We studied the Bible Mrs. Thorpe had handed us—the Douay Bible as it is called, from the place where it was published—and were surprised to find, that though the notes contained a great deal about the Virgin, the Saints, etc., there was no more in the text, than in that of the books Mr. Wesley had given us.
"How I wish we had some one to teach us!" said Amabel, rather impatiently.
"Perhaps Mrs. Cropsey will be able to do so when she comes!" I answered. "But, Amabel, I wonder what becomes of Mr. Cheriton."
We had got into the way of exchanging a few words with this gentleman almost every day, either in the garden, or as we met him in our walks, which we did rather frequently. But we had never seen him to speak to him, since Mr. Wesley's visit, and we had heard from Mrs. Thorpe—it being Sunday—that he did not preach that day, his place being supplied by one of the curates from St. Nicholas.
"I heard the old clerk say, that Mr. Cheriton was gone away for a few days, but would be back before next Sunday," answered Amabel. "I wish Mr. Wesley would come back and preach again."
"Perhaps he will; I heard he was going northward, and would return this way. If he preached in the church, I should like to go and hear him. Do you know, Amabel, I think I shall go to church with Mrs. Thorpe next time; you know she always goes on Friday morning. I do want to see what a Protestant church is like, and I am sure there is no harm in the prayers, for I have read them all through."
So I had in a prayer-book I had found in the book-case.
"Some things in them are the same as ours," remarked Amabel, thoughtfully. "The 'Te Deum' and the Magnificat and the Psalms are the same. And I like the Collects very much, they say so much in such few words."
"Kesiah Lee says the Methodists and Mr. Wesley too, pray to God in their own words, and ask Him for what they need," said I. I said that seemed like great presumption, and she said that so long as He was really our Father, it seemed as if we ought to be as free to go to Him as to our earthly Father.
"St. Theresa used to make prayers, I know," said Amabel; "it is in her life. But then she was a saint."