“Yes, indeed, my precious child; and to greet all my other loved ones when they too are brought home, and we are all there together free from sin and sorrow and pain, never to part again, but to dwell forever with the Lord, serving him in joy and peace and love throughout a blest eternity.”
“Oh, what a blessed hope it is!” said Violet, tears shining in her eyes. “And how thankful I am that almost every one whom I love very dearly is a Christian!
“‘Forever with the Lord,
Amen, so let it be;
Life from the dead is in that word,
’Tis immortality.’”
Marian had been greatly impressed by the sermon, the subject of which was the shortness and uncertainty of life. She was very quiet and thoughtful that afternoon and evening, but woke the next morning full of thoughts of the shopping expedition of that day, which would be a rather new experience to her.
She rose an hour earlier than usual, busied herself with her lessons for the day, and at breakfast-time was able to tell the captain that she felt prepared to recite then or on her return from the city, if it suited him to hear her.
“Yes,” he said, “at either time, as you may prefer.”
“Oh, thank you sir!” she returned; “then, if you please, let it be before I go, for it will be a relief to have them off my mind and nothing to think of but the purchases we are going to make.”