“Yes; but when I am with you I share your danger, if there is any, and that is what I wish; for oh, Ned, I couldn’t live without you!”

“I hope you may never have to try it, my darling,” he said, in tender tones, “or I be called to endure the trial of having to live without you; yet we can hardly hope to go together.

“But let us not vex ourselves with useless fears.  We have the promise, ‘As thy days, so shall thy strength be.’  And we know that nothing can befall us without the will of our Heavenly Father, whose love and compassion are infinite.  ’We know that all things work together for good to them that love God.’”

“But if one is not at all sure of belonging to Him?” she said, in a voice so low that he barely caught the words.

“Then the way is open to come to Him.  He says, ‘Come unto me.’  ’Him that cometh unto me, I will in no wise cast out.’  The invitation is to you, love, as truly as if addressed to you alone; as truly as if you could hear His voice speaking the sweet words and see His kind eyes looking directly at you.

“It is my ardent wish, my most earnest, constant prayer, that my beloved wife may speedily learn to know, love, and trust in Him who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life!”

“You are so good, Ned!  I wish I were worthy of such a husband,” she murmured, half sighing as she spoke.

“Quite a mistake, Zoe,” he replied, with unaffected humility; “to hear you talk so makes me feel like a hypocrite.  I haves no righteousness of my own to plead, but, thanks be unto God, I may rejoice in the imputed righteousness of Christ!  And that may be yours, too, love, for the asking.

“’Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.’

“They are the Master’s own words; and He adds:  ’For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.’”

Meanwhile the contemplated trip of the young men was under discussion in the parlor.  “Dear me!” said Betty, who had just heard of it, “how much fun men and boys do have!  Don’t you wish you were one of them, Lulu?”

“No, I don’t,” returned Lulu, promptly.  “I’d like to be allowed to do some of the things they do that we mustn’t, but I don’t want to be a boy.”

“That is right,” said her father; “there are few things so unpleasant to me as a masculine woman, who wishes herself a man and tries to ape the stronger, coarser sex in dress and manners.  I hope my girls will always be content, and more than content, to be what God has made them.”

“If you meant to hit me that time, captain,” remarked Betty, in a lively tone, “let me tell you it was a miserable failure, for I don’t wish I was a man, and never did.  Coarse creatures, as you say—­present company always excepted—­who would want to be one of them.”

“I’d never have anything to do with one of them if I were in your place, Bet,” laughed her brother.