IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 1.0 I.I M lit 128 lii iii lu S LL 12.0 t3i |72 L25 i 1.4 ^ % '-^' '/ Photographic Sdaices CorpoTdtion 23 WIST MAIN STtllT WIBSTn,N.Y. 145M (716)172-4303 '<^ A (meaning "CON- TINUED"), or the symbol V (meaning "END"), whichever applies. Maps, plates, charts, etc., may be filmed at different reduction ratios. Those too large to be entirely included in one exposure are filmed beginning in the upper left hand corner, left to right and top to bottom, as many frames as required. The following diagrams illustrate the method: Les exemplaires originaux dont la couverture en papier est imprim6e sont filmte en commenpant par le premier plat et en terminant soit par la derniftre page qui comporte une empreinte d'impression cu d'illustration, soit par le second plat, salon le cas. Tous les autres exemplaires originaux sont f ilmte en commenpant par la premiere page qui comporte une empreinte d'impression ou d'illustration et en terminant par la derniAre page qui comporte une telle empreinte. Un des symboles suivants apparaltra sur la derniire image de cheque microfiche, selon le cas: le symboie -^ signifie "A SUIVRE ", le symbole V signifie "FIN ". Les cartes, planches, tableaux, etc., peuvent Atre filmte A des taux de reduction diff Arents. Lorsque le document est trop grand pour Atre reproduit en un seul clichA, 11 est filmA A partir de I'angle supArieur gauche, de gauche A droite, et de haut en bas. en prenant le nombre d'images nAcessaire. Les diagrammes suivants illustrent la mAthode. 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 BTUART HOLMB8 STUDIED THE FACB. HER ASSOCIATE MEMBERS. BY PANSY Author of "Chrissy's Endeavor," "The Hall in the Grove" "Mn. Soloim.n Smith Looking On," "Little Fishers: and Their Nets," "Judge Bumham's Daughters," 'Eighty- Seven," "Miss Dee Dunmore Bryant/' "An Endless Chain," and others. -«- TORONTO: "WILLIAM BRIGGS. MoNTWuL : C. W. COATES. | HAt«FAx : S. F. HUESIIS. Entered according; to the Act of the Parliament of Canada, In the year one thousand eight hundred and ninety-one, by WiUdAM BauMSi in the Office of the Minister of Agriciilttile, ak OlUwM CONTENTS, CHAPTER I. SHE IG«fORES THEM • • CHAPTER II. THEY COMPEL HER ATTENTION , CHAPTER III. , THEY INCREASE IN NUMBER , , CHAPTER IV. SHE ORGANIZES CHAPTER V. THEY APPALL HER . • • • CHAPTER VI. SHE HOLDS A MEETING , PAGE • • I • • • • «s ' * 28 41 54 66 CONTENTS. CHAPTER VII. SHE ATTEMPTS TO SYMPATHIZE 78 CHAPTER VIII. SHE IS DISMAYED AND DISCOMFITED 90 CHAPTER IX. SHE REACHES AFTER THEM I03 CHAPTER X. ONE WALKS AMONG THORNS . CHAPTER XI. SHE IS PERPLEXED ON EVERY SIDE . CHAPTER XII. SHE "ENDEAVORS" IN A NEW LINE . CHAPTER XIII. SHE CALLS LEMON PIE TO HER AID . CHAPTER XIV. SHE AMAZES ONE OF THEM CHAPTER XV. SHE LAYS SNARES FOR ONE . • "S 128 141 >53 166 178 COVTFNTS. CHAPTER XVI. THEY SEARCH FOR " REAL THINGS" , CHAPTER XVII. SHE FINDS AN " ACTIVE MEMBER " . CHAPTER XVIII. SHE DISCOVERS A " LOOKOUT COMMITTEE CHAPTER XIX. SHE ILLUSTRATES THEOLOGY . CHAPTER XX. It • _ • CHAPTER XXI. SHE TURNS SURGEON • • • ♦ CHAPTER XXII. ONE DISCOVERS HIS OPPORTUNITY . CHAPTER XXIII. ONE OF THEM IS AFRAID • • • • • • CHAPTER XXrV. ONE ASKS EMBARRASSING QUESTIONS I9P 202 215 227 SHE RECEIVES, TO ACTIVE MEMBERSHIP . , 24O 253 266 278 • • 291 CONTENTS. CHAPTER XXV. ONE, LOSES HIS IDENTITY CHAPTER XXVI. ONE " RE-ENLISTS " • • • • • CHAPTER XXVII. TKEY ARE LED BY UNSEEN PATHS . CHAPTER XXVI II. 304 316 i2R ONE OF THEM GOES HOME • • • • 343 CHAPTER XXIX. SHE LOSES THEM — EVERY ONE • • • 358 HER ASSOCIATE MEMBERS. CHAPTER I. SHE IGNORES THEM. AT this present time she signs her name "Christine Mollister Holmes," and her visiting cards read "Mrs. Stuart Holmes." I tf.H you this in order that people who were acquainted with Chrissy Hollister may have no doubt as to her identity. She was sitting before an open window, although in many latitudes it was the season of the year when windows are kept tightly closed, and coal or steam holds sway. There was a suspicion of fire in the open grate, but the air was odorous with burning pine, instead of anthracite, and the breath which came in at the open windows was fragrant with roses instead of being touched with frost. IIF.R ASSOCIATE MEMnERS. The face which looked out into the street below was fair, and, on the whole, sweet, though the brow was somewhat clouded, and there was a look in the eyes wh'ch told the close observer something about a disappointment bravely borne, which nevertheless shadowed her face at times, Stuart Holmes, lying on a couch outside of the line of the breeze, yet in a position to command a side view of the face, studied it for a moment, then closed his eyes and drew the faintest possi- ble sigh. He had a gay afghan thrown over him, and drooped his head among the pillows in a way which suggested debility. Mrs. Holmes had turned but a moment before from a small writing-table, whereon lay at this moment a bulky package sealed and addressed to "Mrs. Chess Gardner." Had you been looking over her shoulder while she wrote, you would have understood the situation better; perhaps the easiest way is to gve you a chance to hear some- thing of what she wrote to her old-time friend. " Wj are settled at last for the winter," so the letter ran. "We spent only a month at the first stopping-place ; the air proved to be too bracing for Stuart, and the boarding accommodations were not pleasant. J was almost glad when it did not suit Stuart, for a more uninviting place, I think, I was never in. There were people enough, young people, too, and I tried to get interested in them ; SHE IGNORES THEM. rather, I expected to be interested, as a matter of course. They had some sort of an organization ; the 'Young People's Club,' I think they called it. Such a dreadful name for a society, I think. But I tried to harmonize with it. I had not been there two days before I sought out the president and secretary, and made an effort to lend a help- ing hand. They needed help badly enough, but were in that most deplorable of all states, satis- fied with themselves. I found that all in the world they were doing with their organization was having what they were pleased to call 'a good lime.' Of course, there were many who were not being reached. In fact, no one had an idea of trying to reach anybody for the sake of help- ing him in any way. I talked volumes, Stuart said, with the officers, trying to show them a better way. It was very depressing work ; they had not the least desire to be shown. But this I did not understand at first ; it seemed incredible to me that young people in health, and with average intelligence, would not rather do some- thing than nothing, even though their standard was not very high. The place was small, with no advantages ; at least, with no reading-room, and a circulating library which, owing to the miserable selections that had been made, they would have been infinitely better off without. No place for evening gatherings, except the railroad station 4 HER ASSOCIATE MEMBERS. and the saloons. The young men who had no homes, as well as some who had, seemed to have a good excuse for lounging in the aforesaid objectionable places. I t-^^lked reading-room earn- estly. They said they h^d no funds with which to buy books or papers. I suggested beginning on a very small scale ; offered to secure a package of books for them, and proposed that each mem- ber of the organization should be asked to bring from home the family newspaper, after it had been read. Stuart said that was hazardous advice, because of the selection which some would have made> and that, perhaps, I should be thank- ful that my advice was not followed. But I can hardly imagine any worse reading in the daily or weekly average newspapers than the ten- cent paper-covered novels they had chosen. Well, no matter ; they did nothing of the kind. The next objection was that it would be impossible to secure a place of meeting ; there was no suitable room in the village, and, if there were, no money to secure it. But you know my propensity for not giving up a thing. I pushed hard ; canvassed the town ; found an unused store which, with scrubbing and a few dollars spent on cheap curtains «nd lamps, with a chair donated from each home, would have done very well. The rent was absurdly low, and I was jubilant over my discovery. Thirty dollars would have ccwered SHE IGNORES THEM. the necessary expenses for getting that room ready for use, and paying the rent for six months ! I went to that inane club at their next regular meeting and reported, only to be assured that it would be impossible to raise the thirty dollars. I did not believe it, for, though by no means wealthy, it was not a poverty-stricken town, and I felt sure that those young people spent on nothings, each six months of their lives, more than enough to cover the sum. However, they were beyond convincing. Still, I could not give up the idea. The more I saw of the young men lounging about on disreputable corners, the more impoTtant it seemed. Stuart and I talked it all over. He is a young man, you know, and an entire year away from business, with a long illness, followed by a winter's banishment from home, traveling and living as an invalid, are not calcula- ted to increase one's resources ; still, of course, we had our " sacred fund," and the only question was to use it in the wisest way ; because it was smaller than usual, we wanted to be even more careful in its expenditure. At last we resolved to appropriate fifty dollars to the starting of an enterprise of the kind we proposed. We made the amount fifty because certain things seemed necessary if one was going to do it alone, which, working together with a committee, all bent on saving, and doing as much as possible with a HER ASSOCIATE MEMBERS. little, we should have voted to get along without. Stuart was not so well that week, and I could only talk with him at intervals, and would not let him shoulder a bit of risk, of course; so L went out myself, afternoons when he was taking his rest, rented the building, hired a woman to clean and a man to repair, and, to make my long story brief, spent five days of planning and working with hired helpers, putting it in perfect order. It was very plain, but exceedingly neat-looking when everything was done, and I had great joy in it. I do not believe our lovely rooms on the avenue gave me any greater thrills of delight than did this, which you would have been restrained only by politeness from calling a barn. I do not know what the dear club thought I was about, I am sure; they never came to see, and showed no interest in the matter. I flattered myself for a time that I was keeping my work a profound secret, until S^^uart laughed at me and told me one would suppose I had never spent a season in a small village where everybody knew his neigh- b'^r's affairs. "When everything was ready, I wrote a little note to the president, tendering the club the use of the room for the next six months, free of expense, only stipulating that they should have it lighted on certain evenings of each week, if they could no*, arrange for every evening, and SHE IGNORES THEM. have a committee in attendance to entertain any that should come; just as we do at our rooms, you knv-'w. Nellie, I hope you are prepared for the result, but certainly I was not. Do you believe that they declined the offer, on the plea that they could not find a suitable entertainment committee, and that the work of caring for such a room, lighting and keeping it in order was too much for them ! I was never so disappointed in my life. Oh, I was more than disappointed ; the thing just overpowered me. For days I could not rise above the humility and bitterness of my defeat. You kiiow I am not used to failing. "Stuart tried his best to comfort me, and, because he was so miserable and must not be troubled, I pretended to be comforted often when my heart was in a perfect turmoil. I would not like to tell you how many times I cried about it all. Aside from the pain of failing utterly in an undertaking upon which I had spent so much time and money, there was a sense of being mis- understood, and of affording amusement to a certain class of people who had apparently delighted in misunderstanding me. I came to have a feeling almost like humiliation when I would mef^t one of the club. They looked at me with such queer, almost triumphant smiles, and giggled after I had passed them. I came to understand that they looked upon me as a sort of 8 HER ASSOCIATE MEMBERS. crank, who was bent upon taking leadership, and had been successfully put down. Oh, I will not try to describe to you how