"You are perfectly right, Esther," he said, thoughtfully; "but I
think there is another meaning involved in the words 'There shall be
no more sea.'"

"The sea divides us often from those we love," he went on musingly;
"it is our great earthly barrier. In that perfected life that lies
before us there can be no barrier, no division, no separating
boundaries. In the new earth there will be no fierce torrents or
engulfing ocean, no restless moaning of waves. Do you not see this?"

"Yes, indeed, Uncle Geoffrey;" but all the same I thought in my own
mind that it was a pretty fancy of the child's, thinking that he saw
father walking across the moonlight sea. No, he could not have fallen
in the dark water, no fear of that, Dot, when the angel of His mercy
would hold him by the hand; and then I remembered a certain lake and
a solemn figure walking quietly on its watery floor, and the words,
"It is I, be not afraid," that have comforted many a dying heart!

Allan had to leave us the next day, and go back to his work; it was
a pity, as his mere presence, the very sound of his bright, young
voice, seemed to rouse mother and do her good. As for me, I knew when
Allan went some of the sunshine would go with him, and the world
would have a dull, work-a-day look. I tried to tell him so as we took
our last walk together. There was a little lane just by Uncle
Geoffrey's house; you turned right into it from the High street, and
it led into the country, within half a mile of the house. There were
some haystacks and a farmyard, a place that went by the name of
Grubbings' Farm; the soft litter of straw tempted us to sit down for
a little, and listen to the quiet lowing of the cattle as they came
up from their pasture to be milked.