n whose house she was not
mistress of her actions and had no choice but to obey her purchaser.
Nothing could save her, and the tragedy of that broken heart still
awaits His judgment Who judgeth righteously.

The duty of preparing the pipe for his uncle devolved on the young man,
and before long he himself was a victim of opium.

Meanwhile the uncle was weaker than formerly, and a neighbour strongly
recommended Wang to visit the China Inland Mission station at Hwochow to
ask for some medicine, and this was how he first heard the Gospel story.
He was cordially received by the evangelist, and given a dose to be
administered according to regulation, and told to pray earnestly for his
uncle; this he conscientiously did, kneeling in the courtyard, and
saying: "Heavenly Father, have mercy on my uncle." The next day, the
sick man was better, and continued so for many months.

Troubles soon thickened around Mr. Wang. When his uncle died he found
himself responsible for business and home, and overwhelmed by debts.

The great spiritual crisis of his life was at hand. He had from
childhood pursued, by what broken light he had, an ideal which was
intensely real to him. In the five relationships wherein his teachers
had instructed him as to conduct, he had endeavoured to be blameless: as
subject to ruler, son to father, younger brother to elder, husband to
wife, and friend to friend. He had worked beyond his strength to clear
himself of debt, and when his best endeavours proved futile he had sold
his goods and distributed their price amongst the creditors. Having
taken the vow of an ascetic, for years he was a vegetarian.
Nevertheless, all had failed, and he bitterly reproached himself with
having fallen into the sin of opium smoking.

Now it happened that a certain man, jealous of Pastor Hsi's success,
opened a rival opium refuge in which he treated patients according to
the Pastor's methods, but with medicine of his own making. The scheme
was a contentious one, and the man a cause of friction and difficulty to
the Christian community. It was to this Refuge that Mr. Wang, now thirty
years old, poor, sad, and dispirited, came as a patient. He found here a
man who, according to the established tradition of the opium refuge,
received even a degraded class of men into his house in order to care
for them, and performed many menial tasks in the discharge of his duty
towards them. Also the good news of the Evangel was proclaimed in the