I felt. The experience has been too recent. Stuart was as good as gold ; he never once said, or even looked, *I told you so,* although I could see afterward that he had offered several sympathetic hints to the effect that I must not expect too much of the club ; but I did not understand ; I thought I was expecting very little of them. I honestly thought that they held back because they did not know how mLich could be done with a little money, and had u horror of involving themselves in financial obliga- tions which they could not meet. When Stuart saw how utterly humiliated I was, he wanted me to agree to his trying to open the room himself ; sitting there for an hour or two in the evening to receive such young men as curiosity might induce to drop in. Would it not have been a grand thing if he could have done so? Think what a chance for those tobacco-smoking, swearing young men to have come in contact with a man like him for even a few times in their lives! But of course I could not consent to any such a plan as that after Dr. Douglass* warning that I must not let my husband even think what his name was for at least three months. Part of my anxiety was that I had trilked so much with Stuart about it as to retard his recovery; but he was fully as SHE IGNORES THEM. anxious as I was to have something done. Well, the conclusion of the whole matter was, that he had a sharp illness of several days* duration which, for the time being, put that ill-fated room, with its new whitewash and fresh lamps, entirely out of my mind. After that came the doctor's orders to «move on.' So one morning, after I had packed our trunks, and Stuart was resting", with the doctor's son on guard to see that he was not disturbed, I went down to the room, packed away :he pretty vases and mats and engravings with which I had tried to brighten the place, took down, shook and folded away the pretty imitation Madras curtains, and, leaving ever/ thing in start- ling order, locked the door, carried the key to the owner, paid him the rent promised, took his receipt for the same, and his honestly expressed conviction that the young folks in that place were a 'dumb lot that did not know on which side their bread was buttered, and never would,' and went home a wiser and a sadder woman. Not without passing a couple of girls walking the street with a couple of persons whom they spoke of as fel- lows,' who all indulged in prolonged giggles, I suppose, over the recognized bundles in my hands. So much for my venture on the sea of benevo- lence alone in a foreign land. *'We left by the afternoon train; came to this place, which is called a city, but which seems a lO HER ASSOCIATE MEMBERS. ! i mere hamlet when one thinks of home ; and tried to settle down and wait. That is what I have at last resolved to do. Stuart is really better. My heart is jubilant over that, and it is certainly joy enough in itself to sustain me through the winter I sha!l give my undivided attention to him, and help him gain faster than man ever did before. And while he sleeps, and drinks in health with every breath of this balmy air, I shall fold my hands. I do not mean to get interested in a human being ; I do not mean to as?^ their names, or where they go to church, or to think whether they so much as have higher natures which are being stifled. I shall call it a lost winter, so far as outside life is concerned, and wait until I get back to our dear rooms, and our grand girls, and noble, self-sacrificing men, before I take any more flights in the land of 'Endeavor.' There are some places evidently where all one can do is to endeavor to possess his soul in patience, until the time comes for work again. I have been slow to learn the lesson, but I think it is effectually learned. At least, if you hear of me as interest- ing myself, during this entire winter, in any thing beyond broths and gruels, and fresh fruits and easy carriages, and pillows and tonics, and the quickest way of restoring wa.sted physical strength, set me down as a lunatic at once. If I am tempted to think of any other 'endeavor,' SHE IGNORES THEM. II the memory of those girls • in that never-to-be- forgotten club will at once restrain me. Think of my fifty dollars wasted ! How many things you blessed home workers might have accom- plished with even that small sum ; and there it is locked up in a vacant room into which the sun- light streams all day long, helping to create dust and cobwebs. Never mind, Nellie, my husband is stronger to-day than he was yesterday, and he was stronger yesterday than the day before, and May is only five months away. I shall write you long letters, all about my success as a nurse, and about how I live in the blessed past and hope-lined future, and ignore the present, outside of this boarding-ho'jse, which is worthy of being ignored, but we cannot quite compass it. We have been obliged to come to a sort of second- rate place, in order to insure the quiet so neces- sary for Stuart. Desirable houses are crowded, but we do passably well here ; they allow me to go into the kitchen to prepare the beef broth and toast the bread, so Stuart's diet will be watched with jealous eyes, and consume much of my time and strength. I did not mean to write you this story, I meant not to tell a living soul of my ignominious failure, but that vacant room stared at me so continuously that I could not help it. I think I shall take up my neglected German again, to amuse myself during the inter- 12 HER ASSOCIATE MEMBERS. vals of nursing and cooking. One must do some- thing while one's charge sleeps. Long naps, morning and afternoon, are specialties in Stuart's case." This letter, which had really not been written at one sitting, but had consumed the leisure of several afternoons, having been sealed and laid aside, Mrs. Holmes gave her eyes to the street outside and her thoughts to that past which every day seemed more dear to her in contrast with the present. Moreover — though she had not put it into words — her heart was sometimes busy with that weary question, "Why.?" with which we often wear out our hearts. Why, for instance, should a man so thoroughly consecrated as her husband, whose schemes for bettering the world were numerous and successful, be suddenly stricken down in his prime, and brought to the very verge of the grave.? So low, indeed, that after the immediate danger was past, the creep- ing back to health and strength was so slow that for days together no improvement could be dis- covered, and numerous drawbacks made havoc with the little gain which the weeks developed. Why should all this have come to him, making it necessary for both of them to leave the work to which they had consecrated their leisure hours, and all possible increase over and above their daily living, and go far away among strangers net SHE IGNORES THEM. 13 only, but uncongenial ones? Among people, apparently, who had nothing in common with their way of thinking or doing. "It is just a lost winter," was the sad mental conclusion to which Mrs. Chrissy was wont to come, when she went over again the story of her recent past : " Stuart needed the rest, I suppose, and the dear Lord knew him well enough to know that he could not get it in any other way, and I am necessary to the entire rest which his body and brain need. Well, for that last I can never cease to be thankful; 1 must just be content to take my rest, which certainly neither my body nor mind needed, in order that he may the more surely have his. I will count it my lost winter, and fold my hands over it as smoothly as I can and wait." But her face, as I said, was clouded. She was not rebellious, but sad ; the days were really very long. Glad, she was, thankful from her inmost soul for her husband's manifest improvement ; she sang a thanksgiving hymn in her heart many times each day over it ; nevertheless, there were hours in,the long day, while her husband slept, or while he lay in a state half-dreaming, half-waking, drinking in health with every breath, but much better entirely undisturbed even by the voice of his wife, when the time hung heavily upon the young wife's hands. It seemed strange, indeed, 14 HER ASSOCIATE MEMBERS. to her who had lived so active a life, giving all htr time, of late years, to the service of others, to be laid aside ; yet that she was laid aside from active work as certainly as her husband, was her deliber- ate conclusion. " I am fitted to work only in certain lines," she told herself. "The Christian Endeavor Society which took such strong hold of me, I can work through; but remove me from that place, and I am useless. I only make blunders which are injurious to the cause. That giggling club will giggle on and be more silly all their lives, I sup- pose, because of my failure among them. I have really done them an injury, when I had a single desire to help; and I have spent a large part of my treasured 'tenth' for worse than nothing! To think that I imagined I could transform that club into a full-fledged Christian Endeavor soci- ety! They could not even * endeavor,' to say nothing of the word 'Christian' ; and I could not move them in any direction save that of ridicule. Well, wisdom is dearly learned sometimes. I will profit .by my experience. I will carefully avoid the young people in this vicinity ; and^ judging from the specimens I have seen, it will not be a trial for me to do so." CHAPTER II. THEY COMPEL HER ATTENTION. WHILE the letter-writer sat gazing into space with that half-sad, half-retrospect- ive look upon her face which at times troubled her husband, he broke the silence. " Chrissy, dear, why do you not take a walk.^ This sweet air must be more enjoyable outside than in this room." She turned toward him quickly with the smile that was always ready for his eyes. "1 thought you were sleeping, she said, "and would not move to disturb you. I think I will take a walk, if you are entirely comfortable. I want to see our laundress, and I am going to try to find some juicier oranges for you." Bonnet, gloves and small shoulder-cape, the only wrap that the balmy air required, were soon in order, and Chrissy bent before the couch for good-by. '•I am going first to the kitchen ^to see that IS i6 HER ASSOCIATE MEMBERS. 1 I your becf-tca is conducting itself in a proper man- ner, and to see if Happy can be installed near the door to answer to your call." " I do not require the outside help, I think," he said, smiling; "I am in need of nothing, and have a fund of happiness in my own heart to draw upon till you come back." The smile his wife gave him in response had a wistful touch in it. Her husband, lying on his couch utterly laid aside, was so much more will- ing to wait than she found it in her restless heart to do. She thought it over as she made her way with careful steps through the long, wide, not overclean passage that led from the front part of the house to the kitchen. At the door, which was ajar, she paused to listen, not to the noise, but to the unwonted stillness. Mrs. Stetson's kitchen was by no means generally a quiet place ; the clatter of pans and kettles mingled with the discord of sharp words at all hours of the day. A most uncomfortable woman was Mrs. Stet.son, "out of her sphere if ever a woman was," Mrs. Holmes wrote in her home letters, and added : "The saddest part of it is, one can only wonder, in looking at her, what her sphere could possibly have been ! I cannot think of a spot in the world where she would really fit." Such being the situation, not to hear either dishes or voice was ominous of something strange. THEY COMPEL HER ATTENTION. i; Chrissy, waiting for she hardly knew what, softly pushed the door open and looked in. About the stove even more than the usual disorder prevailed. The debris of the long-past dinner was so great that the young woman reflected with satisfaction over the tightly closed jar in which her husband's beef tea was simmering. Beside the window, which commanded a view of the street, sat Mrs. Stetson, doing absolutely nothing, save that with one corner of her soiled kitchen apron she brushed away two or three great tears, which struggled down her sallow, much wrinkled face. Mrs. Stetson actually crying! The sight appalled her boarder. To have seen her frowning, scold- ing, tossing pans and brooms or sticks of wood right and left in a frenzy of haste and angry bewilderment would have been a common sight ; but this was a new development. Chrissy stood irresolute. Should she retire.