more tender will be our sympathy with those whom God brings low. Oh, let us be assured that He knows best the kind of discipline His people need."
"Hark! What is that for?" said Maude, as the solemn toll of a minute bell struck from the tower of a neighbouring church, soon re-echoed by others at a greater distance.
"Perhaps," said Mrs. Falconer, softly, "some whom no such trial as ours could have touched, Death has stricken. May it be in mercy to the mourners."