Chapter XXII: "she Only Touched the Hem of His Garment."

HIRA had much to tell of all which had befallen her from the time when she left her home under the protection of the old woman.

The child had a natural gift for telling stories, and as she related her adventures, the whole household listened with the keenest interest.

As she described Sukhiya's death, she felt as if she were living through the scene, and what had been for a time banished from her mind by other things, now came back with intense reality.

"I never knew she loved me so much," said the girl tearfully, "but I see it all now, and that she told that lie—that believing me to be dead, no one might try to get me back again. If only she had believed on the Lord Jesus and had been made ready to meet God, I would not mind, because then I would have been sure of seeing her again; but now she has gone, and I will never see her any more. Poor Sukhiya!"

"But how do you know that she did not trust the Lord Jesus, and that He did not make her ready to meet God?" asked Rámpál Singh.

The girl's face brightened. "Oh! Do you think He did? She did not seem to care, and there was such a little while."

"And how long did it take the Lord Jesus to cleanse the man who was full of leprosy, or to heal the woman who touched the hem of His garment? Sukhiya said, 'Lord Jesus, save my soul,' but that woman did not say one word, and yet she was healed. It takes us a long time to do a very little thing, but the Lord can do a great work in a very little time."

"Then you really think," said Hira joyfully, "that I shall see my dear old Sukhiya again, and be able to tell her that I did really love her?"

"I know this," was the answer, "that the love of our Lord is just as tender and forgiving and His power is just as great as it was before He died on the cross, and if Sukhiya asked Him from her heart to save her, that He never said her nay."

"Then I 'will' believe that Sukhiya has gone to be with God, and that I shall meet her there. And I am very glad now that I got lost again, though I was so frightened at the time."

As she continued her story, she told how, after her uncle and cousin had gone out, and her aunt was bargaining with the flour-seller, she went and sat close by the door and began to sing, because, she said, "I knew I could not see if anyone I knew passed by, and my aunt would have been angry if I had sat with the door open, or on the doorstep, so that I could be seen. But I thought, 'If I sit and sing, someone who is looking for me may hear my voice and know that I am here.'"

"It must have been God who put that thought into your heart," said Shushila, "for that is just how we found you. We did not know where to go and look for you, but all at once, I heard the sound of singing, and when I came a little nearer, I said, 'It is surely Hira's voice.' And when I pushed the door open, there you were."

"And was your aunt willing to let you go?" asked Rámpál Singh.

"No, indeed she was not," said Shushila. "She said Hira must wait till her uncle returned, to say what was to be done. I think she really wanted to let her go, but was afraid what her husband would say."

Then Hira spoke. "So I said I was very hungry, and I asked her to give me something to eat. She said quite angrily, 'Do you think I am going to feed a Christian?'

"So I asked, 'How can I live here if you will not feed me?'

"Then we came away and she did not try to stop us, only we heard her talking very loud as we walked away down the lane. Oh, I am glad that I have come back, for I was so afraid they would keep me, and that I should get angry again."

There was no need for Shushila and her father to say that they were very glad too. But there was fear mixed with their joy, for now that Hira's relatives had discovered where she lived, and were evidently anxious to make something out of her, it was hardly likely that they would be left in peace.

However, as the days passed by and nothing more was heard or seen of Behári Lál and his father, the fear was soon forgotten, and except for the remembrance of Sukhiya and the closing scene of her life, Hira's adventure passed from the minds of all.

It was only a few days later that Mary Dayál came to Rámpál Singh's house to ask for some advice from her friend.

Shushila and her father were not at home, but Hira, recognising the voice, cried eagerly, "Please don't go away. I am here, and I want you to listen to something."

Mary, who always had a warm place in her heart for the blind child, was quite willing to spend a little time with her.

When she had been seated, Hira said, "You must not try to 'see' anything, you must only listen."

Then a voice began to read, rather slowly and hesitatingly, but quite clearly, "'In My Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.'"

It was difficult not to look round and see the reader, but Mary obeyed her orders. After several verses had been read, Hira came to her friend's side, and with a beaming face asked,—

"Do you know who was reading? It was I, but you didn't know that blind people could read before, did you?"

