"Tell me about it; how did you do it?" Lulu asked gravely, her eyes cast down, a slight frown upon her brow.
"I did just as Grandma Elsie told us this morning. You know, Lu?"
"Yes, I remember. But how do you know that you were heard and accepted?"
"Why, Lulu!" was the surprised reply, "the Bible tells us God is the hearer and answerer of prayer—it's in one of the verses I've learned to say to Grandma Elsie since I came here. And Jesus says: 'Him that cometh unto Me I will in nowise cast out;' so of course He received me. How could I help knowing it?"
"You've got far ahead of me," Lulu said, with petulance born of an uneasy conscience, as she released herself from Grace's arms and began undressing with great energy and despatch.
"You needn't feel that way, Lu," Grace said pleadingly; "Jesus is just as willing to take you for His child as me."
"I don't believe it!" cried Lulu, with almost fierce impatience; "you've always been good, and I've always been bad. I don't see why I wasn't made patient and sweet-tempered too; it's no trouble to you to behave and keep rules and all that, but I can't; try as hard as I will."
"Oh, Lulu, Jesus will help you to be good if you ask Him and try as hard as you can, too," Grace said in tender, pleading tones.
"But suppose I don't want to be good?"
Grace's eyes opened wide in grieved surprise, then filled with tears. "Oh, Lulu!" she said; "but I'm sure you do want to be good sometimes. And can't Jesus help you to want to always? won't He if you ask Him?"