Dudley nodded and then seizing hold of the old man's hand, leaned his
head against it and burst into tears.

"Why does God do it!" he sobbed at length, "Roy is so much better than I
am, he's always trying to please God, though he never talks about it,
and I've prayed so hard that he might be made quite well!"

"Ay, and the good Lord is making him well perhaps though not by the way
you planned. He might a been killed outright, and then what a trouble
you'd have been in."

"This is nearly as bad," muttered Dudley.

"Now, laddie, don't harden your heart, are you one of the Lord's own
children?"

"I don't know. I don't think I love God as much as Roy does."

"'Tis an awful bad principle," the old man continued, "to doubt and
complain directly we can't understand the Almighty's dealings with us.
He loves Master Roy better'n you and me, and the time will come when
we'll thank the Lord with all our hearts for this accident."

This was utterly incomprehensible to Dudley.

"I feel very badly about it," old Principle went on, "and so do you,
but the one I'm most sorry for is Ben Burkstone. I hear say he's fit to
kill himself with despair!"