Then I went upstairs to my hardest task of all, namely, to persuade Polly to come down to eat the little meal I had prepared.

Polly was, as I had expected, most unwilling to leave the child, and at first she firmly declined to move, and would not listen to my pleading words.  Yet I could see that she was almost fainting, and I knew that she would need all the strength that she could muster for the night which lay before us.  Who knew what that night would bring?

I therefore spoke to her very firmly, telling her that I was willing and anxious to help her in her trouble, but that, if I was to be any use to her, she must not refuse to go downstairs for a few minutes at least, and I promised her to watch little John very carefully, and to call her at once if I saw any change in the child.  She obeyed me at last, and I heard her weary footsteps descending the steep stairs.

When I was left alone, I saw that Polly’s Bible was lying open by the little oil-lamp which stood on the table, upon which had been placed the medicine and milk for little John’s use.  I went up to it, and my eye fell upon these words:—­

’If ye abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.’

It seemed to me as if that verse was God’s direct message to me that night.  I saw it as clearly and distinctly as if the page had been lighted with electric light.  ‘Two conditions and a promise,’ I said to myself; ‘if only the conditions are fulfilled, the promise is sure.’

What are the two conditions? (1) ‘If ye abide in Me.’  I asked myself if I was fulfilling that condition.  I humbly hoped I was; for, oh, I longed to be in Christ, saved by Him, more than I longed for anything else in this world.

(2) ‘If My words abide in you.’  Was I fulfilling the second condition?  Again I humbly hoped that I was; for I felt that if Christ told me to go to the North Pole, or to an African desert, I would obey gladly.  I would go anywhere, I would do anything, to show Him how grateful I was for His love to me.

Then might I claim the promise?  I believed that I might.

I laid Polly’s Bible on the bed.  I knelt down beside little John.  I put my finger on the promise, and I prayed, as I had never prayed before, for help in this time of need.  I felt very strongly that all power was in the hands of Christ, and that He who healed the sick on earth had lost none of His power, now that He was exalted to the throne of God.  I besought Him to come into that room that very night, and to touch and heal little John.  And as I rose from my knees I felt that my prayer was heard.

Polly had not returned, so I went to the top of the stairs and listened, and I heard the sound of sobbing.  I was thankful to hear it; the tears had come at last, and they would relieve the poor, weary, over-strained heart.