said the Story Girl bluntly . `` Would n't you now , Felicity King ? Tell the truth , ` cross your heart . '' But Felicity took refuge from this inconvenient question in tears . `` If we could only DO something to help Peter ! '' I said desperately . `` It seems dreadful not to be able to do a single thing . '' `` There 's one thing we can do , '' said Cecily gently . `` We can pray for him . '' `` So we can , '' I agreed . `` I 'm going to pray like sixty , '' said Felix energetically . `` We 'll have to be awful good , you know , '' warned Cecily . `` There 's no use praying if you 're not good . '' `` That will be easy , '' sighed Felicity . `` I do n't feel a bit like being bad . If anything happens to Peter I feel sure I 'll never be naughty again . I wo n't have the heart . '' We did , indeed , pray most sincerely for Peter 's recovery . We did not , as in the case of Paddy , `` tack it on after more important things , '' but put it in the very forefront of our petitions . Even skeptical Dan prayed , his skepticism falling away from him like a discarded garment in this valley of the shadow , which sifts out hearts and tries souls , until we all , grown-up or children , realize our weakness , and , finding that our own puny strength is as a reed shaken in the wind , creep back humbly to the God we have vainly dreamed we could do without .
XXXXX was no better the next day .
Cecily Dan Felicity Felix King Paddy Peter forefront souls strength