"And you are the little chatterer that I heard talking to your aunt?"

"Yes: but where did you hear me? I never say you."

"Ah! have you never heard that walls have ears?"

Walls, ears!" said Harry, laughing; "you are as bad as Boosa."

"How do you mean? What does Boosa think?"

"He thinks pieces of stone have ears, and can hear his prayers. Isn't that nonsense?"

"Indeed it is: but don't you tell him better?"

"Yes. I tell him that God, who made that bright, bright sun, made Boosa, and that He has ears to hear him pray,"

"And does Boosa believe ?"

you

"Not quite; for he is not sure that God's Bible is true. He does not know about it, you see, as we do."

"And what do you know about it, little man?"

"Oh! I know that the great God wrote it. Wasn't it

kind of God to write a book all about Jesus, and tell how very much He loves us?"

"And can you read it ?"

"Not yet; for I am a little boy, you see. But when I am big like you

"Then may your faith be as simple and as pure as it is now," said Sir Claude, with a sigh; and he put the little boy down, kissing that open little forehead beneath its sunny curls. Little Harry observed between the trees, that the

peacock was standing with its tail outspread; and off he was in a moment to view the splendid bird.

Sir Claude and Mr. Alleyne continued to walk together, and they spoke of the little child's simplicity.

"Yes," said old Mr. Alleyne. "It illustrates the Saviour's words, 'Except ye become as little children, ye can in no wise enter the kingdom of heaven.'

"I never understood that text before," said Sir Claude, thoughtfully. "I have been weighing carefully, for some time, all the arguments for and against Christianity. My understanding is almost convinced that the mind which inspired Scripture is divine; but I cannot trust like that simple child."

Old Mr. Alleyne was a man of very few words, and he replied, "Don't look to yourself trusting God; look to God holding you."

As Sir Claude rode home, he pondered over these words; and as he burnt his solitary lamp in his library till after midnight, little Harry's conversation with his aunt Ethelda was all remembered; and his earnest eye was raised to heaven with the supplication, "When my soul shall stand before Thee, O God, enable me with all my unworthiness to say, 'Thou hast washed me in Thy most precious blood.'" The promise, "Ask, and ye shall have," was again pleaded; and the little child's simple assurance, "God cannot tell a lie," seemed re-echoed from above. In peace he laid himself down to rest that night, for at length he believed, that in life or in death, his God sustained him.

With hope he arose on the following morning; and the inquiry of his thankful soul was, "Lord, what wouldst Thou have me to do?"

He commenced the ascent of the holy mount of God; and as he clambered upwards, the road became more bright, the light of God's countenance shone, and the clouds of doubt in which he had so long been enveloped appeared to hang in the valley below. To him these were no longer dark. He beheld them illuminated from above, and their very presence seemed to cause a stronger reflection of the ever-brightening rays of the Sun of Righteousness and of

life.

CHAPTER XIV.

STAND STILL,

"Nearer, my God, to Thee,

Nearer to Thee!

E'en though it be a cross

That raiseth me;

Still all my song shall be,

Nearer, my God, to Thee,—

Nearer to Thee!"

Ir was on a brilliant evening in the month of June, that Rowland and Ethelda rode to the sand-huts, in order that they might accomplish their promised visit. The air from the sea felt very fresh; and as they cantered along the smooth and hard sand,-the tide rapidly advancing, and the rippling waves almost touching the feet of their steeds, they felt their enjoyment enhanced by the remembrance that their heavenly Father's hand had wrought the wonders of that mighty deep. Some of the little children were, with their tiny fingers, digging holes in the sand, and laughing as the water filled the ditch which they had formed round their miniature mounds; whilst Peter and one or two bigger boys were at some distance searching for sand-eels. His quick eyes soon discovered his friends advancing on horseback.

"and father is at

"There they are!" he exclaimed ; home to-night. Bill! Pat! come on, lads. It's the good lady that's like an angel, and the gentleman that gave me the boat:" and Peter left his companions far behind, and was at the rail above the huts as soon as Rowland and Ethelda arrived, and with a native grace held the somewhat impatient horse as the lady alighted.

"Oh, my lady! and I'm glad to see you, and father's at home." And Peter looked at Rowland, too, with sparkling eyes; only he had not time to repeat his welcome, which was intended for both, because he bounded off to tell his parents and the rest of the colony of the strangers' arrival. The huts were erected on the sandy links that divided the river from the sea. They were very near the mouth of the same stream that flowed through the grounds at Alleyne, and round the village castle and churchyard. Here it had expanded to be, at full tide, almost an arm of the sea; a narrow, wooden-way bridge had been erected across it, and along this the women sometimes proceeded carefully, that they might make sundry purchases in the opposite village. On that evening two of them had gone on this errand, and some of the men had not returned from their harbour-work; either remaining beyond the regular hours, or resorting to the beershop, there to spend a portion of their hard-earned wages. There were, however, many precious souls, inhabitants of the sand-huts. All came together, for all were pleased to feel that Rowland and his sister cared for them. Rowland had not yet courage to speak before Ethelda; and