“She may be yet,” said Edmund smiling, “but she has the best sort of happiness. She is in less danger of clinging to this world than we are. And somehow she gives me the impression of one too high and noble to seek her happiness in the way in which most people look for it. Yes, we ourselves, Agnes, we have a nest and home in this world; she stands above it, and her only relation with it is to make others happy.”
“She little thinks how we talk of her,” said Agnes. “And still stranger it is, that with the reverence I have for her, I can play with her and scold her.”
A silence; ending with Agnes repeating,
“GOOD LORD, through this world’s troubled way Thy children’s course secure;
And lead them onward day by day,
Kindly like Thee and pure.
“Be theirs to do Thy work of love,
All erring souls to win;
Amid a sinful world to move,
Yet give no smile to sin.”