The landlady went upstairs to satisfy his curiosity, and rapped at the attic door. No one answered, so she opened it and went in. Christie was fast asleep, stretched upon the bed where his old master"s body lay. The tears had dried on his cheeks, and he was resting his head on one of old Treffy"s cold, withered hands. The landlady"s face grew grave, and she instinctively shuddered in the presence of death.
Christie woke with a start, and looked up in her face with a bewildered expression. He could not remember at first what had happened. But in a moment it all came back to him, and he turned over and moaned.
The landlady was touched by the boy"s sorrow, but she was a rough woman, and knew little of the way of showing sympathy; and Christie was not sorry when she went downstairs and left him to himself. As soon as the house was quiet, he brought a neighbor to attend to old Treffy"s body, and then crept out to tell the clergyman.
Mr. Wilton felt very deeply for the desolate child. Once again he committed him to his loving Father, to the Friend who would never leave him nor forsake him. And when Christie was gone he again knelt down, and thanked G.o.d with a very full heart for having allowed him to be the poor weak instrument in bringing this soul to Himself. There would be one at least at the beautiful gates of "Home, sweet Home," watching for his homegoing steps. Old Treffy would be waiting for him there. Oh, how good G.o.d had been to him! It was with a thankful heart that he sat down to prepare his sermon for the next day, on the last verse of the hymn. And what he had just heard of old Treffy helped him much in the realization of the bright city of which he was to speak.
Mr. Wilton looked anxiously for Christie, when he entered the crowded mission-room on Sunday evening. Yes, Christie was there, sitting as usual on the front bench, with a very pale and sorrowful face, and with heavy downcast eyes. And when the hymn was being sung, the clergyman noticed that the tears were running down the boy"s cheeks, though he rubbed them away with his sleeve as fast as they came. But Christie looked up almost with a smile when the clergyman gave out his text. It was from Revelation 7:14, 15: "These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore are they before the throne of G.o.d."
"To-night," said the clergyman, "I am to speak of "Home, sweet Home,"
and of those that dwell there, the great mult.i.tude of the redeemed. It is a very holy place, there is no speck on the golden pavement, no evil to be found within the city. The tempter can never enter there, sin is unknown; all is very, very holy. And on the white robes of those who dwell there is no stain; pure and clean and spotless, bright and fair as light, are those robes of theirs. Nothing to soil them, nothing to spoil their beauty, they are made white for ever in the blood of the Lamb; therefore are they before the throne of G.o.d.
"Oh!" said the clergyman, "never forget that this is the only way to stand before that throne. Being good will never take you there, not being as bad as others will avail you nothing; if you are ever to enter heaven, you must be washed white in the blood of the Lamb.
"St. John was allowed to look into heaven, and he saw a great company of these redeemed ones, and they were singing a new song, to the praise of Him who had redeemed them. And since St. John"s time," said the clergyman, "oh! how many have joined their number. Every day, every hour, almost every moment, some soul stands before the city gates. And to every soul washed in the blood of Jesus those gates of pearl are thrown open; they are all dressed one by one in a robe of white, and as they walk through the golden streets, and stand before the throne of glory, they join in that song which never grows old:--"Amen. Blessing and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honor, and power, and might, be unto our G.o.d for ever and ever, Amen."
"And, my friends," said the clergyman, "as the holy G.o.d looks on these souls He sees in them no trace of sin, the blood has taken it all away; even in His sight they are all fair, there is no spot in them. They are faultless and stainless, perfectly pure and holy.
"Oh! my friends, will you ever join their number? This is a dark, dismal, dying world; will you be content to have your _all_ here? Will you be content never to enter "Home, sweet Home"? Oh! will you delay coming to the fountain, and then wake up, and find you are shut out of the city bright, and that for ever?
"One old man," said the clergyman, "to whom I was talking last week is now spending his first Sunday in that city bright."
A stillness pa.s.sed over the room when the clergyman said this, and Christie whispered to himself, "He means Master Treffy, I know he does."
