“They are coming home very happy,” continued the aunt; “the mother having almost entirely recovered her health, and if only they could find poor Will all right——” she ended with a burst of weeping.
“Dear Mrs. Croly, do not give up hope; we are all praying for him—that his life may be spared if the will of God be so.”
“Then I believe it will be, for God is the hearer and answerer of prayer,” returned the aunt; “and oh, I want to thank you for having poor Will brought here; for if he was with us the state of affairs could hardly be kept a moment from his parents, but now I hope it will be all right before they need to know.”
“You are very, very welcome,” Elsie replied, and Mrs. Croly went away somewhat consoled and hopeful.
The rides and the shopping expedition had been given up and the children and younger members of the family had gone down to the beach to be out of the way of those working with Croly; but Rosie, Lulu, Grace, and Walter were in a sad, subdued, and anxious mood. Mary and Marian presently joined them, and they talked feelingly of him whom they hardly dared to hope to see in life again.
Yet all had great faith in Arthur’s skill, and the younger girls, telling of Harold’s narrow escape some years before at Nantucket, cheered and encouraged the others with the hope that Croly might even yet be saved from temporal death, and live many years to be a comfort to his parents and a blessing to the world.
“I do hope he is not gone and will live for many years serving the Master here on earth,” said Mary, “but if he is gone, we know that it is to be with Jesus and forever blest. How he loved that hymn about the shining shore! and perhaps he has reached it now,” she added with a burst of tears.
“But oh, we will hope not! hope he is still living and will be spared to the parents who love him so dearly,” said Marian. “And I believe if anybody can save him it is your cousin, Dr. Conly.”
“I’ll run back to the house to see if there is any sign of life yet,” said Walter, and rushed away.