, Martha,' said Angel earnestly, 'you were older than we are, and
you had your grannie to ask, and we are so afraid of making mistakes.'

'Miss Angelica, you'll forgive me for what I'm going to say. I'm not
making light, missy dear, but what can you do more than do your best,
and show him what's right and punish him when he's wrong, and say your
prayers for him, and love him all you can; but remember all the time
that there's One wiser than you loves him better still.'

And here Martha took up the lavender bag and began stitching away at
the lilac ribbon binding. But she had to leave off after a minute, for
Betty sprang up suddenly and put her arms round her neck and kissed
her, and Angel looked at her across the table with earnest, grateful
eyes.

'Thank you, Martha, so very much,' she said; 'you do help us so
beautifully, better than any one else could!'

'I just tell you what I told myself, Miss Angel dear, and, mind you, my
dear young ladies, I don't believe we've ever a job given us to do but
we're taught the way, so we really want to learn.'

Just at this moment Peter came in from the mill, and the two young
ladies thanked him till he got red to the tips of his ears. It was
nothing at all to do, he said, and he was glad the young master was
none the worse, and a first-rate climber he was, that he was, and him
such a little bit of a fellow. And so the girls went away, very much
more cheerful than they had come.

'We won't say any more about it to Godfrey,' Angelica said on the way
home; 'it's just as Martha says, we can't make him say he's sorry, and
if he is he'll tell us so by-and-bye, and it'll be worth waiting for,
won't it?'

So the two waited, and in the evening they had their reward. Angelica
put Godfrey to bed and heard him say his prayers, adding herself a few
words of thanksgiving for his preservation that day. When she leaned
over him to say good-night, he asked in his sudden way:

'If I had tumbled down and my head had been broken off would you have
cried?'

'Indeed I should,' said Angel gravely; 'I am afraid to think about it
even.'

'But I wasn't a good boy then,' went on Godfrey, with his wide grey
eyes studying her face; 'are you going on loving me?'

'My little Godfrey, I shall go on loving you as long as I live, and
longer, longer, dear.'

The next moment he put his arms round her and gave her his first real
kiss.

'I love you,' he said gravely; 'I won't make you and the oth