Think, Eric, how gladdened their hearts will be to hear that you and Vernon are good boys, and getting on well." "O, I _will_ be a better boy, I _will_ indeed," said Eric; "I mean to do great things, and they shall have nothing but good reports of me." "God helping you, dear," said his aunt, pushing back his hair from his forehead, and kissing it softly; "without his help, Eric, we are all weak indeed." She sighed.

But how far deeper her sigh would have been had she known the future.

Merciful is the darkness that shrouds it from human eyes!.