about?"

"I think so."

"Now, will you be good to me, and stay and take supper with me? That
knock at the door means that Miss Redwood would like to have me know
that supper is ready. And you shall have this apple we have been
roasting."

"Mr. Richmond, I think mamma would be frightened if I did not go home."

"She does not know where you are?"

"Nobody knows," said Matilda.

"Then it won't do to let you stay. You shall come another time, and we
will roast another apple, won't you?"

"I should like to come," said Matilda. "Mr. Richmond, didn't you say
you were going to talk to the Band and explain things, when we have our
meetings?"

"I did say so. What do you want explained?"

"Some time,--I would like to know just all it means, to be a servant of
Christ."

"All it means," said Mr. Richmond. "Well, it means a good deal, Tilly.
I think we had better begin there with our explanations. I shall not
make it a lecture; it will be more like a class; so you may ask as many
questions as you please."

CHAPTER VI.

The light of day was darkening fast, as Matilda ran home. Even the
western sky gave no glow, when she reached her own gate and went in.
After all, she had run but a very little way, in her first hurry; the
rest of the walk was taken with sober steps.

When she came down-stairs, she found the lamp lit and all the young
heads of the family clustering together to look at something. It was
Anne's purchase, she found; Anne had spent her aunt's gift in the
purchase of a new silk dress; and she was displaying it.

"It is a lovely colour," said Maria. "I think that shade of--what do
you call it? is just the prettiest in the world. What _do_ you call it,
Clarissa? and where did you get it, Anne?"

"It is pearl gray," said Clarissa.

"I would have got blue, while I was about it," said Letitia; "there is
nothing like blue; and it becomes you, Anne. You ought to have got
blue. I would have had one dress that suited me, if I was you, if I
never had another."

"This will suit me, I think," said Anne.

"Aren't you going to trim it with anything? Dresses are so much trimmed
now-a-days; and this colour will not be anything unless you trim it."

Anne replied by producing the trimming. The exclamations of delight and
approval lasted for several minutes.

"What are you going to get, Letitia?" Maria asked.

"I have not decided."

"I don't know, but I will have a watch," said Maria. "You can get a
very