Mary expressed quite enough surprise and pleasure to satisfy the delighted child, who was then quite willing to fetch her book and show its wonders.

Suddenly she exclaimed, "And, oh, I want to tell you something I never knew before. Shushila says that when the Lord Jesus said those words, 'I will come again, and receive you unto Myself,' He meant just exactly what He said, and that He is really and truly coming back again, perhaps very soon. Are you not glad?"

There was a thrill of joy in Mary's voice as she answered, "Yes, indeed, child. Why should we not be glad to see our dear Lord whom we love so much?"

"But it will be best of all for me," cried the child again, "because when Jesus comes, I shall have my new eyes and not be blind any more. And shan't I be just like that blind man? Because the first person he ever saw was the Lord Jesus, and so He will be the first that I shall see. It used to make me angry that I did not have my new eyes all at once, but now I think I am rather glad, because it makes me want the Lord Jesus to come all the more, and Shushila says it must make Him sad if we do not want Him to come."

"I am afraid," said Mary sadly, "there are a great many who do not care about His coming."

Then said Hira thoughtfully, "That must be either because they do not know and love Him, or else, that they are not ready to meet Him. Shushila says we cannot be glad unless we are ready, and now I know what she meant when she said the Lord Jesus would give me something better than new eyes. He has given me a new heart, and some day I shall have the new eyes too."

There was silence, and then Mary spoke again. "When I first heard that the Lord Jesus was coming back, I felt very glad, but sometimes I feel afraid, because I think I shall be ashamed that I am not more fit to meet Him."

Neither of the two speakers had noticed that Shushila and her father had come in, and they started as Rámpál Singh said earnestly, "We know that when He shall appear, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. There will be no need to be ashamed when we are like our own blessed Lord."

No one spoke till Shushila said joyously, "Oh, how happy and how good we ought to be, for whether we have much or little in this world, we have 'everything' in Jesus Christ our Lord; and when we look forward to what we are going to 'be' and to 'have,' no words seem enough to thank and praise God for all His wonderful love and goodness."

"And," responded her father, "the very least we can do is to seek to walk worthily of this high calling, and so to be to the praise of His glory."

Thus, we leave them. The father and daughter seeking to raise others to the same height of spiritual life and happiness to which they have themselves been brought.

The husband and wife starting life afresh, with an almighty hand to uphold them as they run together the heavenly race. And Hira, the blind child, whose eyes had been opened already to see the things "which are unseen and eternal," looks forward with joy to the time when in the day of perfect vision she will see "the King in His beauty."

SUNSET FOR JAMIE.

BY CATHARINE SHAW.

"WHAT'S father doing now?" asked a little invalid, raising his head ever so slightly from his pillow.

"I don't rightly know, Jamie; but I see it's near sundown, and he and the sheep will be making their way home."

The little boy's eyes brightened. "I'm glad of that," he said, with a weary little sigh. "I'm always glad when sunset comes, and then again I'm always glad when sunrise comes. Isn't that funny?"

"Not that I know of," said the busy mother, darning in and out over a big hole in her eldest boy's stocking. She thought she was glad too when the sunset came, and the day's work was nearly over; and then when the light came once more, she was glad that the new day was there, with its new duties and new strength to do them.

Perhaps something else in her thought was reflected in the child's eyes; for she put down her work and stroked his hair tenderly.

"There's the same Shepherd to lead His little lamb towards Home at sunset as there is to lead him to the pastures at sunrise, Jamie. He loves you, and will not give you more to bear than He will give you strength for."

Jamie's eyes watered in sympathy with hers. He knew that his mother had learned the lesson herself, or she would not have said it.

"And what is father doing 'now?'" he asked, when she took up her darning again.

"He is getting near home, I should think; and the sheep and lambs are hurrying a little to reach the fold before nightfall. And father is thinking of his Jamie, and praying that his pain may be better—"

Jamie nodded ever so little; he was sure of all that too.

"You can tell him that I think it is—a little," he whispered; "that will make him eat his supper better—"

Then there was a stir in the yard, and the sheep-dog came barking up the path. And in a moment, a kind, weather-beaten face peeped in, and a cheery voice, which was music to Jamie's heart, said—

"And how's my little laddie to-night? Here's father come back, and all the sheep are in the fold, Jamie!"