right,' said he. And then he went off, and for the present
that was all Miss Betty gained by her motion.

Nobody saw much of Pitt during the rest of the day. The next morning,
after breakfast, he came out to the two ladies where as usual they were
sitting at work. It was another September day of sultry heat, yet the
verandah was also in the morning a pleasant place, sweet with the
honeysuckle fragrance still lingering, and traversed by a faint
intermittent breeze. Both ladies raised their heads to look at the
young man as he came towards them, and then, struck by something in his
face, could not take their eyes away. He came straight to his mother
and stood there in front of her, looking down and meeting her look;
Miss Frere could not see how, but evidently it troubled Mrs. Dallas.

'What is it now, Pitt?' she asked.

'I have come to tell you, mother. I have come to tell you that I have
given up fighting.'

'Fighting!?'

'Yes. The battle is won, and I have lost, and gained. I have given up
fighting, mother, and I am Christ's free man.'

'What?' exclaimed Mrs. Dallas bewilderedly.

'It is true, mother. I am Christ's servant. The things are the same.
How should I not be the servant, the _bond-servant_, of Him who has
made a free man of me?'

His tone was not excited; it was quiet and sweet; but Mrs. Dallas was
excited.

'A free man? My boy, what are you saying? Were you not always free?'

'No, mother. I was in such bonds, that I have been struggling for years
to do what was right--what I knew was right--and was unable.'

'To do what was right? My boy, how you talk! You _always_ did what was
right.'

'I was never Christ's servant, mamma.'

'What delusion is this!' cried Mrs. Dallas. 'My son, what do you mean?
You were baptized, you were confirmed, you were everything that you
ought to be. You cannot be better than you have always been.'

He smiled, stooped down and kissed her troubled face.

'I was never Christ's servant before,' he repeated. 'But I am His
servant now at last, all there is of me. I wanted you to know at once,
and Miss Frere, I wanted her to know it. She asked me yesterday whom I
was fighting? and I saw directly that I was fighting a won battle; that
my reason and conscience were entirely vanquished, and that the only
thing that held out was my will. I have given that up, and now I am the
Lord's servant.'

'You were His servant before.'

'Never, in any true sense.'

'My dear, what di