^ But the beef tea, perhaps, needed more water in the kettle; and then where was Happy, whose services she needed ? She finally retired a few steps, and made much noise opening and closing a door, that needed no attention ; having thus heralded her coming, she advanced briskly. The ruse took effect. Mrs. Stetson turned hastily from the win- dow, and began to clatter the dishes ; but there were traces of tears upon her cheeks, and Chrissy could not forget them. She lingered even after i8 HER ASSOCIATE MEMBERS. her errand was done, albeit her landlady was in a most unpropitioiis mood, "I am sure I do j ot know where Happy is," she said, sharply; "stuck away in some corner reading a worthless book, I suppose; that's where she generally is when she isn't doing worse. If there was ever a more worthless girl than Happy born into this world, I'm glad it was not my lot to see her. Yes, she can sit by the door as well as not ; it's all she's good for, and I do suppose she would know enough to answer if your husband called ; and it's about all she does know." "But I'm afraid you need her here," said Chrissy; "you have so much to do." "That's a good reason for not needing her. She isn't worth the salt she eats on her potatoes. When it comes to such work as this, I'd rather have her out of the kitchen than in it. No, Mis* Holmes, I'd rather have the money you pay for her setting by your door doing nothing, than to see her slouching around making believe help. Sally will be back directly and take hold here." "It is hard work to take care of so many people, is it not.?" said Chrissy, still lingering. Some way the memory of those sorrowful-looking tears held her; she could not be willing to go away without attempting a word of comfort or at least of sympathy. THEY COMPEL HER ATTENTION. 19 "It ain't that altogether," said Mrs. Stetson, evasively, and in a voice that told that the tears were still suspiciously near the surface. "There's worse troubles than that in the world. Mis' Holmes, and I have mine to bear. I'm sick of living." "Oh, no," said Chrissy, briskly; "it's a nice, pleasant world ; only see how blue the sky is, and the air smells of roses and yellow jessamine, and I don't know what other sweet things. Why, in my home a terrible north east storm has been raging for days together! My brother says he has almost forgotten how sunshine looks." "Humph!" said Mrs. Stetson, with an unmis- takable sniff; "sunshine and roses is all very nice in their way, but it takes more than them to make a world, Mis' Holmes." Chrissy laughed merrily. She was bent on cheering this woman. "That is true," she said; "it takes soups and bread and potatoes, and ever so many other things, and a great deal of hard work, does it not ? That sweet-potato pie was very nice to-day, Mrs. Stetson." "I'm sure I'm glad of it," said Mrs. Stetson, looking not one whit less gloomy. " Liph thought so too, I guess ; he eat a whole one ; Liph can show his appreciation that way as well as the next one. When you get to be an old woman 20 HER ASSOCIATE MEMBERS. like me, Mis' Holmes, and have, maybe, a great six-foot boy to think about, you'll know what trouble is, and find out that it takes more than roses and sunshine to make bright weather." "Children are a great responsibility, I know," Chrissy said, gently; "but, after all, what would the world be without your one.? If Liph were gone, you would find it hard to realize that the sun shone." This sentence was a desperate attempt to find the mother-heart of this ill-disciplined woman, and the speaker was utterly unprefared for the answer she received. Mrs. Stetson laid down the pan she was v^ashing, with such energy that she hit it against another of its own metal, and the sound rang throu^jh the room, while she said with an intensity that would be hard to describe : "I'd be glad and thankful to the ends of my toes. Mis' Holmes, if he lay in the grave this minute ! " "Oh, dear woman!" cried Chrissy, appalled; *'do not say such terrible words! Think how fearfully you may some day regret them." Mrs. Stetson dashed the dishwater from her hands with a fierce shake, and spoke with almost more energy than before. "I would, Mis' Holmes; that is as true as. there is a sun in the sky. You stand there, pretty and smiling, and think life is all made of THEY COMPEL HER ATTENTION. 21 roses and things ; you don't know nothing about it; wait till you have a boy of your own, and slave your fingers to the bone to dress him up in a white dress every day, and pretty little shoes with buckles on them, and a blue sash, and all that, and curl his hair over your fingers, and make a fool of yourself, being proud of him because he is handsomer than your neighbor's boy. Then let him grow up and learn to stand around street corners and loaf, and say low words such as you never heard in your life till he brought 'em home to you, and learn to smoke and chew, and learn to sneer at you for an old woman that doesn't know any thing, and learn by and by to spend his days and half his nights in those low-down pes- tiferous saloons, and drink their low-down whiskey till he doesn't know enough not to strike you when he comes staggering home, and you trying to help him to bed. Then you'll talk, maybe, about roses and sunshine, but I don't believe it ! Yes, ma'am ; if I could go back over the years and dress him up in his white dress and his pretty shoes, and curl his hair and lay him in a hand- some coffin, don't you think I'd do it and be glad over it.? I tell you, you don't know any thing about it." And Mrs. Stetson turned away with the bitterest sob Chrissy had ever heard, with the corner of her soiled apron at her eyes again. The intruder looked at her in utter dismay. I II 22 HER ASSOCIATE MEMBERS. What was she to say to so great a sorrow ? Yet how could she, a Christian woman, turn away fran trouble like this without an attempt to com- fort? She went forward until she stood close to the mother, whose hair was prematurely gray, and said in low, pitiful tones : " I am very sorry for you ; I wish I could do something to help you." ** There ain't nothing in life that can help me," Mrs. Stetson said, struggling to regain her com- posure. " I've give up. I've talked to Liph and scolded him, tried to shame him into being some- body ; and I never accomplished nothing, only to make him mad. There's nothing to look forward to now but ruin for him and me, and sometimes I think if I could do something to hurry it along, that would be the best for both of us." "God can save Liph." The voice that spoke this brief, important sentence, was low and sweet, but wonderfully earnest. There was no answer- ing thrill in the woman's heart ; there was no lifting of the gloom on her face. Even the sacred name had no strong, tender association for her. "It is too late for any thing but ruin," she repeated. "I've known that this good while, but I don't often break down. I'm ashamed to have you see me like this. Mis' Holmes. I ain't got no call to bother you with my miseries. You go THEY COMPEL HER ATTENTION. 23 on and don't mind me. I'll be myself in a few minutes, and I'll send that worthless Happy right straight up stairs, and see that she sits there, too. I'll look out for him myself, Mis' Holmes ; so you needn't to worry." Mrs. Holmes went away with slow step, like one in a dream. What a page of life she had unwillingly looked upon this bright afternoon ! Who would have supposed that Mrs. Stetson ever cried — ever did anything, indeed, but struggle with her three meals a day, and her inefficient help, and scold her one boy .-* During the two or three weeks of their stay in the house, Mrs. Holmes had scarcely given this boy a thought, save sometimes to sigh and occasionally to smile, when Mrs. Stetson's shrill voice was heard call- ing him "a worthless, good-for-nothing, lazy, low- lived fellow, not worth the salt which he used on his potatoes." She had supposed him to be a half-grown, mis- chievous youngster, who did not like to work, and whose mother meant very little of what she said to him. Neither she nor Stuart had ever seen the boy, but Stuart had been amused at some of the phrases that floated up to him occasionally from the rooms below, and had adopted them to the extent that he would sometimes say to his wife: "I'm not worth the salt in this beef tea, Chrissy, dear." And they had both laughed 24 HER ASSOCIATE MEMBERS. over it, and had not dreamed that the words were the utterance of a bitter, almost broken -hea/ted woman. As Mrs. Holmes crossed the street and moved toward the supply store that occupied the furthest corner of the square, she heard a loud voice call, "Look out there, Liph! that beam will hit you." She turned quickly in the direction of the beam, curious to see not it but Liph. He wiss shambling across the street, dangerously near to the beam of some heavy machinery, v/hich was being let down from a store-room above. Could it be possible that that was Liph, the merry- hearted, lazy, roguish boy, with tangled curls and bare feet and torn jacket, whom she had always pictured when she had heard his mother's voice? A great awkward fellow, towering six feet high, with a shock of unkempt hair; swarthy of skin, repulsive as regarded dress and manner, with a scowl on his face, and with fierce eyes, which looked at one askance from under heavy eye- brows. There was a certain something in his very ./alk that indicated utter recklessness. Mrs. Holmes moved on rapidly, but she couldn't get away from the sinking of heart that had come to her as she caught a full view of Liph's face. She could not get away from his mother's words, "There's nothing for Liph but ruin." It looked only too probable. This young THEY COMPEL HER ATTENTION. 25 worker in the Master's vineyard knew nothing at all about the class that Liph Stetson repre- sented. Young men in danger, needing wise and patient hands reached out to save them, she knew, or thought she knew, a good deal about. Had she not begun with her own brother years and years ago.' But almost unconsciously to herself, such young men had, in her thoughts, taken the condition of her brother Harmon during those dangerous years of his life — handsome, gay, .vitty, well dressed, fond of society, but scorning any thing like coarseness or roughness. Then^, too, she knew about clerks in groceries and drug stores, and the great army of respectably- employed young men that these classes repre- sented. Chrissy Hollister's world had lain among them, and in her new home in the city, she and her husband, backed by their grand Christian Endeavor society, had worked faithfully, with blessed results, among many such. Absorbed in her work, Chrissy, at least, had forgotten that there was another, and perhaps even a larger, class, sorely needing help, with which she never came in contact. Liph Stetson brought this fact to her notice in a startling manner. The giggling club, which had made such a lasting impression upon her, was of another clasi from those to which she had been used ; but they were alto- gether unlike Liph. 26 HER ASSOCIATE MEMBERS. She walked on, thinking about him and about his mother. What could be done for either of them ? If only Stuart were well ! But he must not even be told the story. It would excite him too much, he would be so eager to do something. On the whole, Mrs. Holmes, as she walked briskly down the long street toward hei washer- woman's, broke utterly her resolution to have nothing to do with "the young people in this vicinity," and gave more thought to one young person in that single half-hour than she had given to* the entire city before. Still, she did not realize that such was the case. So utterly differ- ent was Liph Stetson from her known world, that she hardly recognized him as belonging to the "young people." She reached the door of Mrs. Carpenter's shabby little house without having had a single ray of hope given her concerning Liph's future; without a suggestion as to how to reach him in any way. Mrs. Carpenter was ironing. Upon the two other occasions when Mrs. Holmes had seen her she had been ironing, and as the caller stood for a moment watching the swift passes of the iron over the snowy muslin, she wondered curiously if this comprised the woman's life. Her encounter with Liph and his mother had somehow roused her interest in humanity. She had forgotten to dream about home and wonder what the girls THEY COMPEL HER ATTENTION. 