As Adam followed Margaret up the narrow stairs, he felt glad, in spite of his partial disappointment, for he had previously read the sweet message:
"Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him."
"Surely I may wait and be patient," he thought, "when God waited forty years to be gracious to me."
Adam thought Margaret was asleep, when he knelt by the bedside in earnest prayer. But she was not. She was only "making believe, to see what her husband was after," and she heard whispered words of thanksgiving for her safe return and a prayer that God would bless her.
[CHAPTER XIX.]
STUMBLING-BLOCKS.
MRS. LIVESEY'S children were naturally delighted at her return, and full of eager curiosity about the contents of her many boxes and parcels. Their joy was, however, much sobered when they found that mother's coming meant Sarah's going, and that without delay.
The past month had been a very happy one to them all, for Mrs. Livesey's deputy had ruled by love. Sharp words and accompanying sharp slaps had become things of the past. Sarah being young, and yet the eldest of a tribe of brothers and sisters, well knew how to occupy and amuse her juniors when indoors.
While at Adam Livesey's, she brought all her powers to bear for the benefit of the children, who had hitherto been left pretty much to their own devices in this line. But Sarah taught them merry little games, or to lisp nursery rhymes and accompany them to suitable actions, making herself, for the time, the biggest child of them all. Often the cottage rang with laughter, in which Sarah's could be distinguished no less hearty than the rest. Before bedtime her sweet voice would lead theirs in some simple hymn, fitted to their childish minds. She was care-taker, friend and playfellow all in one, and having a large and loving heart, she became much attached to her little charges.
Still she felt the trust a very serious one, but, as she told her Uncle Richard, "It came upon me without seeking, and when there seemed to be nobody else handy to fill the gap, I couldn't say 'No.' So I just ask that He who gave me this work to do will, from day to day, give me the will and the strength to do it well."