owy, and, yes, he had to confess it,
unfriendly. He heard no more of the sermon. With a curious ache in his
heart he allowed his mind to dwell amid those happy, happy memories when
his mother and God were the nearest and dearest to him of all he knew.
It may have been the ache in his head or the oppressive languor that
seemed to possess his body, but throughout the prayer that followed
the sermon he was conscious chiefly of a great longing for his mother's
touch upon his head, and with that a longing for his boyhood's sense of
the friendly God in his heart.

And so as the preacher led them up to God in prayer, Cameron bowed his
head with the others, thankful that he could still believe that, though
clouds and darkness might be about Him, God was not beyond the reach of
the soul's cry nor quite unmoved by human need. And for the first time
for years he sent forth as a little child his cry of need, "God help me!
God help me!"

CHAPTER VII

THE CHIVAREE

There was still light enough to see. The last hymn was announced.
Cameron was conscious of a deep, poignant emotion. He glanced swiftly
about him. The eyes of all were upon the preacher's face while he read
in slow sonorous tones the words of the old Methodist hymn:

"Come, Thou Fount of every blessing!
Tune my heart to sing Thy grace;"

all except the group of young men of whom Perkins was the centre, who,
by means of the saccharine medium known as conversation lozenges, were
seeking to divert the attention of the band of young girls sitting
before them. Among these sat Mandy. As his eye rested upon the billowy
outlines of her figure, struggling with the limitations of her white
blouse, tricked out with pink ribbons, he was conscious of a wave of
mingled pity and disgust. Dull, stupid, and vulgar she looked. It was at
her that Perkins was flipping his conversation lozenges. One fell
upon her hymn book. With a start she glanced about. Not an eye except
Cameron's was turned her way. With a smile and a blush that burned deep
under the dull tan of her neck and cheek she took the lozenge, read its
inscription, burning a deeper red. The words which she had read she
took as Cameron's. She turned her eyes full upon his face. The light
of tremulous joy in their lovely depths startled and thrilled him.
A snicker from the group of young men behind roused in him a deep
indignation. They were taking their coarse fun out of this simple-minded
girl.