Part 15 (1/2)

”O, no!”

”You are an angel! You have been as good as you could be. f.a.n.n.y, we shall meet in heaven, for I feel just as though I could not live many days. We shall be friends there, if we cannot long be here.”

”I hope you will get better,” added f.a.n.n.y, because she could think of nothing else to say.

”No, I may die before morning, f.a.n.n.y; but I am ready. You are so good----”

”O, Jenny! I am not good! I cannot deceive you any longer!” exclaimed f.a.n.n.y, bursting into tears.

”Now I know that you are good. The blessed Bible says, 'He that humbleth himself shall be exalted.' I'm glad you don't think you are good.”

”But I am not good, indeed I am not,” sobbed f.a.n.n.y.

”Don't weep, dear f.a.n.n.y. I know how you feel; I have felt just so myself, when it seemed to me I was so wicked I couldn't live.”

”You don't know how wicked I have been; what monstrous things I have done,” added f.a.n.n.y, covering her face with her hands. ”If you knew, you would despise me.”

”You wrong yourself, f.a.n.n.y. Such a good, kind heart as you have would not let you do anything very bad.”

”I have done what was very bad, Jenny; I have been the worst girl in the whole world; but I am so sorry!”

”I know you are. If you have done anything wrong,--we all do wrong sometimes,--you could not help being sorry. Your heart is good.”

”Shall I tell you what I did?” asked f.a.n.n.y, in a low and doubtful tone.

”O, no! Don't tell me; tell it to G.o.d. He will pity and forgive you because you are really sorry.”

”You would despise me if you knew how wicked I have been. It was seeing you, and thinking how good you are, which made me feel that I had done wrong.”

”I'm sure, after all you have done for mother and for me, I can't help believing that you are an angel. I love you, and I know that you are good.”

”I mean to be good, Jenny. From this time I shall try to do better than I ever did before.”

”Then you will be, f.a.n.n.y.”

”I don't think I ever tried to be good, but I shall now,” replied the penitent girl, as she wiped away her tears.

Jenny seemed to be weary, and f.a.n.n.y sat by the bedside gazing in silence at her beautiful and tranquil expression. The sufferer was looking at the rich flowers of the bouquet, which had been placed on a stand at the side of the bed. They were a joy to her, a connecting link between the beautiful of heaven and the beautiful of earth.

”Will you sing me a hymn, f.a.n.n.y?” asked the sick girl, without removing her gaze from the flowers.

Without any other reply to the question, f.a.n.n.y immediately sang this verse:--

”If G.o.d hath made this world so fair, Where sin and death abound, How beautiful, beyond compare, Will Paradise be found!”

”How beautiful!” murmured Jenny, her eyes still fixed upon the flowers.

”Will you take out that moss-rose, f.a.n.n.y, and let me hold it in my hand?”

f.a.n.n.y gave her the flower, and then sang another hymn. For an hour she continued to sing, and Jenny listened to the sweet melodies, entranced and enraptured by the visions of heaven which filled her soul. Then she asked f.a.n.n.y to read to her from the Bible, indicating the book and chapter, which was the eighth chapter of Romans.

”'For we are saved by hope,'” f.a.n.n.y read.