ent again.

He started very well indeed. You couldn't call him much to look at; he
had a long pair of legs which seemed differently jointed to yours and
mine; no shoulders nor stomach to speak of, no-coloured hair, and a
glazing, watery eye. But the wonder began when you heard his voice.
It filled his clothes out suddenly like one of those indiarubber
squeakers the children blow at Whitsun Fair; and coming from a man whose
looks were all against him, it made you feel humble-minded for having
been so quick to judge. I think he had found out the value of this kind
of surprise and went about neglecting his appearance on purpose.

As I say, he started very well. He preached at the Stennack on
Saturday, and next day near the market-place, "for the sake," he said,
"of those who could not climb the hill"--though, to be sure, they
needn't have left their doors to hear him a mile off. There was a tidy
gathering--farm-carts and market-carts and gigs from all parts of the
country round--almost as many as if he had been John Wesley himself.
He preached again at five o'clock in the evening, and so fired up Mrs.
Geen that by ten next morning she was down at Nance's house, where he
lodged, laying all her trouble before him.

Mr. Meakin heard her out, and then took a line which altogether
surprised her. He seemed to care less for the danger her Phoby was
running than for the crime he was committing. Yes; he called it a
crime!

"As a Christian woman," he said, "you must know his soul's in danger.
What in comparison with that does his body matter?"

Mrs. Geen hadn't any answer for this, so what she said was, "My Phoby
've never given me a day's trouble since his teething." And then,
seeing the preacher was upset, and wishing to keep things as pleasant as
possible, she went on, "I don't see no crime in learning to be a
carpenter."

"By your own showing," said Mr. Meakin, "he is in danger of being led
into smuggling by wild companions."

"Nothing wild about John Carter," she held out. "A married man and as
steady as you could wish to see; a man with convictions of sin, as I
know, an' two of his brothers saved. You couldn' hear a prettier
preacher than Charles. And John, he always runs a freight most careful.
I never heard of any wildness at all in connection with he--not a
whisper."

The preacher fairly stamped, and began tapping the palm of his hand with
his forefinger.

"But the smuggling, ma'am--that's what I call