"Yes, dear Robert. May He guard you!"
"And if prayers have efficacy, yours will benefit me. You pray for me sometimes?"
"Not _sometimes_, Robert. You, and Louis, and Hortense are _always_ remembered."
"So I have often imagined. It has occurred to me when, weary and vexed, I have myself gone to bed like a heathen, that another had asked forgiveness for my day, and safety for my night. I don't suppose such vicarial piety will avail much, but the petitions come out of a sincere breast, from innocent lips. They should be acceptable as Abel's offering; and doubtless would be, if the object deserved them."

 - and if prayers work, yours will benefit me. You pray for me sometimes?"
"You, Louis, and Hortense are always remembered in my prayers."
"So I have often imagined," he said. "When, weary and vexed, I have gone to bed without praying, it has occurred to me that another had asked forgiveness for my day, and safety for my night. I hope your prayers for me are acceptable to God; they doubtless would be, if I deserved them."
