MARY’S FIRST HOME. 15

“ That is very pleasant now, but I might be ill
—so ill that even to touch me would give me
pain; you would not kiss me then, but you would
still love me, would you not?”

“Yes.”

“And how would you prove that you loved
me?”

After a little thought, Mary answered, “By
doing whatever you told me to do.”

“Very good! And you would do this, not be-
cause you were afraid of me, but because you liked
to do it—because you wished to give me pleasure
—to make me happy. Is it not so?”

“Yes.”

“Then we have found out that to love a person
is to wish to make them happy. Do you believe
that I love you ?”

“ Yes.”

“Then you believe that I wish to make you
happy; and if I should ask anything unpleasant
from you, you would know that I had some good
reason for it, for I could not love you and yet
desire to make you uncomfortable; and now I am
going to ask you to show your love for me by