Chapter IX: The End

BUT Willie's Mamma did not laugh when Willie came back, and Nurse told her what had taken place. She heard it all quite calmly, and only asked a few questions; but she grew very pale and grave. She made Willie come and sit down by her, and held him quite tight in her arms for a minute. And then she told Nurse to bring something to put upon Willie's forehead and hands, where he was hurt, to take away the pain. And after that, when Nurse and Lucy were gone away, and Willie was sitting still by his Mamma's side, he looked up in her face, and saw, to his surprise, that her eyes were full of tears.

"Why, Mamma, are you sorry about something?" he asked.

"Not sorry, Willie; only thankful—so thankful—for my Willie's escape. And I cannot help thinking of what might have been—of the dreadful sorrow we might now be in—if God had not watched over you, and kept you from falling farther."

"I might have tumbled down lower," said Willie.

"Yes; for Nurse says you had fallen quite across the sledge-path, and your head was hanging over on the other side."

"Yes, I know Nurse said so, though I did not know it, Mamma. I did not know where I was, till Lucy spoke to me. I wonder why I did not know. Should I have been hurt much, if I had fallen lower still, Mamma?"

"Indeed, Willie, I fear, from what Nurse says, that if you had gone down that next steep bank, I should never again have had my little boy sitting and talking by my side."

"Mamma, you need not cry about it," said Willie. "I will take more care after to-day. I did not mean to tumble over, but I gave a jump, and a bit of rock broke away under my feet, and somehow I went right down the other side. But I will be more careful, Mamma."

"I hope you will, darling, for my sake. You will not leave Nurse so far behind again. We ought to be very very thankful to our heavenly Father for keeping you in this danger. Oh Willie, I cannot help thinking how I should have felt, if that 'had' taken place—if my little boy had been taken from me in such a sudden dreadful way, and I could never have known whether he was one of God's own children or not."

"Mamma," said Willie, looking down, and speaking low, "I do want to do right."

"But wanting to do right is not enough, Willie."

"No, I know," said Willie. "But you know what I mean, Mamma. I think—I don't know—" Willie stopped, and then said,—"I should like to be quite safe, so that you would not mind if I did tumble down a bank and were killed, Mamma."

"Not mind!" Mrs. Gray held Willie very tightly for a minute again as she said the words. "Nothing could ever keep me from 'minding,' Willie. But my very greatest wish of all for my little boy is that he should become one of Christ's own soldiers, so that he would indeed be safe for ever."

"I should like to be," said Willie softly. "I do not know how."

"He will teach you how Himself, Willie. I have told you many a time, but you can never really know till God sends His Holy Spirit into your heart."

"And I suppose I must wait for that?" said Willie.

"Yes, wait for it, Willie; but wait at His feet—wait at His door. You must go to the Lord Jesus in prayer, and tell Him your need, and He will answer you. You want to belong to Him. Well, give yourself to Him, and ask Him to do all the rest, because you have no power to make yourself good, or to make yourself love Him. And He will do it all, darling, if you truly pray, and seek, and wait for Him. It is like that hymn, 'Just as I am!' Do you know it?"

"No, Mamma," said Willie.

"Shall I say it to you?"

"Please," said Willie, in a whisper, putting down his face on his Mamma's arm.

"Just as I am—without one plea,
But that Thy blood was shed for me,
And that Thou bidst me come to Thee—
O Lamb of God, I come!

"Just as I am—and waiting not
To rid my soul of one dark blot—
To Thee, whose blood can cleanse each spot—
O Lamb of God, I come!

"Just as I am—poor, wretched, blind;
Sight, riches, healing of the mind,
Yea, all I need in Thee to find—
O Lamb of God, I come!

"Just as I am—Thou wilt receive,
Wilt welcome, pardon, cleanse, relieve,
Because Thy promise I believe—
O Lamb of God, I come!

"Just as I am—Thy love unknown
Has broken every barrier down;
Now to be Thine, yea, Thine alone—
O Lamb of God, I come!"

