"Because I do not love the Saviour."

"Do you not love him, Ellen?"

"I am afraid not, Sir."

"Why are you afraid not? What makes you think so?"

"Mamma said I could not love him at all, if I did not love him
best; and, oh! Sir," said Ellen, weeping, "I do love Mamma a
great deal better."

"You love your mother better than you do the Saviour?"

"Oh yes, Sir," said Ellen; "how can I help it?"

"Then, if he had left you your mother, Ellen, you would never
have cared or thought about him?"

Ellen was silent.

"Is it so? — would you, do you think?"

"I don't know, Sir," said Ellen, weeping again — "oh, Sir! how
can I help it?"

"Then Ellen, can you not see the love of your heavenly Father
in this trial? He saw that his little child was in danger of
forgetting him; and he loved you, Ellen; and so he has taken
your dear mother, and sent you away where you will have no one