“Wasn’t it better to let you discover for yourself, my child,” answered her mother. “You were so sorry to leave London that I did not want to praise Yrndale for fear of prejudicing you against it.”

“Yes, it was hard for me to leave,” said Hester. “I was never one to turn easily to new things. And perhaps I need hardly tell you that the conviction has been growing upon me that my calling is among my fellow creatures in London.”

She had never yet, even to her mother, spoken so plainly about the things on her heart and mind. She was a little timid to do so even now. What if her mother thought the mere idea of having a calling was presumptuous?

“Two things, I think, go to make up a call,” said her mother, to Hester’s relief. “You must not imagine that because you have said nothing, I have not known what you were thinking. Mother and daughter are too near not to be able to hear each other without words. There is between you and me a constant undercurrent of communication.”

“Oh, mother!” cried Hester, overjoyed to find her mother felt close to her, “I am so glad. Please tell me the two things you mean.”

“I think, to make up a true call,” replied Mrs. Raymount, “both desire and possibility are required. The first you know well, but have you considered the second? Even if you have a desire to help people, the other half of being so used needs an open door. And in addition, a desire to do a thing in itself does not always determine fitness to do it.”

“I can’t believe, mama, that God would give any gift, especially when accompanied by a desire to use it for some special purpose, without intending it should be used.”

“You must admit there are some who never find a use for their special gifts.”

“Yes, but may that not be because they have not sufficiently cultivated their gifts or have not done their best to bring them into use? Or could they have wanted to use them for their own ends instead of God’s? I feel as if I must stand up against every difficulty lest God should be disappointed in me. Surely any frustration of the ends to which their very being points must be their own fault. May it be that they have nothing but unsatisfied longings because they have not yielded to the calling voice? They have gone picking and choosing what they would like to do instead of obeying?”