"Then if he were to come home again, you certainly would close the door against him?"
"Close the door agin him! Close the door agin my own child, my own flesh and blood! Why, I've been longing for years for him to come home. I wish he'd try me, he should have the best of everything I've got in the house. Oh, marcy! how my poor old heart 'ud ache with joy if he were to come to-night."
Joe had got quite excited while delivering himself of this long speech. So the nurse said quietly,
"So you think, Joe, that you are better than God."
"Better 'n God?"
"Yes; more merciful, and loving, and kind."
"Who said so?" said Joe, staring at her as if he could scarcely believe his own ears.
"Well, you implied it," said the nurse, quietly.
"Me implied it?" said he in a tone of bewilderment. "How so?"
"Well, you say you have a bad son who has been away many years, and yet you say you love him still, so much so that you would willingly die for him; and that, bad as he has been, if he were to come home to-night, instead of driving him from the door, you would give him the heartiest welcome, and think nothing in the house too good for him. And yet you think God will turn away you. So you must admit, Joe," she said with a smile, "that you think you have more love and mercy in your heart than God has in His?"