"I don't know," said Matilda. "I suppose I should, if I were quite good."
"If you were quite good. Have you so many things to make you happy?"
"I think I have."
"Tell them to me," said Mrs. Laval, pressing her cheek against Matilda's hair in caressing fashion; "it is pleasant to talk of one's pleasant things, and I should like to hear of yours. What are they, love?"
What did the lady mean? Matilda hesitated, but Mrs. Laval was quietly waiting for her to speak. She had her arms wrapped round Matilda, and her face rested against her hair, and so she was waiting. It was plain that Matilda must speak. Still she waited, uncertain how to frame her words, uncertain how they would be understood; till at last the consciousness that she had waited a good while, drove her to speak suddenly.
"Why, ma'am," she said, "the first thing is, that I belong to the Lord Jesus Christ."
The lady paused now in her turn, and her voice when she spoke was somewhat husky.
"What is the next thing, dear?"
"Then, I know that God is my Father."
"Go on," said the lady, as Matilda was silent.