lved, but Foxy's
reign is at an end, and with him goes the store, for which I am devoutly
thankful.

"I would my tale ended here with the downfall of Foxy, but, my dear Ned,
I have to record a sadder and more humiliating downfall than that--the
abject and utter collapse of my noble self. I have once more played
the fool, and played into the hands of the devil, mine own familiar and
well-beloved devil.

"The occasion I need not enlarge upon; it always waits. A long day's
skate, a late supper with some of the wilder and more reckless outcasts
of this steady-going community that frequent the back store, results in
my appearing at the manse door late at night, very unsteady of leg and
incoherent of speech. By a most unhappy chance, a most scurvy trick
my familiar devil played upon me, the door is opened by the minister's
wife. I can see her look of fear, horror, and loathing yet. It did
more to pull me together than a cold bath, so that I saved myself the
humiliation of speech and escaped to my room.

"And now, what do you think? Reproaches, objurgations, and final
dismissal on the part of the padre, tearful exhortations to repentance
on the part of his wife? Not a bit. If you believe me, sir, my unhappy
misadventure remains a secret with her. She told not a soul. Remarkably
fine, I call that. And what more, think you? A cold and haughty reserve,
or a lofty pity, with the fearful expectation of judgment? Not in
the least. Only a little added kindness, a deeper note to the frank,
sympathetic interest she has always shown, and that is all. My dear
chap, I offered to leave, but when she looked at me with those great
hazel-brown eyes of hers and said, 'Why should you go? Would it be
better for you any place else?' I found myself enjoying the luxury of
an entirely new set of emotions, which I shall not analyze to you. But
I feel more confident than ever that I shall either die early or end in
being a saint.

"And now, do you know, she persists in ignoring that anything has taken
place, talks to me about her young men and her hopes for them, the work
she would do for them, and actually asks my assistance! It appears that
ever since their Great Revival, which is the beginning of days to them,
events being dated from before the Great Revival or after, some of
these young men have a desire to be ministers, or think they have. It is
really her desire, I suspect, for them. The difficulty is, preparation
for college. In this she a