Matilda started. "Have you got through, mamma? did you want me?"
"I have got through; but I do not want you unless you are ready. What have you found that pleases you?"
"Look, mamma. That one—the woman holding a lamp—don't you see?"
It was Holman Hunt's figure of the woman searching for the lost piece of money.
"What is it?" said Mrs. Laval.
"Don't you remember, mamma? the story of the woman who had ten pieces of silver and lost one of them? how she swept the house, and looked until she found it?"
"If I had nine left, I should not take so much trouble," said Mrs. Laval.
"Ah, but, mamma, you know the Lord Jesus does not think so."
"The Lord! What are you talking of, my child?"
"O you do not remember, mamma! It is a parable. The Lord Jesus means us to know how He cares for the lost ones."