“There’s no harm in it, my good fellow,” said the minister kindly; “you need make no secret of it.”
“Well,” resumed Daniel, “the questions this poor little creature has asked me have gone quicker and deeper down to my conscience than all your sermons, if I may make so free as to say it. She’s come often and often of a morning, and looked into my face with those clear eyes of hers, and said, ‘Don’t you love Jesus Christ, Mr. Daniel?’ ‘Doesn’t it make you very glad that God is your Father, Mr. Daniel?’ ‘Are we getting nearer heaven every day, Mr. Daniel?’ And one day says she, ‘Are you going to give all your money to God, Mr. Daniel?’ Ah, that question made me think indeed, and it’s never been answered till this day. While I’ve been sitting beside the bed here I’ve counted up all my savings: £397 18s. it is; and I’ve said, ‘Lord, it’s all thine; and I’d give every penny of it rather than lose the child, if it be thy blessed will to spare her life.’”
Daniel’s voice quavered at the last words, and his face sank upon the pillow where Jessica’s feeble and motionless head lay. There was a very sweet yet surprised smile upon her face, and she lifted her wasted fingers to rest upon the bowed head beside her, while she shut her eyes and shaded them with her other weak hand.
“Our Father,” she said in a faint whisper, which still reached the ears of the minister and the beadle, “I asked you to let me come home to heaven; but if Mr. Daniel wants me, please to let me stay a little longer, for Jesus Christ’s sake. Amen.”
For some minutes after Jessica’s prayer there was a deep and unbroken silence in the room, Daniel still hiding his face upon the pillow, and the minister standing beside them with bowed head and closed eyes, as if he also were praying. When he looked up again at the forsaken and desolate child he saw that her feeble hand had fallen from her face, which looked full of rest and peace, while her breath came faintly but regularly through her parted lips. He took her little hand into his own with a pang of fear and grief; but instead of the mortal chillness of death he felt the pleasant warmth and moisture of life. He touched Daniel’s shoulder, and as he lifted up his head in sudden alarm he whispered to him, “The child is not dead, but is only asleep.”