ng two days after he had first seen you, and I
think the fact of your being so different to the usual run of girls he
sees fascinates him for the time. I was going to advise you how to
deal with him, but really I hardly dare now.'

'I don't mean to be cross, Nelly; but I am tired, and I want to be left
alone.'

She laughed, gave me a kiss, and departed. I sat down to my Bible with
my thoughts in a tumult. I should have been stupid indeed if I had not
seen that Captain Gates liked to pay me little attentions, and his look
as he handed me the honeysuckle that afternoon in the woods had made me
shrink into myself, for I realized that he was not only interested in
the subject of our conversation, but in me myself. I had honestly felt
glad that he wished to talk on serious subjects, and I had been praying
for him a great deal that day. Now Nelly's chaffing words had left
their sting, and I felt humiliated by being discussed downstairs so
freely before them all. My desires for Captain Gates' welfare were at
an end. I felt I could never talk to him again.

But when I went down on my knees, and just spread the whole matter out
in prayer, and then waited in silence till the quiet and peace came
back into my heart, the case looked very different. And, turning over
the leaves of my Bible, I was guided to this verse, 'As every man hath
received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good
stewards of the manifold grace of God.' Yes; I resolved that when
opportunities were given to me of speaking a word for my Master, I
would take them gladly, yet at the same time I would not seek to make
them for myself, especially in connection with Captain Gates.

'Dwell deep!' I said to myself. 'I can let these little vexations and
misunderstandings pass unnoticed; they are like the breezes on the
surface of a lake. If I dwell below, I shall enjoy the calm.'

The next day was Sunday, and at three o'clock in the afternoon I found
myself waiting in the vestry for my scholars. They were not long after
me. First Roddy, with a shining face and a large bunch of asters from
his mother's garden, which he presented to me with great pride; then
two little girls in huge sun-bonnets, and very brown arms and legs,
named Hetty and Polly Tyke; a very heavy, sleepy-looking boy about four
years old, sucking a large piece of sugar-candy; and lastly Jim Carter
and a big girl about his own age, whom he held by the hand.

'We though