2^ vere doing, and what they would do this winter, and what would be said and done that first night when she and Stuart went back to them. She had thought only of Mrs. Stetson and Liph. Now she added Mrs. Carpenter to her list. "The woman is young," she thought ; "she can hardly be more than thirty. What hard lines there are on her face ! She must have been pretty once. What a strange impression she gives one that it was a long time ago — forty years ago at least ! Yet there isn't a thread of gray in her hair, and her eyes have fire in them. How severely plain her dress is ! Just a ' straight-up- and-downness,' Stuart would say, without even a collar to relieve it, and her hair stretched back as straight and as firmly as comb and hairpins will accomplish. But it is smooth, and her dress is clean. Poor Mrs. Stetson could not possibly put herself into such neatness. This wo: nan is of a different type from Mrs. Stetson. Her face does not look happy. I wonder if she, too, has a story." , i CHAPTER III. THEY INCREASE IN NUMBER. THE thought closed with a little sigh. Mrs. Holmes was certainly dipping into strange chapters of life this afternoon, all unexpectedly. Not willing to allow herself to become inter- ested in another person, she cut short her reverie by knocking at the door. The ironer raised her eyes for an instant, then dropped them, and delib- erately finished the pillow-case she was ironing, folded and hung it on the bars near at hand, and set her iron on the stove, before she came slowly forward, with the slightest possible bend of her head, and waited for the intruder to announce her errand. "Mrs. Carpenter," said her caller, "I came to speak about the wrappers. I do not want them starched, please. I forgot to mention it. I hope I am not too late." No," Mrs. Carpenter said, •*! have not got 26 a THEY INCREASE IN NUMBER. 29 to the wrappers yet, but they would look much better for being starched." "I know," said Mrs. Holmes, "but I want to fold them away. They are not suited to my needs here. I find I have half filled my trunk with articles which do not belong to this latitude." " I suppose that is because you do not belong to this latitude yourself," Mrs. Carpenter said, with a sort of cold dignity. It was a strange thing to say. Mrs. Holmes regarded her somewhat curiously, interested in spite of herself. "May I come in and rest a few minutes.?" she asked, suddenly. "It is a longer walk than I imagined ; I have driven here before, you know." "Of course," said Mrs. Carpenter, meaning, "Of course, you can rest." The words were spoken in the same indifferent tone as before. There was not the slightest pre- tense of cordiality. Mrs. Holmes entered, and took the seat toward which her hostess motioned. It was a wooden-seated chair from which the paint had all been scrubbed away. There were only three chairs in the room, all of hard, uncompro- mising wood. Two of them were now doing duty as clothes-bars. The room was very clean and very bare — not an attompt at comfort of any sort. The unceiled walls were hung with several I!i 30 HER ASSOCIATE MEMBERS. articles of wearing apparel, a man's coat with the rest. A small tabic in the corner had a man's hat resting on it beside a common kerosene lamp, which was perfectly clean. The stove on which the irons busied themselves getting ready for work, had not been blackened for months, appar- ently, but had been washed clean that very day, and no litter of ashes or of chips was visible. In short, every thing was in dreary order, and the number of articles which comprised the entire furnishing were startlingly few. Mrs. Holmes looked about her with pitiful curi- osity. The thought that this was actually a home struck her with a sense of chill. Not a picture any where, not a book or paper, not a flower or plant, not a living thing save that white-faced, stern-eyed ironer at the table ! Even the flies seemed to have deserted the place, discouraged, perhaps, by the scrupulous cleanliness and the absence of a crumb on which to feast. Did the woman by the table feel at home ? Was she glad to make every thing so clean tiie guest wondered. Had she come away to a land of strangers with one for whom to iron and scrub and save were opportunities for which she thanked God.? "I could do it for Stuart," thought the happy wife, "if that were the thing to do; but this woman does not look like it. Perhaps she is a widow, poor thing ! I have never asked a question about TIIEV INCREASE IN NUMBER. 31 her. She looks like an unhappy woman. She cannot have a ' Liph* to mourn over, sho is so young. Perhaps, though, she has a grave. Well, if it is a baby's grave, she may have much to be thankful for." And again Mrs. Stetson's words, which had seemed so terrible, occurred to her. The ironer ironed steadily, and stillness reigned. It began to grow embarrassing. Something ought to be said ; the guest could not decide what. "Is it hard work.-*" she asked, at last, watching the swift-moving iron. " Did you never do it .? " The question startled her. It was not the sort of reply she had expected to receive. ** I do not remember that I ever did," she said, after a moment's hesitation. " I had duties in my mother's home, but that did not happen to be one of them ; and since I have had a home of my own my hands have been full with other kinds of ser- vice. It does not look like hard work, but I sup- pose like every thing else which is worth doing, it requires practice in order to be skillful. You are a beautiful ironer, I think." "I've had practice enough," was the cold reply, "and am likely to. One has to live, whether one wants to or not ; and it's my way of living." This seemed very pitiful. Mrs. Holmes was unwilling to leave the conversation, now that she 32 HER ASSOCIATE MEMBERS. had once begun, without having some heart put into it. "Do you not like to live.?" she asked, gently. It was not the sentence she had meant to say. It seemed almost to say itself, as well as the gen- tle words which followed. "Living is beautiful, I think, especially to-day. The sky is so blue, and the air so full of sweets. I heard a bird, as I came by the park, sv/elling into a perfect ecstasy of song. I never heard a bird sing in December before. I mean one that was not caged." The reply that she received starred her as much as Mrs. Stetson's tears. "I hate life; I hate the sunshine and the smells and the birds. I hate every thing!" Her guest looked at her with a keen sense of pain. Another phase of unhappy life with which she did not know how to deal. This was worse than Mrs. Stetson's. The very disorder and dis- comfort with which that woman was surrounded seemed to take some of the fierceness from what she said, while her tears humanized the appeal. But there were no tears here, the iron was mov- ing more swiftly than before, and only a little sterner setting of the lips reminded one that the woman had spoken at all. "It is God's world," her caller said at last; "and the sunshine and birds and sweet ^^erfumes. THEY INCREASE IN NUMBER. 33 were made to help you. Could you not get some- thing from them for your life?" " Yes, I get mockery from them ; something which makes me hate life more every day ; yet for decency's sake I go on living. People who have come from New England will do any thing for decency's sake." "Are you from New England.?" Mrs. Holmes asked with instant sympathy; "then you are, like myself, far away from home. Did you come for the sake of some one very dear to you ? " At the risk of probing a terrible wound, she resolved to ask that quei'tion. It would be much better for this fierce woman to break down utterly and weep before her than to keep such a pent-up torrent of pain in her heart. "It must be a giave over which she is rebell- ious," thought her visitor, and she almost expected th*^ iron to cease its swift passes, and to see the ironer's face buried in the garment she was smoothing. "I came because I was a fool," was the hard reply, and the iron rushed over the board with redoubled vigor; "and I'm a fool to stand here talking about it," was the next outburst upon the dismayed silence. "What's the use of talking.? What's the use of asking questions ? " "It sometimes helps, to talk," Mrs. Holmes said, at last, very gently ; " when I am homesick, 34 HER ASSOCIATE MEMBERS. I ' I think if I only had some one to tell it to, half the trouble would be gone, but I have to keep very still. I am a stranger here, alone with my husband, and I dare not speak to him, because he is ill and needs all the help and cheer I can give him. I can imagine what it might be to live far away from one's home for years; quite alone in the world. Have you no friends here.?" " I have no friends anywhere, and never expect to have ; but I don't know why I am telling you so." "Because you are mistaken," Mrs. Holmes said, with quiet assurance. "Every one is mis- taken who thinks so. You have many friends, brothers and sisters ; the earth is every day being peopled with those who are kindred in Jesus Christ. I hope you know Him. If you do, you surely know that however sad your life may be, it is not desolate." " I don't know any thing about it," said Mrs. Carpenter, doggedly. " I never did understand that kind of talk. When I was a girl in New England it used to be all Greek to me, and it is worse than that now. If you are one of that kind, you'd better not waste it on me. Oh, Tm not a heathen. I believe in God, and in the Bible, some of it at least ; but it is precious little good it has ever done me, and the time has gone by when I expect it to. I'll have your clothes. THEY INCREASE IN NUMBER. 35 ready by Friday, as I said, and I think they can be made to suit you." Evidently that was a dismissal; but Mrs. Holmes was desperate. For the second time that day she had come in contact with one to whom the Name above all names was an idle word, bringing no suggestion of help or comfort, though there was sore need of both. Coulc' she go away without another effort to help this soul in peril.? Yet what would help her.? If she only knew what had brought about this condition of rebellion ! "I am very sorry for you," she said, with exceeding gentleness ; " I wish so much that I could do or say something to help you. Is your life so hard because you are alone in the world ? Are you a widow.?" "No." Nothing which had been said so dismayed the qn.estioner as that single monosyllable, shot at lor from a pair of lips which instinctively com- pressed themselves into the hardest lines Mrs. Holmes had ever seen on a woman's face ! Cer- tainly she had not said that if she were, her life would be more endurable ; yet what did that face imply.? The sound of a step was heard outside, and there shambled toward the open door the figure of a man. A man with grizzly gray hair and 36 HEU ASSUCIATI-: MEMBERS. unkempt beard,, bleared eyes and soiled linen; a man in his shirt sleeves, with his old hat pushed to the back of his head, the very abandonment of carelessness ; a man whose clothes, and even beard, were stained with tobacco juice. In his hand he held an old smoke-blackened pipe, which had evidently just been removed from his mouth. "Good-day, ma'am," he said, nodding his head. To her dismay Mrs. Holmes discovered that the salutation was addressed to her. She arose sud- denly, uncertain whether or not to return the courtesy. Was that a drunken man who had strayed into the wrong door } She turned toward Mrs. Carpenter to see if the appearance fright- ened her, and caught upon her face a look of utter repulsion, but there was no fear in it. "Don't come in here with that pipe," she said, in tones which rasped as a file might upon steel ; "you know better than that." "For the land's sake!" said the man, "what hurt can the pipe do when it's out ? " But he shambled away, and the guest made swift exit, amazed and sick at heart. Something in the woman's manner told her that that man was her husband. For several blocks Mrs. Holmes walked swiftly, conscious of an effort not to think at all. Her heart was so full of pain, and indeed almost of ter- ror, that it seemed to her she must not think until THEY INCREASE IN NUMBER. 