“If ye, then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your Father in heaven give His Holy Spirit unto those who ask Him.
“And the Psalm says:—
“And in the day of trouble great
See that thou call on Me;
I will deliver thee, and thou
My name shalt glorify.”
“Can’t you sing?” asked Mrs Lee, coaxingly.
It was a long time before Christie could conquer her shyness so as to sing even with the children, but she had no thought of shyness now. She began the twentieth, and then the twenty-third Psalm, singing them to old Scotch tunes—rippling notes of strange, wild melody, like what we seldom hear in our churches nowadays. The child’s voice had a clear, silvery sweetness, melting away in tender cadences; and breathing words suited to such times of need as come to all, whatever else may pass them by, it did more than soothe Mrs Lee, it comforted her.
“Yea, though I walk through Death’s dark vale,
Yet will I fear no ill;
For Thou art with me, and Thy rod
And staff me comfort still.”
And so she sang on, her voice growing softer and lower, till Mrs Lee fell asleep, and slept as she had not slept before for months, calmly as a child; and Christie stood beside her, listening to her gentle breathing, and saying to herself:
“I wonder if I have done her any good?”
Then she went back to her seat upon the stairs, and before she had sat there long in the darkness the blessed knowledge came to her that, whether she had done any good or not, she had gained much within the last two hours. In trying to comfort another she had herself been comforted.
“I can ask for the best blessing that God has to give, and keep asking till I get it. Why should I not?” And no bitterness was mingled with her tears, though they still fell fast. “I will try and do right, and trust, and have patience, and God will guide me, I know He will.”