"Afraid to think He is near us, dearest! Why, He is our best friend! Do not you love Him, Lucy?"
Lucy began to sob, and said, at last, that it always frightened her to think about such things, and she never did, unless something reminded her that she must die.
"My dear little sister," said Rosa, "God loves you: you need not be afraid of Him, if you really wish to please Him."
"But I can't please Him, I can't do right," sobbed Lucy.
"I know you cannot," Rosa replied, "but He will forgive you for Jesus' sake, and help you, if you ask Him."
"But I forget all about it," said Lucy.
"It is very hard to remember at first, that God is always with you, and you are trying to be His child. I know, dear Lucy, that you must wish to love and serve the kind Heavenly Father who has done so much for you: begin to-night; ask Him to make you His child, and to take care of you."
Lucy made no answer, but in silence she did as her sister had advised, and God who seeth all hearts received and answered her simple petition.
The few words that Rosa had said, dwelt in her mind. "God loves you," she thought, again and again, as she lay in her quiet bed; and when her eyes closed in sleep, it was with the remembrance that the God who loved her was near to watch over her.