his last remark,
'I have seen what I never saw before--that I am a great sinner; and I
have found what I never found before--that Jesus is a great Saviour.'

'Well, I wish you had never come to Runswick Bay, if this is the absurd
way you are going on, Jack, and after all the good old times we've had
together too.'

'And why shan't we have good times together still, dear old Tom?' I
said. 'I have entered the service of a new Master, that's all; and,
Tom,' I said timidly, 'I wish He was your Master too.'

Tom made no answer, but swung his stick round and round, and slashed at
the thistles and the ox-eye daisies which grew by the roadside. I tried
to make one or two remarks, but I saw he was very much upset by what I
had said, and he did not answer me. He was vexed with me, and perhaps he
was a little uncomfortable besides, and I felt it was far wiser to say
no more.

He did not speak again until we reached the hotel, and then he simply
said, 'Good-night, Jack, I'm sorry you've gone and made such a fool of
yourself'; and I went down the hill, feeling as if I had lost my friend,
and as if the old days and old companionship were dead and buried for
ever.

But if I had lost one friend, I felt I had gained another. Mr. Christie
was waiting for me at the bottom of the hill, and he proposed that we
should take a turn together on the shore. Nellie was expecting me to
supper, he said; he had told Duncan I was going there, and the moon was
coming out, and a good stretch on the sands would make us enjoy it all
the more.

We had walked across the bay, and were standing gazing out seawards,
when he suddenly put his arm in mine.

'What is it, Jack?' he said kindly, 'something is troubling you this
evening.'

'Yes, you are right,' I said. 'However did you know, Mr. Christie? I am
bothered a bit; the fact is, I'm ashamed of myself, I've been such a
coward.'

'What have you been doing, Jack? You don't mind telling me, do you?'

'Not at all, Mr. Christie, I would rather tell you,' I said; and then I
gave him an account of the last week, of my fear of Tom, and how very
nearly--I was ashamed to say it--I had yielded to him about the outing
to-morrow. Then I spoke of my friend, and I told him I was afraid I had
lost him through my plain speaking.

'Never mind, Jack,' he said, 'the Master must come first, and it does
happen very often that when He is put in His right place we have to give
up a great deal. He knew we should have