“No, I presume not; you have always been persistently blind to my many imperfections.  Well, daughter, you need not be troubled lest I should waste too much strength on the poor captain.  I do not imagine him to be an exacting person, and we have enough efficient nurses among the servants to do all the work that is needful.  My part will be, I think, principally to cheer him, keep up his spirits, and see that he is provided with everything that can contribute to comfort of mind and body.  I must leave you now and go to him.  I advise a drive for you and your mamma as soon as you can make ready for it; the air is delightfully clear and bracing.”

“Thank you, papa; the advice shall be followed immediately so far as I am concerned, and the order carefully obeyed,” she answered, as he moved on down the hall.

The smile with which the captain greeted Mr. Dinsmore’s entrance into the room where he lay in pain and despondency was a rather melancholy one.

“My dear sir, I feel for you!” Mr. Dinsmore said, seating himself by the bedside, “but you are a brave man and a Christian, and can endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ!”

There was a flash of joy in the sufferer’s eyes as he turned them upon the speaker, “That, sir, is the most comforting and sustaining thing you could have said to me!  Through what suffering was the Captain of our salvation made perfect!  And shall I shrink from enduring a little in His service?  Ah no!  And when I reflect that I might have been killed, and my dear children left fatherless, I feel that I have room for nothing but thankfulness that it is as well with me as it is.”

“And that some good will be brought out of this trial we cannot doubt,” Mr. Dinsmore said; “for ’we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose.’”

“Yes; and ’I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.’  ’We glory in tribulation also, knowing that tribulation worketh patience, and patience experience, and experience hope, and hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.’”

“What a wonderful book the Bible is!” remarked Mr. Dinsmore meditatively; “what stores of comfort and encouragement it contains for all in whatever state or condition!  ’The law of thy mouth is better unto me than thousands of gold and silver.’”

“Yes; how true it is, Mr. Dinsmore, that ’it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps’!  I had so fully resolved to return to-day to my vessel, and now when may I hope to see her?  Not in less than six weeks, the doctor tells me.”

“A weary while it must seem in prospect.  But we will do all we can to make it short in passing and prevent you from regretting the necessity of tarrying with us for so much longer time than you had intended,” Mr. Dinsmore answered in a cheery tone.