pying the pulpit of his little church,
which, as the fame of his rare eloquence went abroad, was always
crowded with strangers.

He had secured the services of an earnest hard-working man--the
ill-paid, overworked curate of an East End parish with a large sickly
family--and installed them in the sunny pleasant vicarage.

There was little work for either of them in Sandycliffe, but they
carried their joint energies further afield. Pierrepoint had a large
poor population, and the vicar was old and supine; he accepted gladly
the volunteered services of his zealous coadjutors, and, led by his
faithful Johnnie, Mr. Ferrers penetrated into the winding alleys, and
carried comfort to many a sick and dying bed. And as Mr. Brabazon grew
more infirm, it became a rule to Mr. Ferrers to occupy his pulpit on
Sunday evenings, and it was always remarked that on these occasions
the church was crowded; people would come ten or twelve miles to hear
the blind clergyman from Sandycliffe. It was even mooted by the bishop
whether, after Mr. Brabazon's death, Pierrepoint should not be offered
to Mr. Ferrers.

After the first few weeks Raby Ferrers never spoke of his blindness to
any one; even his half-sister Margaret who lived with him, and was his
dearest and closest friend, never heard a repining word from his lips;
neither did he waste his strength by silent brooding--the activity of
his life left him no time for this; when he was not occupied with his
ministrations, or preparing his sermons, Margaret would read to him
for hours.

Yet, it was evident to any keen observer who studied the quiet face,
that some load of care lay on the bowed shoulders of Mr. Ferrers; some
heavy weight that at times seemed to crush him. Sometimes when
Margaret was reading to him, he would make a sign for her to stop,
and, laying down the book, she would watch him pacing up and down the
green alleys of the Grange garden with his sightless eyes turned to
the sunshine; but she knew that it was not of his blindness he was
thinking, but of a heavier trouble still.

Few people about Sandycliffe knew that Margaret Ferrers was only
Raby's half-sister; there were only a few years between them, and in
the close intimacy that had grown up between the brother and sister,
it was seldom remembered by either of them that they had different
mothers. Colonel Ferrers had married within two years of his first
wife's death, and the second Mrs. Ferrers had brought the Grange a