"I have," she said. "He came to Trantridge two or three years ago to preach on behalf of

some missionary society; and I, wretched fellow that I was, insulted

him when, in his disinterestedness, he tried to reason with me and

show me the way. He did not resent my conduct, he simply said that

some day I should receive the first-fruits of the Spirit--that those

who came to scoff sometimes remained to pray. There was a strange

magic in his words. They sank into my mind. But the loss of my

mother hit me most; and by degrees I was brought to see daylight.

Since then my one desire has been to hand on the true view to others,

and that is what I was trying to do to-day; though it is only lately

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that I have preached hereabout. The first months of my ministry have

been spent in the North of England among strangers, where I preferred

to make my earliest clumsy attempts, so as to acquire courage before

undergoing that severest of all tests of one's sincerity, addressing

those who have known one, and have been one's companions in the days

of darkness. If you could only know, Tess, the pleasure of having a

good slap at yourself, I am sure--"

"Don't go on with it!" she cried passionately, as she turned away

from him to a stile by the wayside, on which she bent herself. "I

can't believe in such sudden things! I feel indignant with you for

talking to me like this, when you know--when you know what harm

you've done me! You, and those like you, take your fill of pleasure

on earth by making the life of such as me bitter and black with

sorrow; and then it is a fine thing, when you have had enough of

that, to think of securing your pleasure in heaven by becoming

converted! Out upon such--I don't believe in you--I hate it!"

"Tess," he insisted; "don't speak so! It came to me like a jolly new

idea! And you don't believe me? What don't you believe?"

"Your conversion. Your scheme of religion."

"Why?" She dropped her voice. "Because a better man than you does not

believe in such." "What a woman's reason! Who is this better man?"

"I cannot tell you."

"Well," he declared, a resentment beneath his words seeming ready to

spring out at a moment's notice, "God forbid that I should say I am

a good man--and you know I don't say any such thing. I am new to

goodness, truly; but newcomers see furthest sometimes."




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