"He was a poor sin-stained old man," the clergyman went on, "but he took Jesus at His word, he came to the blood of Christ to be washed, and even here he was made whiter than snow. And two nights ago the dear Lord sent for the old man, and took him home. There was no sin-mark found on his soul, so the gates were opened to him; and now in the snowy dress of Christ"s redeemed he stands, "faultless and stainless, faultless and stainless, safe in that happy home."
"If I were to hear next Sunday," said the clergyman, "that any one of you was dead, could I say the same of you? Whilst we are meeting here, would you be in "Home, sweet Home"? Are you indeed washed in the precious blood of Christ? Have you indeed been forgiven? Have you indeed come to Jesus?
"Oh! do answer this question in your own heart," said Mr. Wilton, in a very earnest voice. "I do want to meet every one of you in "Home, sweet Home." I think that when G.o.d takes me there I shall be looking out for all of you, and oh! how I trust we shall all meet there,--all meet at home!
"I cannot say more to-night," said the minister, "but my heart is very full. G.o.d grant that each of you may now be washed in the blood of Jesus, and even in this life be made whiter than snow, and then say with a grateful heart, "Lord, I will work for Thee, love Thee, serve Thee, all I can:"--
"Till in the snowy dress Of Thy redeemed I stand, Faultless and stainless, Faultless and stainless, Safe in the happy land."
And then the service was over, and the congregation went away. But Christie never moved from the bench on which he was sitting. His face was buried in his hands, and he never looked up, even when the clergyman laid his hand kindly on his shoulder.
"Oh!" he sobbed at last, "I want to go home; my mother"s gone, and old Treffy"s gone, and I want to go too."
The clergyman took Christie"s little brown hand in both of his, and said, "Christie, poor little Christie, the Lord does not like to keep you outside the gate; but He has work for you to do a little longer, and then the gates will be opened, and home will be all the sweeter after the dark time down here." And with other gentle and loving words he comforted the child, and then once more he prayed with him, and Christie went away with a lighter heart. But he could not help thinking of the last Sunday evening, when he had hastened home to tell Treffy about the third verse of the hymn.
There was no one to-night to whom Christie could tell what he had heard.
He waited a minute outside the attic door, as if he was almost afraid to go in, but it was only for a minute, and when he walked in all fear pa.s.sed away.
The sun was setting, and some rays of glory were falling on old Treffy"s face as he lay on the bed. They seemed to Christie as if they came straight from the golden city, there was something so bright and so unearthly about them. And Christie fancied that Treffy smiled as he lay on the bed. It might be fancy, but he liked to think it was so.
And then he went to the attic window and looked out. He almost saw the golden city, far away amongst those wondrous, bright clouds. It was a strange, glad thought, to think that Treffy was there. What a change for him from the dark attic! Oh, how bright heaven would seem to his old master!
Christie would have given any thing just to see for one minute what Treffy was doing. "I wonder if he will tell Jesus about me, and how I want to come home," said Christie to himself.
And as the sunset faded away and the light grew less and less, Christie knelt down in the twilight, and said from the bottom of his heart,--
"O Lord, please make me patient, and please some day take me to live with Thee and old Treffy, in "Home, sweet Home.""
CHAPTER XI.
ALONE IN THE WORLD.
Little Christie was the only mourner who followed old Treffy to the grave. It was a poor parish funeral. Treffy"s body was put into a parish coffin, and carried to the grave in a parish hea.r.s.e. But, oh! it did not matter, for Treffy was at home in "Home, sweet Home;" all his sorrows and troubles were over, his poverty was at an end, and in "the Father"s house" he was being well cared for.
But the man who drove the hea.r.s.e was not inclined to lose time upon the road, and Christie had to walk very quickly, and sometimes almost to run, to keep up with him; and on their way they pa.s.sed another and a very different funeral. It was going very slowly indeed. There was a large hea.r.s.e in front, and six funeral carriages filled with people followed. And as Christie pa.s.sed close by them in the middle of the road he could see that the mourners within looked very sorrowful, and as if they had been crying very much. But in one carriage he saw something which he never forgot. With her head resting on her papa"s shoulder, and her little white sorrowful face pressed close to the window, was his little friend Mabel.
"So her mother is dead!" said Christie to himself, "and this is her funeral! Oh, dear! what a very sad world this is!"
