"Oh yes, Sir," said Ellen; "how can I help it?"
"Then, if he had left you your mother, Ellen, you would never have cared or thought about him?"
Ellen was silent.
"Is it so? would you, do you think?"
"I don't know, Sir," said Ellen, weeping again "oh, Sir! how can I help it?"
"Then Ellen, can you not see the love of your heavenly Father in this trial? He saw that his little child was in danger of forgetting him; and he loved you, Ellen; and so he has taken your dear mother, and sent you away where you will have no one to look to but him; and now he says to you, 'My daughter, give me thy heart.' Will you do it, Ellen?"
Ellen wept exceedingly while the gentleman was saying these words, clasping his hands still in both hers; but she made no answer. He waited till she had become calmer, and then went on in a low tone
"What is the reason that you do not love the Saviour, my child?"
"Mamma says it is because my heart is so hard."
"That is true; but you do not know how good and how lovely he is, or you could not help loving him. Do you often think of him, and think much of him, and ask him to show you himself, that you may love him?"