"I like that very much," said Willie. "It is such a pretty hymn! May I learn it some day, Mamma?"

"I should like you very much to learn it, Willie dear," said Mrs. Gray.

Then Willie sat silent for a little while, and soon he dropped off sound asleep, with his head on his mother's knee, for his fall and alarm had made him tired.

But the next day he was as bright as ever, and his foot hardly pained him at all. How thankful Mrs. Gray felt that her little boy had passed through such danger, without any more harm!

The last fortnight of Willie and Lucy's Swiss visit was just as happy as the first month of it. They had many a long walk more, and many a ramble through the vineyards, and many a scramble after wild flowers, and many a game on the shore of the lake.

They had a second row on the water too, and this time Willie did not boast that he could row, though he asked to try once more, and did much better than at first, for he really helped to make the boat move.

One day, Mr. Gray took Willie to see an old castle, called Chillon. It was built quite out in the lake. Willie liked very much going across the bridge which led to it from the shore, and seeing the old dark dungeons where men had once on a time, long ago, been put in prison. Willie was very glad he did not live in days when 'he' could be taken up and put into a dark damp place underground, and kept there for weeks, and months, and years without any real reason, as was once so often done.

And one day Mr. and Mrs. Gray both went to Lausanne for a night, and Willie went with them. Lucy stayed behind with Nurse, because she was so soon tired. But Willie liked the little trip very much. They went and came back in a steamer on the lake, and they slept at an hotel. Willie thought Lausanne was a very nice large town, but the mountains looked so much farther away than they did at Montreux that he was very glad they had not spent their six weeks there.

Perhaps the thing which pleased him most of all at Lausanne was seeing some soldiers drilled. It made him think of the little box of tin soldiers which had been given him on his last birthday. Willie had once seen English soldiers being drilled; and when he saw Nurse next day at Montreux, he told her he was sure the English redcoats were a great deal more pretty than what the Swiss were. But still he was very glad he had seen the drilling at Lausanne. And the next week he and Lucy did nothing but play at soldiers, marching to and fro, and making believe to fire, till Nurse said she was quite tired of seeing the same thing done over so often.

It was a very pleasant six weeks that Willie and Lucy spent in Switzerland, by the shores of the lovely lake of Geneva. But, after all, though Willie had said he should like to live there all his life, yet, when the time came to return home, he found that he was not at all sorry. For, in spite of all the grandeur and beauty of the Swiss mountains, he thought there was no country like dear old England, and no place like home. And Willie could not but be very glad to see again his dear little dog Pepper, who had been pining after him all these weeks, and his garden, and his books, and his playthings, and his friends; for Willie had two or three little boy-friends of his own age living near him. Willie liked very much to see them all again, and to talk over all the sights he had seen during his absence.

And the very first evening after their return, he said to Mr. Gray:

"Papa, I do not wish now that we always lived on the mountains."

"I am glad of that, my boy—seeing we could not very well manage that you should do so," said Mr. Gray, with a smile.

"I like better living here," said Willie. "I am most fond of England, Papa; only I think the mountains are as lovely as can be. And when I am a big man, I mean to go and see them always in the summer, and climb right to the top of them, all among the snow and ice."

"Well, Willie, if you live to be a big man, and God gives you health and strength, I hope your wish may come true."

"Only it seems a long way off to when I shall be grown-up," said Willie.

"And you have a great many lessons to learn before then, Willie."

"I do not like lessons very much," said Willie, gravely.

"But you would like to be a wise man some day, Willie—not a great tall man with a little boy's mind?"

"No, I should not like that," said Willie, "because people would laugh at me."

"And, worse than that, it would be hiding away the powers God has given you, instead of using them in His service. The Bible tells us that whatever we attempt to do, we must do with our might; that means, we must do our very best. You have had a long holiday, Willie, and a great deal of pleasure; and now I hope you are going to be a very steady busy little boy, and do your lessons with all your might."

"I do mean to try, Papa," said Willie, in a thoughtful tone.

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