you not?'

Elfie's face flushed; then sitting down in a low chair, she rested her
head against Nannie's knees.

'Yes,' she said softly. 'I told you how different everything had been
with me when last I was home, Nannie. That German governess was such a
help to me. But what I feel is this: I enjoy everything in life so; it
all seems so bright and sunny to me, that I feel the pleasure I take in
everything may be such a snare. I ought to have my enjoyment in the
Lord apart from it all. And I sometimes ask myself if I could be happy
shut up in a prison cell, away from all I love, and--and I almost think
I couldn't. Nannie smiled.

'You are a foolish child. Do you think the Lord loves to put His
children in miserable circumstances and keep them there? Your youth
and your gladness and your hopes are all gifts from Him. He loves to
see us happy. Doesn't the sun, and the brightness, and all the lovely
bits o' nature, come straight from Him? He didn't make London with its
smoke and fog and misery, 'tis us that have done that.'

'But I like London,' put in Elfie. 'I love the shops and the people
and the bustle, and at first I didn't like the idea of the country at
all, but now I am beginning to.'

'Wherever you may be, Miss Elfie, delight yourself in your
surroundings, unless they be sinful; but be sure o' this, you can
delight yourself in the Lord in the midst of it all, and have no need
to separate Him from all your innocent joys. Doesn't your verse say as
much? Will the Lord take all that is pleasant away from you, if you do
His command? No; "He will give thee the desires of thine heart." Could
you want more proof of His love? You may later on in life have another
lesson to learn, but 'twill come easier then, and you'll be able to say
with Habakkuk, "Although everything else fails, yet I will rejoice in
the Lord."'

Elfie was silent. Then she got up and kissed her old nurse.

'You're an old saint; you always do me such a world of good. I think
you have given me the best verse of them all, and I will try and make
it my motto. Now I must go. I only ran up to have a peep at you.'

CHAPTER III

A Country Home

'If thou would'st read a lesson that will keep
Thy heart from fainting, and thy soul from sleep,
Go to the woods and hills. No tears
Dim the sweet look that Nature wears.'--_Longfellow._

The day had come when the four sisters took their leave of London. The
sale had taken