Ellen got off his knee, where she had been sitting all this while, and silently taking the book, sat down in the chair he had quitted. Tears ran fast again, and many thoughts passed through her mind, as her eyes went over and over the words to which he had pointed
"Behold the Saviour at thy door; He gently knocks, has knock'd before, Has waited long, is waiting still, You treat no other friend so ill.
"Oh, lovely attitude! he stands With open heart and outstretch'd hands: Oh, matchless kindness! and he shows This matchless kindness to his foes.
"Admit him for the human breast Ne'er entertain'd so kind a guest; Admit him or the hour's at hand When at _His_ door, denied, you'll stand.
"Open my heart, Lord, enter in; Slay every foe, and conquer sin. Here now to thee I all resign My body, soul, and all are thine."
The last two lines Ellen longed to say, but could not: the two preceding were the very speech of her heart.
Not more than fifteen minutes had passed when her friend came back again. The book hung in Ellen's hand; her eyes were fixed on the floor.
"Well," he said, kindly, and taking her hand, "what's your decision?"
"Have you made up your mind on that matter we were talking about?"
"Yes, Sir," Ellen said, in a low voice, casting her eyes down again.
"You will begin to follow your Saviour, and to please him, from this day forward?"
"I will try, Sir," said Ellen, meeting his eyes as she spoke. Again the look she saw made her burst into tears. She wept violently.
"God bless you, and help you, my dear Ellen!" said he, gently passing his hand over her head; "but do not cry any more you have shed too many tears this morning already. We will not talk about this any more now."
And he spoke only soothing and quieting words for a while to her; and then asked if she would like to go over the boat and see the different parts of it. Ellen's joyful agreement with this proposal was only qualified by the fear of giving him trouble. But he put that entirely by.
The going over the boat held them a long time, for Ellen's new friend took kind pains to explain to her whatever he thought he could make interesting; he was amused to find how far she pushed her inquiries into the how and the why of things. For the time her sorrows were almost forgotten.