I have come
specially to have a long talk with you about Harry and her absence will
be a good thing."
Then he took her hand and they went together to a large room upstairs.
There was a bright fire burning on this hearth and a large fur rug
before it. A pretty bassinet, in which a lovely girl-baby was sleeping,
was on one side of the hearth and Lucy's low nursing-chair on the other
side, and a little round table set ready for tea in the center. A
snow-white bed in a distant corner held the two boys, Stephen and Ralph,
who were fast asleep. John stooped first to the baby, and kissed it, and
Lucy said, "I have called her Agnes. It was my mother's name when she
was on earth. Do you think they call her Agnes in heaven, John?"
_"He hath called thee by thy name_, is one of the tokens given us of
God's fatherhood, Lucy."
"Well, John, a father must care what his children are called--if he
cares for the children."
"Yes, we may be sure of that." As he spoke, he was standing by the
sleeping boys. He loved both, but he loved Stephen, the elder, with an
extraordinary affection.
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