OF THE FOREST. 55

gleam of light shot through my hitherto
darkened soul that I could not answer the
child. I remained silent and confused, whilst
the little one stood meekly before me, being
wholly unconscious of my embarrassment. The
tolling of the clock was at that moment heard
from the tower of the church ; I availed my-
self of it to say that I had an engagement
which demanded my immediate attention, and
bestowing a rapidly pronounced blessing on
the little girl, I hastened from the church,
assuring her that I would not only procure
the little book for her, but obtain permission
for her to study it whenever she pleased. I
spent the remainder of that day in the solitude
of my study. This little girl is a heretic, I
said to myself: what our church indeed calls
such ; but there is no malice or bitterness in
her heresy: she has not yet even discovered
how widely our religion differs from her own ;
there is therefore no prejudice mingled in her
mind with her prepossessions. She takes her
faith entirely from the Bible, as she has been
taught to do by her excellent parents; and
surely if the fruit is to prove the nature of
the tree, we cannot doubt from the beauty
of the fruit which this dear child is able to