his chair; a mimeograph letter signed "John W.
Grey." Gradually his fingers relaxed; the bit of money slipped from
the imprisoning clasp, fell to the floor, and rolled in flashing,
gleaming circles round and round the letter, ending in a glistening
disk, like a seal, just at the left of the signature. The lad looked
at the yellow, whirling thing with frightened eyes, then covered his
face with his hands, and burst into a storm of sobs.

On the 26th of December, the Reverend John Grey entered on his list:
"Mrs. Blake, $15.00; Donald Marsh, $5.00."

The little minister's face grew pale and drawn. The money came in bit
by bit, but it wanted twenty dollars and ninety-five cents yet to
complete the needed thousand. On the 27th the teacher of the infant
class brought a dollar, the gift of her young pupils. On the 28th,
nothing came; on the 29th, five cents from a small boy who rang the
bell with a peal that brought the Reverend John Grey to the door with a
startled hope in his eyes. He took the five pennies from the small
dirty fingers and opened his mouth to speak his thanks, but his dry
lips refused to frame the words.

The morning of the 30th dawned raw and cloudy. The little minister
neither ate nor slept now. The doorbell rang at brief intervals
throughout the day, and stray quarters, dimes, and nickels, with an
occasional dollar, were added to the precious store until it amounted
to nine hundred and eighty-nine dollars and eighty-five cents.

When the Reverend John Grey looked out of his bedroom window on the
last day of that weary year, he found a snow-white world, and the
feathery flakes still falling. Five times that day he swept his steps
and shoveled his path--mute invitations to possible donors; but the
path remained white and smooth in untrodden purity, and the doorbell
was ominously silent.

He tried to read, to write, to pray; but he haunted the windows like a
maiden awaiting her lover, and he opened the door and looked up and
down the street every fifteen minutes. The poor man had exhausted all
his resources. He himself had given far more than he could afford, and
he had begged of every man, woman and child in the place. And
yet--must two thousand dollars be lost, all for the lack of ten dollars
and fifteen cents? Mechanically he thrust his hands into his pockets
and fingered the few coins therein.

It was nearly midnight when there came a gentle tap at the study door.
Without waiting for