37 she was in a quieter mood. What misery was this upon which she had stumbled unawares? Two women in one afternoon, under the curse of sin, with apparently no knowledge of a remedy. But Mrs. Carpenter's case seemed far worse to the young wife than Mrs. Stetson's. She knew nothing about motherhood ; but what mockery of marriage vows was here ! That man to be that woman's husband! And the idea of a woman speaking to her husband as she had spoken to him ! It was all too terrible to be thought about. What an awful world it was, viewed from some stand-points ! She had heard of such people. The papers mentioned them sometimes. She had even in the city brushed past certain objects who had made her shiver and- draw her dress away from contact; but to come face to face with a respectable woman, clean and neat, and with an air of rigid cleanliness about every thing that she touched, and to discover that she was bound by the holiest ties to such as that, was a contact which this woman had never made before. She found herself trembling in every limb. It would never do to present herself before Stuart in that state; he would think she had been alarmed, insulted perhaps, and would arouse to instant anxiety. She tried to think about the birds who were still singing, and to take in great whiffs of the perfume-laden air, and forget the pictures of 38 HER ASSOCIATE MEMBERS. misery which had made such discord with the day. But it was hard to get away from them. She was glad when her own door was reached, albeit she was reminded that she had by no means got- ten away from disagreeable subjects by seeing "Liph" stalking sulkily across the street toward home. He looked more repulsive to her than he had two hours before. She even told herself that he had a worse face than Mr. Carpenter, if it were possible that that man was Mr. Carpenter. In the hall above, sat Happy, a paper-covered book in hand, and so absorbed that she did not hear the lady's step. Mrs. Holmes wondered if she would have been aroused by her husband's feeble voice, supposing he had wanted her. " You must be fond of reading," she said, close at the girl's elbow. Happy started violently. "You scairt me half to pieces," she said; "I didn't hear you come, nor nothing." '•So I observed. What have you here that is so absorbing.^" and she bent low enough to read the name on the title-page, "A Loyal Lover." The name told her very little; she was not familiar with that class of literature, yet, with the discernment of the cultured woman, she instinct- ively gauged the probable merits of the book. What a pity that a girl having intellect enough to THEY INCREASE IN NUMBER. 39 read at all, should feed herself upon such material as this. ^ "It is an awful interesting story," Happy said; "I was just reading how she couldn't get out of the stone house; I don't believe she ever will, either." "Is that interesting?" Mrs. Holmes asked. "Why, yes," said Happy; "what could b** more interesting than a girl in a place out of which she could not get ? He is trying his level best to get her, but I don't believe he can do it." Who "he" or "she" was Mrs. Holmes did not try to discover. Her thoughts were still revolv- ing about the problem which had beset her this afternoon. Just now it was taking a new form. "Happy," she said, dreamily, "does your name fit you .? " "Ma'am?" said Happy, staring harder than ever. Mrs. Holmes smiled, " A girl named Happy should be happy, should she not ? Does yours tell the truth about you ? " "Oh!" said Happy. "No, ma'am, I ain't happy a bit." Not even she, though her face looked so free from thought of any kind ! Mrs. Holmes looked at her narrowly, wondering how deep was her dissatisfaction. Il :1j i 40 HER ASSOCIATE MEMRRRS. "What would it take to make you quite happy?" she said; "think and tell me." "Oh, I don't need to think; I know," and the girl's face gleamed with a radiant smile. "It I had a pink silk dress trimmed with lace, and a fan trimmed with swan's-down, I should be per- fectly happy." Poor little idiot! Her questioner could have cried, but instead she laughed. "Where did you see a fan trimmed with swan's down ? " she asked, with her hand on the door- knob. " She had one," said Happy, inclining her head toward the book still on her lap. "Well," said Mrs. Holmes, "I am sorry it is not in my power to make you perfectly happy after your service to me. Has Mr. Holmes needed any thing .>'" " I guess not, ma'am ; he's not spoken a word. He walked about the room some, and went out on the piazza once, and I asked if he wanted me, and he said no." "Thank you," said the lady, and went in to her husband, thinking, as she did so, of Mrs. Carpen- ter and her husband. CHAPTER IV. SHE ORGANIZES. HAPPY is not at rest, either," Mrs. Holmes said to her husband an hour later, us she sat beside hira skillfully manipulating an orange and placing delicious morsels in his mouth. "Although her name is Happy, it does not fit. She needs a pink silk dress trimmed with lace, and a swan's-down fan to give her peace of mind." They broke into merry laughter over poor Happy's idea of bliss ; then, after a moment, Mr. Holmes asked : "Why do you use that term 'either'? Are you turning pessimist, dear little wife ? " "Oh," she said, evasively, "I have seen several persons to-day who seemed to me far from happi- ness; and, indeed, Stuart, do you not think it is unusual to find people who are reasonably con- tented } The world seems full of disappointment and unrest." 41 42 HER ASSOCIATE MEMBERS. "It is too true," he said, gravely ; "but the solu- tion is plain ; the world is at work trying to find its happiness in that which was never intended to satisfy souls, and disappointment is inevitable. Even among Christians I have often been pained with the thi)ught which troubles you; so few of chose who profess to have found the true source of satisfaction carry a satisfied front." There was a slight flush on his wife's face as she listened to his words. After a moment of silence, she said humbly : " I know it. We do not succeed in impressing outsiders with the fact that we have found rest. But, Stuart, how can commonplace people who live in lit^tle worlds of their own, help that ? When their plans go awry they must necessarily feel tried, must they not? And few people have self-control enough to cover their disappointment from the eyes of others." "It is more than self-control which is lacking, I think, dear wife ; it is greatly to be feared that the people who feel a disappointment which amounts to bitterness, or results in continued brooding over the miscarriage of their plans, have not yet learned to trust themselves completely in God's hands, but are planning for their way instead of his ; because, else, they would grasp the fact that 'all things work together for good to those who love God.' " SHE ORGANIZES. 43 The flush on Mrs. Holmes' face deepened ; she did not believe that her husband was talking at her, yet his worlds fitted. "Do you know how different you are from other people.^" she asked, after a moment; "I have always thought so, but since your illness I am sure of it. For instance, you are very differ- ent from me; I can join you in trusting, when all goes well, and we are hard at work together in the line which we have planned, but I haven't the grace which enables me to sit patiently with folded hands and wait. It has been wonderful to me to see how patiently you endure it all, and how quietly you wait for to-morrow. I wish I knew how to be like you, but I do not." The smile which he gave her was pleasant to see, as he said : "The reason for that is obvious, too, my dar- ling. * Grace sufficient for our day ' is the prom- ise, and I daily thank our Heavenly Father that he has not made it necessary for you to rest ; that your health is strong, and your heart, relieved from anxiety, can take hold of his work as vigor- ously as ever; therefore, of course, you are not prepared for resting or waiting." She shook her head. "Ah, but, Stuart, that is not quite true; there is health enough; I never felt better; but there is no work which I can do. I am forced to wait, '•'■A t'i: ' i 1': I m 44 HEK ASSOCIATE MEMULKS. not needing to, you see. I think, after all, that is what gives me the feeling of unrest which I have sometimes. Not that I am unhappy," she added, earnestly, " or that my heart is not almost bursting with graritudc for His goodness in giving you back to me, but at times the thought of what we were doing at home and of how they miss us, makes me restless for the months to pass. I do not know how to work except in certain grooves." It was his turn to shake his head. •* No, my dear, there is where you mistake. It is the Lord's world down her^ as well as at home, and the harvest waits for iaborers here as else- where; the very fact that you have seen to-day and recognized starving souls trying to feed upon husks, proves that the Master is speaking to you through them. They are his lost ones, Chrissy. Has he sent you down here this winter to find some of them .? " The twilight was gathering fast. Mrs. Holmes was glad that her husband could not now dis- tinctly see her face ; she knew that a look almost of despair had swept over it. How utterly impos- sible it seemed to her to do any thing for people like Mrs. Stetson and Liph, and Mrs. Carpenter and her husband, and poor Happy, with her paper novels and her "pink silk" yearnings. Stuart did not know the sort of people she had seen that day, and she would not run the risk of giving SHF ORGANTZES. 4S les is- >st )S- er ler Irt lat him n restless night by trying to {lcscril)c tlicin. However, as if he could read her thoughts, he went on : "The longer I live, the more sure I am that the religion of Jesus Christ is the one thing suited to the needs of souls, no matter how high they are, humanly speaking, or how low. It is the one thing which effects results, without regard to sta- tion ; that, in itself, ought to mark its divine origin. Think of any other influence capable of reaching at once the palaces and the slums of this world, woiking transformations equally wonder- ful in both ! " Was there a power which could transform Mr. Carpenter and Liph Stetson.? Yes, Chrissy Holmes believed, but she could not realize it. Rather, she could not realize the possibility of her being used as a factor in the case. " I know only one way of working," she said, humbly ; and she felt very humble, indeed. It was her humiliation, she thought, that she could work in one groove only. " I was born in the Christian Endeavor Society, you know, and through that channel I have been able to help; but outside of it I am paralyzed." "Yes," he said heartily, "that is true; it is true of all workers the world over, Chrissy; honest endeavor, Christ permeating every thought and movement, is the one hope for the world. There II 46 HER ASSOCIATE MEMBERS. was never a grander name chosen for a society than that of Christian er.deavor — it is at once simplicity itself, and all-comprehensive." His words gave Mrs. Holmes' heart a thrill. The thought came to her with new power that their society was, after all, simply a band of Christians organized for the purpose of doing to better advantage the work given them. What they did, was what individual Christians should be doing the world over ; and there was a sense in which there was a Christian endeavor branch wherever one of God's people tarried. " I am and must be a Christian endeavorer," she told herself, "wherever I am ; there is no such thmg as resting from it until God lays his hand upon me and bids me rest. But oh, what can I do? Haven't I tried ? " The idea of forming the people whose acquaint- ance she had made that afternoon into a society floated through her mind with such an uLlerly ludicrous side to it, that sLe could scarcely keep herself from bursting into laughter. What if she should attempt so wild a thing,** Make Liph Stetson, for instance, secretary, and Mrs. Stetson and Mrs. Carpenter a "lookout committee!" But the thought was not, after all, born of frivol- ity. The ludicrous element in it faded before a sudden, solemn thought, chiming in with the thoughts which had just preceded it. Why not? SHE ORGANIZES. 47 She was i Christian endeavorer — an active mem- ber. Why not consider these, and any others against whom she brushed, as associate members, and work toward securing them for active service? Not in a public organization, of course. To have attempted even an explanation of her hopes and plans to any one of them would have been folly ; but all the same she realized, with a brilliant smile, that there was an organization — Jesus Christ, the great Head of the United Society, and she, the "active member," working together. The idea thrilled her, as well it might. She moved about, setting the room to rights, stepping lightly, for Stuart was wear}- after his long talk, and lay back among the pillows, resting. But as she set back the chairs and folded and laid away papers, the. e was in her heart a spring of hope and cheer, such as had not been felt for days. A definite purpose was formed. It took no shape as yet, so ipv as regarded action, but the resolve had quickened her pulses into a healthy glow. She could not help giving Stuart a hint of it as she brought him his glass of milk, just before he slept that night. "Stuart, I am not going to force myself to rest ; I shall wait for that, until it is sent for me to do. I shall try again, in some way, I don't how, and in truth the how has been the trouble all the while. Don't you know how I failed, so very lately ? " 48 lir.R ASSOCIATE MTMniLKS. "Yes," he said, smiling; "were you ever told, dear wife, that the measure of your responsibility was to be determined by the success you had in his work? Did you ever think how often Jesus Christ seemed to fail, when he was on earth?" She had moved from him to give attention to the lamp, but she turned back and gave him the full view of a radiant face. "Oh, Stuart! I never thought of that! How wonderful it was ! They sneered at Him, and yet He went steadily on ! " At the moment she thought, with a blush of shame, of the giggling club. What power they had over her, even in the face of the experience of Jesus Christ ! "Thank you," she said, bending down to him for good-night, " I wonder that you have not been almost ashamed of me." Plans for aggressive work by no means shaped themselves during the night, as the newly- resolved worker had almost hoped they would. The way looked as bewildering as ever by the next morning's light, but her resolution was unshaken. She had established her husband on the front piazza, with his feet in a flood of sun- shine, and his eyes screened from its glare. He had taken his morning walk down the long stretch of veranda, had plucked with his own hand a spray of sweets-scented bloom which had climbed SHE ORGANIZES. 