hich
passeth understanding, to keep his heart and mind through Christ Jesus."

Nor would his nearest and dearest have ever known of this original way
of dealing with his troubles, had not his wife accidentally come upon
the "pill-box" one day, when he had sent her to replace a book in the
cupboard for him. Well acquainted as she was with most of his oddities,
she was utterly at a loss to comprehend the box and its contents. On
opening the lid, she thought at first that the box contained veritable
medicine; but seeing, on closer inspection, that there was nothing
inside but little pieces of paper neatly rolled up, her curiosity was,
not unnaturally, excited, and she unfolded half-a-dozen of them. What
could they mean? There was writing on each strip, and it was in her
husband's hand. She read as follows: "Sneaking scoundrel. John
Thompson"--"Jim Taylor set his dog at me"--"Hypocritical humbug; you
take your glass on the sly. George Walters!"--and so on.

She returned the papers to the box, and in the evening asked her
husband, when they were alone, what it all meant. "Oh! So you've found
me out, Mary," he said, laughing. "Well, it means just this: I never
bring any of these troubles indoors to you and the children; you've got
quite enough of your own. So I keep them for the Lord to deal with; and
when I've got a month's stock, I just read them over. It's as good as a
medicine to see what people say of me. And then I throw 'em all into
the fire, and they're gone from me for ever; and when I've added a word
of prayer for them as has done me the wrong, I come away with my heart
as light as a feather."

It need hardly be said that Mrs Bradly was more than satisfied with
this solution of the puzzle.

CHAPTER FIVE.

A DISCUSSION.

If there was one man more than another whom William Foster the sceptic
both disliked and feared, it was "Tommy Tracks." Not that he would have
owned to such a fear for a moment. He tried to persuade himself that he
despised him; but there was that about Bradly's life and character which
he was forced to respect, and before which his spirit within him bowed
and quailed spite of himself.

Thomas Bradly, though possessed of but a very moderate share of book-
learning, was pretty well aware that it required no very deep line to
reach the bottom of Foster's acquirements; and so, while he preferred,
as a rule, to avoid any open controversy with William, or any of his
party, he n