He was not sure whether Mabel had seen him, but the little girl"s sorrow had sunk very deep into Christie"s soul, and it was with a heavier heart than before that he hastened forward to overtake the hea.r.s.e which was carrying his old master"s body to the grave.
So the two funeral processions--that of the poor old man, and that of the fair young mother--pa.s.sed on to the cemetery, and over both bodies were p.r.o.nounced the words, "Earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust." But all this time their happy souls were in "Home, sweet Home,"
far, far away from the scene of sorrow. For a few days before, just at the same hour, two souls had left this world of woe, and had met together before the gates of pearl. And as they were both clean and white, both washed in the blood of the Lamb, the gates had been opened wide, and old Treffy and little Mabel"s mother had entered the city together. And now they had both seen Jesus, the dear Lord whom they loved well, and in His presence they were even now enjoying fulness of joy.
Christie was obliged to give up the little attic after Treffy"s death, for the landlady wished to let it for a higher rent. However, she gave the boy leave to sleep in the great lodging-room below, whilst she took possession of all old Treffy"s small stock of furniture, in payment for the rent which he owed her.
But the organ was Christie"s property; his old master had given it to him most solemnly about a week before he died. He had called Christie to his side, and told him to bring the organ with him. Then he had committed it to Christie"s care.
"You"ll take care of her, Christie," he had said, "and you"ll never part with her, for my sake. And when you play "Home, sweet Home," Christie, boy, you must think of me and your mother, and how we"ve both got there."
It was hard work for Christie, the first day that he took out his organ after old Treffy"s funeral; he did not so much mind playing "Rule Britannia," or the "Old Hundredth," or "Poor Mary Ann," but when he came for the first time to "Home, sweet Home," such a rush of feeling came over him that he stopped short in the middle and moved on without finishing it. The pa.s.sers-by were surprised at the sudden pause in the tune, and still more so at the tears which were running down Christie"s cheeks. They little thought that the last time he had played that tune had been in the room of death, and that whilst he was playing it his dearest friend on earth had pa.s.sed away into the true "Home, sweet Home." But Christie knew, and the notes of the tune brought back the recollection of that midnight hour. And he could not make up his mind to go on playing till he had looked up into the blue sky and asked for help to rejoice in old Treffy"s joy. And then the chorus came very sweetly to him, "Home, sweet home; there"s no place like home; there"s no place like home." "And old Treffy"s there at last," said Christie to himself as he finished playing.
One day, about a week after Treffy"s funeral, Christie went up the suburban road, in the hopes of seeing poor little Miss Mabel once more.
He had never forgotten her sorrowful little face at the window of the funeral coach. And when we are in sorrow ourselves, it does us good to see and sympathize with those who are in sorrow also. Christie felt it would be a great comfort to him to see the little girl. He wanted to hear all about her mother, and when it was that she had gone to "Home, sweet Home."
But when Christie reached the house he stood still in astonishment. The pretty garden was there just as usual, a bed of heartseases was blooming in the sunshine, and the stocks and forget-me-nots were in full flower.
But the house looked very deserted and strange; the shutters of the lower rooms were up, and the bed-rooms had no blinds in the windows and looked empty and forlorn. And in the nursery window, instead of little Mabel and Charlie"s merry faces, there was a cross-looking old woman with her head bent down over her knitting.
What could be the matter? Where were the children gone? surely no one else was lying dead in the house. Christie felt that he could not go home without finding out; he must ask the old woman. So he stood at the garden-gate, and turned the handle of the organ, hoping that she would look out and speak to him. But, beyond a pa.s.sing glance, she gave no sign that she even heard it, but went on diligently with her work.
At length Christie could wait no longer; so stopping suddenly in the middle of "Poor Mary Ann," he walked up the gravel path and rang the bell. Then the old woman put her head out of the window and asked what he wanted. Christie did not quite know what to say, so he came out at once with the great fear which was haunting him.
"Please, ma"am, is any one dead?" he asked.
"Dead? No!" said the old woman, quickly. "What do you want to know for?"
"Please, could I speak to little Miss Mabel?" asked Christie, timidly.
"No, bless you," said the old woman, "not unless you"d like a walk across the sea; she"s in France by now."