And when the hot summer days come round, and the common is carpeted with bright flowers, Priscilla and her sturdy boys are packed off by the doctor from the close city to drink in the fresh breezes that blow around the Grove, and by their presence to cheer the hearts of the professor and his little Ruth.
The letters from China are full of hope. God is blessing the labours of Austin and Gabrielle there, and more than one soul has through their instrumentality been called out of the darkness of heathenism into light, and learned from their hearts to take up and echo the petition taught them by their divine Master:
"Thy kingdom come."
"We have much to encourage us," writes Austin, "but we need more workers. Let no one forget that even yet 'millions of souls in China are dying without a God.' And, dear ones, pray that the Lord of the harvest would send forth labourers into this harvest-field."
As Priscilla read aloud this letter to her father, she laid her hand on the head of her noble boys as they stood beside her, and prayed that one day they might be led to say, in answer to the Lord's appeal, "Whom shall I send, and who will go for me?" "Here am I; send me."
And so they also might, either at home or abroad, share in the great privilege of helping on "the kingdom of God."
THE END.