49 up to him on the trellis ; had eaten a freshly-laid egg and a piece of toast prepared by his wife's own hands, had finished with an orange or two, and now was resting and looking the very embodi- ment of patient gratitude. Indeed, they had both been jubilant over the fact that he had walked a hundred steps further this morning than he had since his sickness, and with less fatigue. There was a song in his wife's heart as she moved about their room, putting the dainty touches here and there which made of it a home, instead of an inclosure with four walls and the bare necessities. " Happy " was blundering with the hearth belong- ings — letting the shovel fall with a loud clang, letting the ashes escape from her and filter over the matting; doing every thing with as little appearance of skill as was possible, and with an air of farawayness which suggested that her thoughts were still upon the hapless "lovers," whoever they might be. As Mrs. Holmes' eyes came back from the picture which she made in her torn and soiled dress of flimsy cotton, much too light and too showily made for the work with which it was associated, her eye was caught by the motto which hung at the foot of the bed. A lovely bit of illuminated lettering, in German text, done by her brother Harmon's hand : " As Ye Have Opportunity." Those were the words >vhich appealed to her with sudden power, ShQ it m ^5 ill ill '■I 50 HER ASSOCIATE MEMBERS. had asked for plans, for ways of working, for definite openings. Was this her answer.? "As ye have opportunity." Why, of course. What could any worker do but follow that simple rule ? Was the girl sitting stupidly among the ashes, the sweeping-brush held absently in a hand dis- figured by two or three very cheap rings, while with the other hand she toyed with a tawdry ribbon, the soiled ends of which hung down from her neck — was this person an opportunity.? What could possibly be done for her now and here ? As Mrs. Holmes looked, her heart grew pitiful. Was it not, after all, almost as sad a picture of a wasted life as even Mrs. Carpenter presented ? How easily one could forecast the future for her, and imagine her a careworn, slatternly, fretful woman, mismanaging a dreadful home, misruling some miserable children, unless, indeed, a worse pictune might be drawn for her ! Something of this kind, unless some wonderful uplifting power took hold of her. What was it Stuart had said ? "There is only one influence which is strong enough to reach palace and hovel alike, and transform both." Forever blessed be the name of Him who had revealed such a power in the world. But how could it be made to touch the girl in the ashes ? "Happy," said her mistress, suddenly, "have you reconciled yourself yet to your name.?" I SHE ORGANIZES. 51 y [h Id iw re "Ma'am?" said Happy, stupidly, letting fall the brush and scattering a fresh cloud of ashes as she spoke, " I am still thinking about your name ; it ought to fit. Why do you not set about making your life so happy that people who hear you called will be sure to feel how wise it was to have named you so ? " Happy giggled bashfully. "I ain't no kind of objection to bein* happy," she said, "but I don't know how I could go to work; not just now. I have as good a time as I can git, but that is saying dreadful little." "Oh, but I feel sure you are mistaken in tnat. People take the strangest ways of having good times ! They are always after happiness — every- body is — but they make mistakes in their plans. Do you know what your name means ? What is the full name ? " "It is an awful homely one," Happy said dis- dainfully. "I was named for my grandmother; and I'm sure I don't know why she wanted to have anybody going around carrying it forever; it's Hepzibah. I never heard such a name. I wouldn't give it to a cat." "I am not sure that I would," Mrs. Holmes said, smiling, "but that does not alter the fact that it is a beautiful name for a woman." Whereupon Happy sat upright and stared. Ik* • n li I i^ri • If 52 HER ASSOCIATE MEMBERS. " Now you don't think it is pretty ! " she said, incredulously. *'It is better than pretty; it is beautiful, be- cause of its meaning. Do you know what it means .?" "Means!" repeated Happy, in bewilderment. *' Why, it means just the name of somebody." "Yes, but in olden times, more often than now, names had meanings. Thai is an old Hebrew word, the language, you know, in which part of the Bible was written, and it means, ' My delight is in her.' Can you think of having a very great and powerful friend, who, whenever he thought of you, or heard your name, would feel its fitness, because he would say to himself, * My delight is in her ' ? " Such a look of soft, womanly radiance spread over Happy's silly face, that Mrs. Holmes was almost dismayed ; it was only too apparent that she was giving form and name to the "great and powerful friend," and that her conception was as far as possible from that of the woman who was trying to talk to her. Did she name the friend from the novel which had absorbed her, and did he exist as yet only between wretched paper cov- ers, or had he taken visible shape to this silly, ignorant girl? Mrs. Holmes made haste with her next thought; albeit she knew not how to present it, and wonc'ered whether this were, posr gibly, a case of "casting pearly," SHE ORGANfZES. SJ "t am thinking, Happy, of the verse in the Bible where your name is mentioned. Did you know your name was in the Bible? 'Tho'i shalt be called Hepzibah,' a prophet once said, *for the Lord delighteth in thee.' If you lived such a life that the dear Lord himself, looking down and Watching you all day, as he does, could delight in you, do you not know that your name would fit^ and that, in spite of any thing which could happen to you, you would certainly be happy.?" The girl seemed startled, half frightened ; and the radiant look faded from her face. She replied dully, after a moment : " I don't know much about the Bible ; I ain't had no chance to learn. My mother died when I was a little thing, and I begun to live out before I could talk plain. So them kind of things ain't for me." 'i ill 'ii K CHAPTER V. THEY APPALL HER. THEN she leaned forward, with a half sigh, and began to brush the hearth vigorously. Chrissy looked at her, with an unutterable pity swelling in her heart. What had the girl included in "them things" which were not for her, sweep- ing them away as carelessly as she was doing with the ashes ? All the glorious possibilities of life — character, and influence, and love, and Jesus, and heaven ! Oh, the pity of it ! Yet she had not been touched. The speaker's words, though intended in utmost simplicity, had been away beyond her range. The thought of it being possible for the Lord to delight in her had not reached the outermost circle of her thoughts; nay, she was lower down than that. Her con- ception of God was not such that the thought of the bare possibility of any human being reaching so high thrilled her. Mrs. Holmes tried again. *• Happy," she said, with an earnestness which 54 tHEY APPALL HER. 55 h arrested the brush once more, "I wish you would enter into an agreement with me. Let us be friends — you and me. Do you not think you would like me for a friend ? What if you should take a new start in life this very day, and make a happiness for yourself which no one can take from you.^" Happy giggled. "I'm sure I don't know what you are talking about," she said. "If I was going to set out to be happy, the very first thing I'd have to do would be to run away from this house. I'm scolded, Mis' Holmes, from morning till night. There's nothing that I do, or don't do, ^or Mis* Stetson, but she will scold about it. I'm necessary to her happiness, I do believe, because I don't think she could live unless she had Liph and me to scold." There was a hidden fund of humor somewhere about Happy. Her eyes gleamed roguishly for a moment as she said this. Then, apparently attempting to assume a gravity which would become the occasion, she added : " No, Mis' Holmes, I'm sure it's real nice of you to think of a girl like me, and want things to fit ; but it ain't no use. Some time or other I'm going to get out of all this, and have a house of my own, and have lots of things that I ain't got now. I expect to be pretty happy then; and I guess I'll have to wait till then." r.; m ' fill U 1 11: Hi 56 hER Associate members. <( No," said Mrs. Holmes, earnestly. "Mark my words, if you wait until then, the happiness will not come. Do you not like to surprise peo- ple? What if you should surprise Mrs. Stetson, for instance, by doing all your work so nicely that she could not discover any thing to scold about ? Have you any idea how it would make her feel.!*" This at least, was in a line with Happy's under- standing, and she giggled afresh. "I never could," she said, confidently. "You ain't as well acquainted with that woman as I be ; she'll scold, anyhow." " Ah ! but did you ever try it ? Are you really very careful to do your work just as well as you can } Those ashes, for instance ; have you been just as neat and as quick about them as you could be.?" This time there was a little shamefaced n ess with the laugh. "I don't suppose I have," she said; "and I know I ain't quick, nor over and above neat ; but, after all, what's the use in being so dreadful particular ? I hate all kinds of house- work, anyhow," she added, in a burst of confi- dence, and with an air which said that such a revelation ought to cover a multitude of sins. "That isn't of the least consequence," said Mrs. Holmes, calmly. " I may hate to make this bed, which I have been putting in such order for the day, but it does not alter the fact that it is tH£Y AHf>ALL Hfilt. s; ttiy duty to tnake it just as neat and inviting-look- ing as possible; and if I fail in it, there is very little use in my trying to find datisfaction in some- thing else. I have taught myself not to be satis- fied until I have done my best. I am very much interested in you, Happy — so much that I hope you will please me by adopting my rule, just for to-day and letting me know how it works. Will you not ? " Happy hesitated, blushed and laughed. "Why, I don't know, ma'am," she said at last. "It seems dreadful queer I Let me see. What was it .^" " Oh, it is a very simple rule to repeat, but not so easy to work by. It is simply doing every thing which you have to do, just as well as you can." "Well," said Happy, reflectively, "it's Satur- day. That's the meanest day in the whole lot, because there's scrubbing the halls and stairs, and I hate scrubbing. Then there's the table to set, and the lamps to fill and trim (I do just despise lamps), and the potatoes to get ready. My! there's a lot of hateful things to do ; but I don't mind trying to do the best I can, just to please you, only it won't do no good. She will scold Dn all the same, and nobody will know the difference." " Yes, there will. I shall look at the stairs, as I go up and down, and I shall say: work at it for awhile, and see if the Lord really means what he says'.