the records of the afternoon had been made by Emma Jane Perkins and
Jacob Moody.

Rebecca's heart beat tumultuously under her gingham dress. She felt
that a drama was being enacted, and though unfortunately she was not the
central figure, she had at least a modest part in it. The short lot had
not fallen to the properest Daughter, that she quite realized; yet would
any one of them succeed in winning Jacob Moody's attention, in
engaging him in pleasant conversation, and finally in bringing him to
a realization of his mistaken way of life? She doubted, but at the same
moment her spirits rose at the thought of the difficulties involved in
the undertaking.

Difficulties always spurred Rebecca on, but they daunted poor Emma Jane,
who had no little thrills of excitement and wonder and fear and longing
to sustain her lagging soul. That her interview was to be entered as
"minutes" by a secretary seemed to her the last straw. Her blue eyes
looked lighter than usual and had the glaze of china saucers; her
usually pink cheeks were pale, but she pressed on, determined to be
a faithful Daughter of Zion, and above all to be worthy of Rebecca's
admiration and respect.

"Rebecca can do anything," she thought, with enthusiastic loyalty, "and
I mustn't be any stupider than I can help, or she'll choose one of
the other girls for her most intimate friend." So, mustering all her
courage, she turned into Jacob Moody's dooryard, where he was chopping
wood.

"It's a pleasant afternoon, Mr. Moody," she said in a polite but hoarse
whisper, Rebecca's words, "LEAD UP! LEAD UP!" ringing in clarion tones
through her brain.

Jacob Moody looked at her curiously. "Good enough, I guess," he growled;
"but I don't never have time to look at afternoons."

Emma Jane seated herself timorously on the end of a large log near the
chopping block, supposing that Jacob, like other hosts, would pause in
his tasks and chat.

"The block is kind of like an idol," she thought; "I wish I could take
it away from him, and then perhaps he'd talk."

At this moment Jacob raised his axe and came down on the block with such
a stunning blow that Emma Jane fairly leaped into the air.

"You'd better look out, Sissy, or you'll git chips in the eye!" said
Moody, grimly going on with his work.

The Daughter of Zion sent up a silent prayer for inspiration, but none
came, and she sat silent, giving nervous jumps in spite of herself
whenever the axe fell upon the log Jaco