I told him all, and he did not speak a word until my tale was finished.

"Were you very frightened," he then asked, "when you found you had lost
your way, and darkness was coming?"

"I was frightened, or I would not have gone to the lady. But I wish I had
staid on the moor for you to find me. I knew you would soon be out
looking for me. Until she came I comforted myself with thinking that
perhaps even then you were on the moor, and I might see you any moment."

"What else did you think of?"

"I thought that God was out on the moor, and if you were not there, he
would keep me company."

"Ah!" said my uncle, as if thinking to himself; "she but needs him the
more when I am with her!"

"Yes, of course!" I answered; "I need him then for you as well as for
myself."

"That is very true, my child!--Shall I tell you one thing I thought of
while looking for you?"

"Please, uncle."

"I thought how Jesus' father and mother must have felt when they were
looking for him."

"And they needn't have been so unhappy if they had thought who he