nings seldom end well. If you should have
a run of bad luck now, your men will be dissatisfied, and likely blame
you for not keeping up to that mark. I shouldn't have made such a great
effort, and then there would have been a chance for improvement."

"A new broom sweeps clean, but it _will_ get worn out," with sundry
mysterious nods.

"I declare," said Jack to his friend and comforter, Maverick, "half the
town looks at me as if I must have robbed a bank, or falsified accounts,
told a lie, or cheated, or maybe murdered some rich old don, and made
merry on his money. Why can't people rejoice with you when there is any
thing to rejoice about,--an event which does not happen so often in
these evil days? I do believe Boyd, and a lot of the others, would be
glad to see the scheme fail; but I'll work night and day to make a
success of it. It shall not go down," and Jack set his lips together in
a way that spoke volumes for his resolve.

"I have observed before that some people are fond of disparaging plans
that they have no hand in," returned the doctor coolly.

"And philanthropy is a much-derided virtue. If the old Athenian had been
a stock-broker or a bank-director, he might not have been sent into
exile, eh?" and Darcy laughed good-humoredly. "If I have kept a few
people from starvation this winter, I ought surely to have as much
credit as to have dealt around alms. As for the success, we had the
reputation of Hope Mills in our favor, and every man had his own fortune
at stake, and brought out the best that was in him."

He sent Miss McLeod her half-yearly rent, a copy of the statement, and a
very temperate letter. He was quite proud to think he had no need of
accepting her proffered favor, but he thanked her again for it.

She answered promptly. She had shown the statement to Mr. Hildreth, and
he thought it remarkable. Wasn't it a trifle too rose-colored to last?
Count on her as a friend, if evil days came; and we none of us could
tell exactly what was in store. The financial horizon was by no means
clear.

A few others gave him words of heartfelt encouragement. The Rev. Mr.
Marlow spoke of him in very high terms, much to Sylvie's delight, and
said already there had been a great change in the mill-hands. The
coffee-house he considered an especially commendable thought.

There was a quiet change going on that was destined to bear more
abundant fruit in the future. Some of the men and women had begun to
think a lit