look of intense
pain seemed to furrow her brow, and suddenly she buried her face in her
hands, and he could just hear her say, "My darling, my darling!"

Arthur started up, and as she heard the sound she looked over to where
he was.

"My dear little Arthur, I did not know any one was in the room."

"Mamma, I did not mean to hide--to look--I mean, to listen. I forgot I
ought to have said I was here. Mother, may I say what I was thinking
before you came in?"

"Yes, darling. I always like to hear your thoughts."

"I was just thinking that you didn't seem to care so very much."

"What about?" asked his mother.

"Oh, about all those dreadful things--about dear little Mildred having
died, and about my being left all by myself."

It was not just directly that Mrs. Vivyan was able to answer, and then
she said:

"When you are older, darling, you will find out that it is not always the
people who talk and cry most, who feel things most; and that there is such
a thing as saying 'Thy will be done,' and of not giving way to all our
feelings for the sake of others."

"Ah, yes; that is what I ought to do," said Arthur with a deep sigh.

"Arthur, dear," said Mrs. Vivyan presently, looking straight into the
fire, and closing her hands very tightly, "don't ever think I do not care
or feel. Oh, you never can know how much I have felt! You know nothing
about the hungry feeling in my heart when I think of my darling, darling
little baby, whom God is taking care of now; and how, when I see the
little bed she used to lie on, and her little frocks and shoes, I feel
something biting in my heart, and as if I _must_ have her in my arms
again. And about you, my own precious boy, God knows how I feel, as I
never could express to you; but I can tell Him, and I do."

And Arthur's mother buried her face again in her hands, and burst into an
agony of weeping. He had never seen her cry like that before, and it was
something quite new to him to see his sweet, gentle mother so moved. He
hardly knew what to say to her; so he rose from his sofa, and coming close
up to her chair, he threw his arms with a fervent embrace around her, and
said softly:

"Never mind, my own dear mother; I will try and bear it."

And then Arthur cried too; for the bitterness of what it would be to bear
it came over him.

"God will bless us both in it, my darling," said his mother; "and He will
take care of us while we are separated, and bring us back to each othe