“Now I further saw, that between them and the gate was a river.”—Pilgrim’s Progress
“Well, as you please, but I would not do so,” said Mr. Hope, in conversation with Mr. Ewart in the saloon.
“The doctors gave no hope, and I think that in such cases it is only right—it is only kind to let the patient know his danger.”
“Your ideas are different to mine: the shock of being told that you are dying is enough to put out the last spark of life.”
“Not to one who has the faith of Ernest.”
“You would then only hide the truth from a bad man?”
“I would hide it from none; I would act towards others as I should wish them to act towards me. It is cruel to conceal their state from the dying; to send them into the presence of their Maker unwarned, perhaps unprepared.”
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“Well, you must break the truth to Ernest yourself, I will not undertake to do it. You know his feelings better than I do, I never could understand them at all.”
Bowed down with affliction, yet with sufficient self-command to be calm and composed in his manner, Mr. Ewart approached the bed-side of Ernest.
“What do the doctors say of me?” asked Fontonore.
“They say that the injuries which you have received are very severe.”
“I thought so—I suffer so much pain. I daresay that it will be long before I quite recover. But you see,” he added, with a faint smile, “good comes out of evil in this case. I took advantage of the privilege of illness, and the claim which your having saved me has given you, and asked my uncle a favour which he could not refuse me; nor will you, I am sure, dear Mr. Ewart: you will be tutor at Fontonore again!”
The clergyman pressed in silence the feverish hand held out to him; he could not at that moment reply.
“We shall be so happy, if I only get well! You do not know how we have missed you! You will—will you not?—be the pilgrim’s guide again!”
“You have come to a part of your journey, my beloved pupil, in which God can alone be your guide.” He felt that the deep eyes of Ernest were riveted upon him; he could not endure to meet their inquiring gaze. Shading his own with his hand, he continued: “When
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 Christian had passed through the land of Beulah, and drew near to the celestial city, he saw a river flowing before him—”
“The river of death!” murmured Ernest, and for some moments there was profound silence in the room. It was first broken by the voice of the sufferer.
“Is there no chance of my recovery?”
“I fear none,” faltered the clergyman.
“And how long do the doctors think that this will last?”
“Not many days,” replied Mr. Ewart, in a tone scarcely audible.
Again there was a long solemn silence.
“I thank you for telling me this,” said Ernest at last. “I little thought that I was so near the end of my pilgrimage—that I was so very near my rest. I have often wondered,” he added faintly, “how I should meet this hour—whether in joy, or in trouble and fear. I feel little of either just now—perhaps because I am weak and in pain—but a quiet trust in my Saviour, because, however sinful I have been, I know, I feel that I love Him!”
There are many lying on a sick-bed, who could hardly give a reason for the hope that is in them—whose feeble minds have scarcely power to grasp the simplest text—to whom it would be impossible to review their past lives; but who can yet rest calmly and securely on the
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 thought, “Lord, Thou knowest all things; Thou knowest that I love Thee!”
After a while, the sufferer spoke again.
“Where is Charley? Why is he not with me?”
“It was feared that his grief might agitate you.”
“Poor dear Charley!” said Ernest with tenderness; “it will be a pleasure to him now to think that we always have loved one another. But I should greatly like to see him;............