** Chrissy, have you ever noticed that half-grown man, or over- grown boy, I hardly know which, who haunts the corner across the way.? There is something peculiar about his face ; it cannot be said to be attractive; on the contrary, one almost feels repul- sion ; yet I find myself looking at it, and wonder- ing abcut its owner. I am afraid nobody is making the slightest effort to save him from the destruction which is almost inevitable." "That," 5>..id Chrissy, with a gravity which her husband supposed was born of the present moment, "is Liph Stetson." "Our landlady's son.? Impossible! Why, I thought he was a little fellow." "We imagined that from her Wiiy of speaking to him ; but it is not so, and he is already far down the road which you fear he is traveling. There is a great deal of undone work in the world, Stuart." While waiting for further opportunities Mrs. Holmes resolved not to forget the stairs. She gave them careful attention as she went down to dinner. They certainly presented a better appear- THEY APPALL HER. 6i ance than they had since she came into the house. There was still room for improvement, but an advance had been made. Slight as it was, it cheered Mrs. Holmes' heart to a degree that surprised herself. Had her hopes really taken such hold upon Happy .? The dinner table, also, was given a surveillance which a due regard to her own peace of mind had held her from, heretofore. ICach knife and fork was laid with the precision of a mathematical line, and the handles were not "sticky." Inviting, the table certainly was not ; poor Happy evidently did not know how to make it so ; but that she had made actual effort in that direction was appar- ent. Certain telegraphic communications passed between the two, while Happy, in a somewhat cleaner dress, still much too "smart" for the place, and with a ribbon about the neck brighter in hue and less soiled than she had worn in the morning, waited upon the table. An expressive glance from i\Irs. Holmes' eyes from her to the table and back again, made hrr flush with pleas- ure, giggle a little, and spill the water which she was pouring into Mr. Arson's glass. The further result of this was an undertone passage of words between those two, not a sentence of which Mrs. Holmes could catch ; yet the bantering tones and loose familiarity upon the part of both gave her infinite anxiety. She knew enough of this evil I III m I Mi I I! ■ 62 HER ASSOCIATE MEMBERS. world to be sure that there were more dangerous thoughts for a girl like Happy than those sug- gested by dime novels or pink silk dresses. She knew enough already about the girl to be sure that she would be an easy victim to certain forms of temptation ; notably those which had to do with dress and so-called pleasure. As for Mr. Arson, he was a young man with sandy mous- tache and eyebrows, who wore very fancy neck- ties, and had a general air about him which Mrs. Holmes translated to her husband as "jaunty." '* If he should speak in that tone to my sister Faye," she told herself, her heart throbbing indig- nantly the while, "I would not endure it." "But he would not speak so to Faye," was the after-thought, which immediately demanded to be analyzed. Why would he not.? Because Faye would be differently circumstanced, would wear better clothes ai:d know how to wear them, and would be waited upon, instead of serving. Well, was it then to be admitted that the acci- dent of what one wore, and the position one occu- pied in the dining-room, marked the line between respectability and — the other thing .-' Was a girl who did not know how to dress herself, and who was obliged to serve, at the mercy of any fast young man who chose to address her familiarly } These were some of the indignant thoughts which floated through Mrs. Holmes* mind. She THEY APPALL HER. 63 could not be said to be considering them ; they did not take definite shape enough for that ; and she was aware that there was a marked difference between the neatly-clothed, self-respecting girl who served, and this tawdry, ignorant simpleton ; nevertheless, her sense of decency resented the thought that th^' simpleton should be in danger. Her mind once roused to the question, she recalled the fact that there had often been low- toned, jesting words between these two, and shy glances, and almost winks, which would indi- cate that there was some sort of understanding between them. All things considered, she succeeded in work- ing herself into a degree of anxiety about Happy which would have bewildered that young person. An anxiety not lessened by an episode which occurred that evening. She was standing on her upper piazza, sh.^lded from view by the vines and the darkness. Her husb. id had retired, and she, after making last arrangements for the night, had come out to the strangeness of balmy December air to get a few breaths of sweetness, and wonder at the contrast between this and the Decembers of her past. Suddenly, mingling with the odor of pines and roses, there floated up to her the sound of voices. " Now that I have brought you safely home, I think you might give a fellow a good-night kiss." ¥ ■« i 64 HER ASSOCIATE MEMBERS. An unmistakable little giggle responded ; then, in a voice which could only be Happy's : "I sha'n't do any such thing; you needn't to have brought me home ; I knew the way." " You are very cruel. What harm could it do . to reward me after I tore myself away from the news-room on purpose to take a walk with you .^ I'll tell you what is the matter. You are afraid of that severe-eyed woman who sits opposite me. I saw her looking at you and making motions of some sort this afternoon. If she sets you against me, I shall hate her; remember that." More giggling. "You are too funny for any thing! What do you suppose Mis' Holmes knows about you ? She ain't nevt i spoke a word about you. What she said was about something else, and wasn't like your kind of talk at all." "I presume likely. What has she been saying to you ? I wish she would let you alone ; I don't want you spoiled. Come now, tell n just what she said. I know it was something about me, because you were in such a hurry to (Ijny it." " It wasn't either, and 1 sha'n't tell you a word she said ; it was a secret between her and me." The denials were prompt enough, but the tone said, as plainly as words could, that poor, silly Happy was flattered by her companion's evident THEY APPALL HER. 65 desire to know about her affairs, and that she was excessively -^^^-sed by the entire interview. "A secret!' repeated the man, whom Chrissy had some time before decided was Mr. Arson. "Who would have supposed that you would have begun already to have secrets which you will not c< nfide to me ! That shows the utter cruelty of a woman's heart, especially a young woman's. Now, you really will have to give me a kiss to atone for this." A sort of struggle ensued, to judge by the sound, mingled with much half-stifled laughter on the part of the girl, in the midst of which the listener on the piazza fled in dismay and almost in despair. What had she taken hold of.? What horrid possibilities it involved, and how was she ever to accomplish results.? Yet certainly she must not stand still and see that miserable girl ruined before her eyes ! If only Stuart were well ! It was the refrain which in these days closed all her perplexities. . ' » CHAPTER VI. SHE HOLDS A MEETING. NOT even yet were the experiences of the day concluded. The water in Mrs. Holmes' pitcher was low. It was one of Happy's many forgetfulnesses, this almost empty pitcher. If Stuart should have a restless night, and need a drink of water frequently, as he did sometimes, there would not be enough. She resolved upon going herself in search of a fresh supply. The back part of the house was deserted and dark ; Happy had by this time vanished into the far-off regions of the third story, and Mrs. Holmes, slowly feeling her way through the comparatively unknown passage, nearly stumbled against a dark object which was moving along from the other direction. Stifling the inclination to scream, she had decided who the intruder must be before he had drawled out : "You needn't be scairt; it is only me." "And this is 'only me,' Mrs. Holmes," said 66 SHE HOLDS A MEETING. 67 that lady, with a little laugh; "you are Mrs. Stetson's son, I think. Could you help me to fill this pitcher with fresh water? Happy has forgotten it." "She's good at that," the boy said, grimly; "better at it than anything else. I don't know why ma don't git rid of her; she's a noosance." Several times had Mrs. Holmes tried vaguely to plan what she should say to Liph Stetson, in case opportunity should be given her to speak to him ; certainly she had never planned that the conversation should take the shape which it now did. " Do you know who it was with Happy on the side piazza a moment ago ? " she asked, with a sudden hope that she might have been deceived, and the man would prove to be an honest admirer of the silly girl, with possibly a right even to sue for the sort of good-night which he had demanded. "Yaas," said Liph, "that was Nick Arson; he boards here; he is makin' believe to be mighty sweet on Happy just now." Mrs. Holmes controlled any outward exhibition of the utter repulsion with which she shrank from such coarseness, and merely questioned meekly : "What kind of a man is this Mr. Arson ? " "Oh, he's a clerk in a store here. I don't know much about him; he's quality, you see." ml 6S HER ASSOCIATE MEMBERS. "Liph," said Mrs. Holmes, looking full at the boy by the light of a smoky kerosene lamp which he had produced from somewhere, " i.^ he the kind of man with whom you would like to have your young sister stand and talk, if you had a sister.? " "Well, he just isn't! You can bet your life on it," said Liph, with sudden energy, pumping fiercely while he spoke. "Then, why do you not try to influence Happy not to place herself in such danger.? It is true she is not your sister, but God made you both, and will hold you responsible for the influence which you ought to exert over each other." Liph held the arm of the pump aloft, and stared in the most profound astonishment. It seemed doubtful whether he could believe his ears; it was so amazing a thing to hear such words addressed to him. "Me!" he said at last, with explosive energy. "What fool kind of talk is that.? Have you any notion in life that she would pay any attention to what I say.? And what do I care about her, anyhow .? " Over the first part of this sentence Mrs. Holmes reflected. Certainly nothing seemed less probable than that Happy would pay the slightest attention to the opinions of this young wreck of humanity ; low in the scale of civilization as she was, she would be sure to put herself infinitely SHE HOLDS A MEETING. <^ above Liph Stetson, and the looker-on was obliged to confess that she was correct in her estimate. However ignorant Happy might be, she had at least kept what little sense she had unclouded by the fumes of tobacco or alcohol, and Liph's breath suggested both. But this was not the con- clusion to make apparent to him. "The point is not what you care about her, but what you ought to be able to do for her. Do you not know that a young motherless girl in your mother's house ought to be able to look to you for protection from outside dangers, for advice as to what is, and what is not, wise for her to do ? And for a dozen other kindnesses, such as a self- respecting young man can offer to a friendless girl under his mother's protection ? " Liph's face was a study. There were times when he did not know whether to burst into a vol- ley of angry oaths, or to sneer or to laugh over such tremendous words spoken to him. He was a "self-respecting" young man! Who had imagined for a moment that such words applied to him .? Happy under his mother's pro- tection ! Happy was his mother's drudge; ill- paid, ill-treated, and yet deserving, in his opinion, nothing more than she received. Happy paying the slightest attention to his advice, supposing for the moment he was fool enough to offer her any ! "That beats all the talk I ever heard!" he said m 70 HER ASSOCIATE MEMBERS. sullenly, filling the pitcher, and pouring a gener- ous quantity of the liquid on the floor at the same time; "you've got hold of the wrong fellow; I ain't one of them kind, and never was. Happy ain't nothing to me, and if she was I couldn't help it. I've gone to ruin myself ; if you don't believe it, ask ma," and for a moment a savage leer spread over his face. "Nick Arson is a gentle- man. He goes with the style girls in this town. Ma is always pointing him out to me as an exam- ple. But it is true enough for all that, that if I had a sister and cared any thing for h> ,, I'd lock her up in the meanest shed in this town, and keep her there, before I'd let her go uround with him. But she ain't my sister, and I ain't nobody, and that's all there is of it. There's your pitcher of water." He did not add, "Take it and be off" — at least, not in words, but he turned away, and was sham- bling out of sight when Mrs. Holmes found voice again. " Liph, wait a moment ; I want to say one more word to you. It is very easy for you to stand there and tell me that Happy is nothing to you, and that you have gone to ruin, and all that sort of thing ; but I believe you know, in spite of what you have said, that you are responsible in the sight of God. If Happy should lose her soul, because you did not try to save her, it will not SHE Holds a MtEiiNO. 