“What?” asked Caroline, eagerly.
Constance bent towards her. “Jesus Christ said, ‘If any will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.’ When once we learn HOW to take it up cheerfully, bravely, for His sake, looking to Him to be helped, the sting is gone. ‘No cross, no crown,’ you know, my children.”
“No cross, no crown!” Constance had sufficient cross to carry just then. In the course of the morning Lady Augusta came into the room boisterously, her manner indicative of great surprise.
“Miss Channing, what is this tale, about your brother’s having been arrested for stealing that missing bank-note? Some visitors have just called in upon me, and they say the town is ringing with the news.”
It was one of the first of Constance Channing’s bitter pills; they were to be her portion for many a day. Her heart fluttered, her cheek varied, and her answer to Lady Augusta Yorke was low and timid.
“It is true that he was arrested yesterday on suspicion.”
“What a shocking thing! Is he in prison?”
“Oh no.”
“Did he take the note?”
The question pained Constance worse than all. “He did not take it,” she replied, in a clear, soft tone. “To those who know Arthur well, it would be impossible to think so.”