in prison, when the Baptist seemed to have lost
heart and wondered whether Jesus were really He who should come? He
said that to the poor the gospel was preached, but He gave half a dozen
other proofs, each of them showing special care for men's bodies."

"Judge, you're talking materialism," said the deacon. "It's a spirit
that's getting too common everywhere."

"Oh, no, I'm not; I'm talking the words of Jesus Himself. Aren't they
good enough for you? or are you like children at the table who will
take only what suits them, and ignore everything else?"

"Such talks never do any good, judge," said the deacon, buttoning his
overcoat and turning up the collar. "I've spent a good deal of my life
thinking about sacred subjects and trying to lead my fellow-men in the
right way. You're not going to make me believe at my time of life that
I've been all wrong, and that Jesus Christ came on earth only to start
a charity society."

"Nor to teach people to live right?"

"He wants them first to know how to die right. I should think, judge,
that Sam Kimper had been converting you over again and doing it
backwards. That fellow has only got hold of one end of the
Scripture--one little jag end of it."

"Too small an end to be worthy of your attention, I suppose, deacon?"

"This is all wasted time and idle talk, Judge Prency," said the deacon,
leaving the place so quickly that he forgot to ask for his letters.

CHAPTER XI.

One bright, breezy October afternoon, Sam Kimper's daughter Jane got
"an hour off" from her duties at the hotel, and proceeded to devote it
to her highest ideal of possible enjoyment. There were many other
pleasures for which she longed, but, as they were unattainable just
then, she made the most of that which was within her reach for the time
being. It was to array herself in her best and saunter to and fro in
the principal streets, look into shop windows, and exchange winks and
rude remarks with young men and women with whom she was acquainted.

Although her attire was about what one would expect of a drunkard's
child who had spent her later years in the kitchen and corridors of a
hotel, Jane was not an unsightly creature. There must have been good
physical quality in one side or other of her family, in past
generations, which was trying to reappear, for Jane had a fine figure,
expressive eyes, and a good complexion. Had any one followed her during
her afternoon stroll, and observed her closely d