Stephen's comrades were all of a sudden very quiet, and their pickaxes no
longer gave dull muffled thumps upon the seam of coal; but he was too
busy to notice how idle and still they were. It was only when Cole spoke
to him, in a tone of extraordinary mildness, that the boy paused in his
rough and toilsome employment.
'My lad,' said Cole, 'Miss Anne's come down the pit, and she's asking for
thee.'
'She promised she'd come some day,' cried Stephen, with a thrill of
pleasure and a quicker throbbing of his heart, as he darted along the
narrow paths to the loftier and more open space near the bottom of the
shaft, where Miss Anne was waiting for him. The covered lamps gave too
little light for him to see how pale and sorrow-stricken she looked; but
the solemn tenderness of her voice sank deeply into his heart.
'Stephen, my dear boy,' she said, 'are you sure that I care for you, and
would not let any trouble come upon you if I could help it?'
'Yes, surely, Miss Anne,' answered the boy wonderingly.
'Your Father which is in heaven cares much more for you,' she continued;
'but "whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom He
receiveth.
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