aven!'

'Knowing how to read will not take us to heaven,' said Miss Anne,
smiling, 'but doing the will of God from the heart; and the will of God
is that we should believe in the Lord Jesus, and follow in His steps.'

'Yes, ma'am,' answered Stephen; 'my chapter says, "Whosoever shall break
one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, shall be called
the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach
them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven."'

'Stephen, you know your chapter well,' said Miss Anne.

'I don't know anything else,' he answered; 'so I am always studying at
that in my head, up here and down in the pit.'

'He's always mighty solid over his work, ma'am,' said Tim, pulling the
front lock of his red hair, as he spoke to the young lady.

'Stephen, do you know that you have a namesake in the Bible?' asked Miss
Anne.

'No, sure!' exclaimed Stephen eagerly.

'It was the name of a man who had many enemies, only because he loved the
Lord Jesus; and at last they hated him so much as to kill him. He was the
very first person who ever suffered death for the Lord's sake. Give me
your Bible, and I will read to you how he died.'

Miss Anne's voice was very low and soft, like sweet music, as she read
these verses: 'And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying,
Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud
voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this,
he fell asleep.'

Stephen listened breathlessly, and his face glowed with intense interest;
but he was not a boy of ready speech, and, before he could utter a word,
Tim burst in before him with a question, 'Please, is there a Tim in the
Bible?' he asked.

'Yes,' answered Miss Anne, smiling again; 'he was a young man who knew
the Bible from his youth.'

'That ain't me, however,' said Tim in a despondent tone.

'There is nothing now to prevent you beginning to know it,' continued
Miss Anne. 'Listen: as Stephen cannot come to me at Botfield, you shall
meet me in the Red Gravel Pit at nine o'clock on a Sunday morning as long
as the summer lasts, and I will teach you all. Bring little Nan with you,
Stephen.'

Down the same narrow green pathway trodden by the feet of Stephen's angry
master and his brother the evening before, they now watched the little
light figure of the young lady, as she slowly vanished out of their
sight. When the gleaming of her dres