BEN'S RETURN.
The afternoon passed wearily to little Kit and her mother, for Ben
did not return. They went to the gate many times to look for him,
and walked some way up the road, but Ben was not to be seen.
Tea-time came, and Harry Gray returned. He was very vexed and
disappointed.
"I hoped that we should be able to keep him and train him up well,
for he gave good promise in many ways; it will be a pity if he goes
back to the old place."
"Ben said he would come back, and him speaks true. Him's the
_truest_ boy, father," urged Kit. "Jesus can see him, and will make
him came back."
"Your faith is strong, darling, I shall go out after tea, and try to
find him."
But there was no need to go out after tea to look for him, for the
next moment Kit was down from the table and had her arms round Ben's
knees.
He had just lifted the latch of the kitchen door very gently and
walked in. His face was quite calm, with a smile 'twixt hope and
fear on it. Before Mr. and Mrs. Gray could speak he walked straight
up to the mother.
"I'm awfully sorry I fought Jim this morning, and if you'll give me
another chance I'll try and do better, though he mocks and laughs at
me, and calls me 'Baby, in the low class,' I won't heed it. I want
to be--to be what the lady said, 'A brave soldier for Jesus.' He
never struck any one."
"That's right, Ben dear. It's all forgiven and forgotten--you won't
do it again. We're glad to have you home," said the mother, with
fast filling eyes.
And, holding out his hands to him, the father added, "Aye, we need to
remember that He was mocked, and scourged, and crucified, and yet He
never even threatened them, but prayed God the Father to forgive."
"I'll try hard, and do like Him," said Ben.
"Remember, boy, that when they laugh at you, if you _take it in fun_
they'd soon stop. Suppose they call you a 'Baby in the low class,'
if you could just turn round and say, 'I know I'm in the baby class,
but it isn't my fault, and I don't mean to stay there'; it would be
better and more kind if you helped me with my lessons.' If you said
that, Ben, they would soon stop it."
"There's some sense in that," said Ben, shrewdly. "I'll try it
to-morrow, though it will be very hard."
"I am afraid it will. When we do wrong, we must suffer; but I'll try
and help you through it, lad."
"You are kind," replied the little fellow.
"He's the _kindest_ father," echoed Kit, for which she was well
kissed, and they all laughed.
"She was quite _sure_ you would come back, Ben!"
"It was a good thing I _promised_ her, for I never told her a lie;
and when I got into the old barn, up the road far away, I thought I
couldn't face any of you again, for I knew you would not approve of
fighting ways; but I remembered what the lady, our teacher, said
about being a brave little soldier for Jesus, and I thought: 'If they
will try me again, I'll go back, because I could never leave my
little Kit.' See, I nearly forgot what I had brought you, Kit."
"Oh--h! oh--h! the beau-fullist little bird," she cried, as Ben drew
a little dead nestling from his breast pocket.
"But it's dead!--dead!" she added.
"It was up at the stream yonder. I went to give my face a wash after
all the,--the,--you know what,--and the crying,--so I was having a
good plunge when this little _bird_ flapped along the ground, and was
frightened at all my splashin' I suppose, for it fell in the water,
and then it scrambled out, and flew right into a hole in the wall. I
took off my stockings, and wading across lifted it out; but the
little thing was nearly dead, and its heart was thumping at such a
rate, and its beak kept opening and shutting till it died."
Kittie's eyes opened very wide while Ben was telling this, and her
cheeks flushed crimson. She held the dead little thing so tenderly
in her hands, while its tiny head fell over her fingers.
"I will keep it like this, the darling birdie," said the little girl;
and all the evening long she would not give it up.
"We must bury it to-morrow, Kit, in your little garden. I'll make a
little box for its coffin, and dig the hole."
But she stroked the pretty little yellow and brown feathers, and did
not wish to think of to-morrow.