When they arose, Harrison left the room without speaking.
The next morning, the anxious, waiting mother observed that when Ella ran to him, in her playful way, though he answered her kindly, yet his mind seemed engaged in thought. He listened with deep attention as Mrs. Haven read, according to her custom, from the Scriptures, and soon after took his hat and left the house. But two hours later, when Ella was just leaving for school, she saw him coming out of his room.
"How provoking!" she cried, "that you have been there all this time, when I wanted you so much. But come now, please, and walk to school with me."
He hesitated a moment, and said, "I was just going to find mother"; but she ran and passed him his hat from the rack, and he followed her out, She looked earnestly in his face, thinking his manner was somewhat peculiar, and then asked, "Don't you feel well this morning? you look pale."
"Ella," said he, and his voice was full of feeling, "supposing you had had a very kind friend, who had given you a pleasant home, and done everything to make you happy; and more than all, supposing he had told you that if you would only return the affection he felt for you, he would give you great riches and every blessing that you could desire, would it not be very wicked and ungrateful for you to refuse?"
"Yes, indeed, it would," was the hearty reply.
"Well, Ella, this is just what I have done all my life; and last night, while you and all the others in the house were sleeping, I arose from my bed, and resolved that I would do so no longer; that I would begin at once to love this dear, this best of friends; and, I want you to begin to love him too. Cannot you think who he is, Ella?"
"Jesus Christ," repeated the child, softly.
"I hope you will never go on as I have done," he said, "receiving favors from God, and yet refusing to give him all that he asked in return—the heart. Will you try to love the Saviour now, my dear?"
"Yes, I will," was the tearful reply.