_Lucy_.--"Elizabeth has not long been our cook, and probably
she never heard the word of God before she came here. Poor girl I she
is perhaps very unhappy now,--and I am sure, she will repent and turn
to God."

_The Father_.-"That is right, my dear child, I rejoice to hear
you plead the cause of the unhappy, and even of the guilty, for as I
said before, 'mercy rejoiceth against judgment.'"

"I was therefore wrong," said John, "and I confess it ... for
certainly I scarcely pitied her.... I did wrong I and now I think as
Lucy does."

"And I also," said William, "'Clemency governs courage,' says a
Grecian historian, and ..."

_The Father._--(Very seriously.)--"But, my dear William, what
have the pagans of old and their morals to do here? My son, you know
it is the word of God which rules our conduct, and which commands us
to suffer and to forgive."

_Lucy._--"Papa, will you allow me to repeat a passage, which I
learnt by heart last Sunday?"

_The Father._--"Repeat it, Lucy, and may God bless it to us all!"

_Lucy._--"'Execute true judgment, and show mercy and compassion
every man to his brother.' It is in the seventh chapter of Zechariah."

"I too, was wrong then," said William, "very wrong! for it is the