"
"O papa, how can it be best for me, when you are such a help to me in
going that road; the only help I have?"
"He is able to raise up other and better helpers for you, dearest, and He
Himself will be the best of all. Perhaps it is to draw you nearer to
Himself that He is taking away the earthly father upon whom you have been
accustomed to lean."
Mr. Leland's voice faltered with the last words; the exertion of talking
so much had exhausted his feeble frame, and closing his eyes, he lay
lifting up silent petitions for his child.
Evelyn thought he slept, and lest she should disturb him, forcibly
repressed her inclination to relieve her over-burdened heart by sobs and
sighs.
She remained close at his side, gently fanning him, for the day was
oppressively hot.
But presently he opened his eyes, and fixed them upon her face with a
long look of tenderest love and sympathy--a look that impressed itself
indelibly upon her memory and was often, in after years, dwelt upon with
feelings of strangely mingled joy and grief.
"My darling," he murmured at length, so low that her quick ear scarce
caught the words, "my precious child, I leave you to the care of Him who
is a Father of the fatherless.
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