"Oh, Grannie," she cried, "it can't be true. I saw her pass only a day or two ago, and she looks such a darling little girl."
Ella, from her standpoint of ten years, felt quite grown up compared with little Marcia.
"I'm afraid, Ella, there's some truth in it," replied the old lady; "I saw the doctor going to the Hall quite early this morning."
Ella looked ready to cry. "Couldn't you go and call, Grannie," said the little girl pleadingly, "to see how she is? Just think how kind her brother was to me! Oh, if only we could do something for them!"
A little flush came into Mrs. Russell's withered cheeks.
"Oh no, I couldn't think of it," she answered sharply. "Molly can go up with my card and make inquiries; that will be quite sufficient."
Little Ella subsided into silence, and a short while afterwards she made her way upstairs to the tiny bedroom which she occupied, there to shed tears of pity for Marcia. Then, on a sudden, she remembered that there was something else she could do, which would be better than crying.
Certain words which her mother had said to her before she left for the Better Land, some two years previously, were wafted to her mind.
"Remember, my little Ella," she had said, "that there is nothing too big or too little to tell God about. He is our loving Heavenly Father, who has promised never to leave or forsake His children who trust in Him."
The words were as balm to the sad-hearted child, and, acting on a sudden impulse, she knelt down beside her little white bed and poured forth her soul in prayer.