11 help you in the least to remember that you have lost your own. If, as you say, you arc on the road to ruin, the more shame to you ; i young man has no rigiit to go to ruin. A hundred times over, the only son of his mother, and she a widow, has no right to ruin his life and hers. I don't know that anybody ever spoke such words to you before ; but I cannot help it, they ought to be said. It is folly for you to imagine that because you own yourself worthless, and without influence over those whom you ought to be able to influence, therefore you are free from respon- sibility. If you were going to ruin and did not know it, it would be pitiful enough, but not so solemn as to move right along on the same path with your eyes open." She was amazed at her words. Thinking them over afterward, they did not seem to be the ones she ought to have said to him. She could not help feeling that many of them were above his comprehension, and that some phrases were, per- haps, too like the ones which his mother so con- stantly flung at him to be productive of any good. Yet her tone and manner had been most unlike his mother's. She had spoken low, and with slow and solemn emphasis. She had longed to make him think. He had stood still and looked at her in a kind of stupid wonderment. He still stood, after she had i^aversed the long passage with her ill 72 HER ASSOCIATE MEMBERS. heavy pitcher, and glanced back at him ; stood just where she had left him, like one dazed. On the whole, responsibilities seemed thickening around the young woman who had meant to fold her hands so resolutely, and wait. She set her pitcher down softly, so as not to waken the sleeper, and went out on the piazza in the star- light again. Liph and his mother, and Happy, and Nick Arson, and Mrs. Carpenter and her hus- band — what a world! Six such people to loom up before her mental horizon but the day after she had declared on paper that she knew no one, and meant to know no one, in this portion of the earth. " God's earth," she said to herself softly, **and 'lost souls,' as Stuart said. Can it be pos- sible that my Father means me to save them ? He must certainly mean me to try. But what can I do ? " Out there in the night and the loneliness, the work looked almost hopeless, the cases desperate ; but Stuart's philosophy in regard to it surprised her a little. "My dear, what can you expect.?" he asked coolly, when she told him with a horrified face about the sentences she had overheard between Mr. Arson and Happy. '• For the man, I grant you, it is despicable enough ; he is undoubtedly what that precious youth, Liph, considers him, but poor Happy may be as innocent as many another SHE HOLDS A MEETING. n silly victim often is. You say her mother died when she was a child, and it is evident that she has had no bringing up, save that which Mrs. Stet- son and dime novels have given her. I think it quite probable that she supposes all fine ladies are treated by fine gentlemen precisely as Arson tried to treat her. You think her instinctive sense of delicacy ought to have come to her aid. It did somewhat, it seems, or there would have been no resistance, unless, indeed, the show of resistance is a part of the dime novel education. "What I mean, Chris.sy, dear," he said, stop- ping with a half-laugh at her horrified face, and then beginning again, "what I am trying to do is simply to reassure you. Happy is not utterly depraved and hopeless because she is ignorant of the commonest proprieties of life. What would be almost hopeless if permitted by a young woman trained as you have been, becomes another matter when a poor girl of that sort is under consider- ation. In other words, dear wife, while there is but one standard of right, there are many grades of sin, and the environments and opportunities of the sinning soul will undoubtedly be taken into account. Do not be utterly cast down over poor Happy because she does not know how to conduct herself in the presence of a so-called gentleman ; there is a sense in which it is not any stranger m\ H HEk ASSOCIATE MEMBERS. I 1 than that she docs not know how to order her hair or her dress." I do not think it can really be said that our young cndeavorer was glad that Mrs. Carpenter fell sick, but inasmuch as such was the case she did rejoice over the opportunity which it gave her. The more she thought about that sad woman's life, the more sure she felt that there was a pent- up bitterness of some sort which it would help her to have u;>covered. "She is rebellious ever something,'* was the thought which always closed Mrs. Holmes' talks with her husband upon this subject. "There is a hidden wound which gnaws all the time at her life. If I could only find her heart, perhaps I could help her." So I think she heard with even a little sense of relief that Mrs. Carpenter was sick in bed, and could not "do" her clothes that week. "I am going to see her," she said promptly to Stuart. " It helps me to think that she will not be ironing. I have associated her so entirely with the swift passes of that inevitable iron that it some way haunts me like an ugly black weight which is a part of her. To think of her as in bed, weak and helpless, seems to humanize her." "What sort of a bed has she to lie on.?" her husband asked, with an expressive shrug of his shoulders, and added: "The beds of the poor SHE HOLDS A MEETING, 7i always impress mc as almost the bitterest drop in their cup of poverty ; worse than the eating." •'The bed will be clean," said Chrissy ; "for the rest I cannot answer." It was this ihouirht which made her add to her basket of suijplies a down pillow in its delicate, frilled whiteness, and a bottle of lavender water surrounded by fine old linen handkerchiefs. She could not imagine herself as daring to offer to bathe that set white face ; but if headache were an accompaniment, it might be possible to accom- plish so much ill the way of soothing. The docujr set her down at the door, lifting out her basket for her, and carrying it to the top step of the small piazza, with a whimsical look on his handsome young face, as he said: "The good Samaritan going in search of a sorely wounded creature who, if I mistake not, will nevertheless refuse the mollifying ointment, and insist upon suffering in grim solitude. I know something of this protdg^ of yours, Mrs. Holmes. I consider her as hopeless a case as we have in this little city ; and that is saying a good deal." She turned toward him eagerly. " You know her .-* Then tell me what it is which has so dead- ened her life. Is it only because she has a miser- able, worthless husband V "Oh, no," he said, mockingly; "that is the merest trifle, of course, not worthy of a sensible m 7rt HEk ASSOCIATE MEMI5ERS. woman's consideration. I am surprised that you should have thought of such a thing ; it is some- thing much worse than that." Mrs. Holmes laughed a little and blushed, as she answered : " I deserve your sarcasm, doctor, for using the word 'only' in such a connection. It must have seemed very strange to you. Still, with explanations, I mean it. Given even such a sorrow, if there is no self-reproach connected with it, I can conceive of a woman enduring and suffering, yet hoping and praying every hour ; and keeping her heart from hardening, though it may almost break ; bi^t this woman seems to me to have turned to stone." Dr. l*ortland laid aside his mocking tone and regarded her with respect. "I can conceive of such women, too," he said; "but Mrs, Carpenter is not one of them. I do not think she prays any oftener than I do myself, I doubt whether she would know how, any better than I should. Oh, I know very little about her; nothing at all of her past. Her poor wretch of a husband called me, once, when she was suffering, and I did what I could for her, and offended her, I think ; at least she will not see me now, though a neighbor tried to persuade her into it last night. Her hus- band is a miserable scamp ; but, tucked in some- where behind the rags and tobacco juice, he has a remnant of a heart ; and really, of the two lives, SHE HOLDS A MEETING. 17 I should be almost as willing to stand my chances beside him as her. These stone women are harder to manage than any other. ]5ut I must not prejudice you." During this conversation they had been stand- ing, waiting for Mrs. Holmes' gentle knock to be answered. Mr. Holmes, whom the doctor was taking with him for a ride into the country, was sitting back among the cushions of the carriage, reins in hand. His wife glanced toward him anxiously; this long waiting must be wearying to him. "It cannot be there is anyone with her," she said, "and she may be asleep. Would you go in, without further ceremony.'*" "I certainly should. After putting your hand to so trying a plow as this, it will not do to draw back. I will take good care of your husband, and bring him home in a state to appreciate your good offices as nurse, since you will probably fail of that part here." And with a gay, mocking smile, he lifted his hat and left her. She gave him one swift, anxious thought before she went in to the task before her. M W « . CHAPTER VII. SHE ATTEMPTS TO SYMPATHIZE. THIS cultured young physician Iiad been such a blessing to them ! Her heart swelled with gratitude whenever she thought of his steady unfailing care and thoughtfulness. His skillful management of her husband's case had borne testimony to the truth of the recommendation which their own family physician at b -^e had given her in his letter of introduction. I have not seen my old friend and pupil, Dr. Portland, in several years, but I have kept watch of him, and he is proving to be what I thought him in college — a genius in his profession. Do not fear tf' place implicit trust in his skill and faithfulness." It had taken her but a few days to learn to do so. Short as their acquaintance had been, both her husband and herself were learning to regard Dr. Portland as perhaps their only intimate friend in a land of strangers. Yet nothing was plainer than that he had no personal acijuainiance with 78 SHE ATTEMPTS TO SVMl'ATHIZE. ;^ the Friend who was more to these two than all others. There was a clash of irreverence in all that he said about religions matters, and a vein of mockery otten running through the gay language in which he referred to the different phases of Christian work in which they were interested. Here, too, was a field, the Christian woman thought, which ought to be occupied for Christ ; but she felt that she knew less how to reach a man of his stamp than even IJph Stetson, who would answer for the opposite pole of humanity, so far as culture was concerned. "He is not at all like Chess Gardner," she told her husband; "Chess never really mocked at sacred things. In his sacred heart he respected them ; but Dr. Portland gives me the imi)ression that it is only the environments of propriety which keep him from downright mockery." But there was no more time to think of Dr. Portland. She had let herself into the large, bare room, which looked even barer than usual, with the ironing-board hiding its white face against the wall, ^nd the irons standing glum and cold ui)on the unused stove. Some plain dark calico cur- tains, which had hidden something from view on Mrs. Holmes' previous visits, were drawn aside, and revealed a dreary-looking bed, covered with a dark calico spread. Underneath this c^v"*"ing lay Mrs. Carpenter, her hair drawn back as uncom- ■n I 'J. lilt I" m\ 8o HER ASSOCIATE MEMBERS. promisingly as ever, and her eyes looking larger and colder, if any thing, than they had when she stood and ironed. Plainly she was very far from being asleep, yet she had not chosen to respond to the knock. "Good afternoon," ventured Mrs, Holmes. "I took the liberty of coming in uninvited, because I thought you might be alone, and asleep. I am very sorry that you are sick." "Are you.''" said Mrs. Carpenter; "so am I. I shall have to disappoint all my customers this week, I suppose. I have no doubt they will be sorry for me — or think they are." She moved her head restlessly while she spoke, and the one small pillow, rolled into a fierce little wad under it, looked so uncomfortable that Mrs. Holmes drew out her d 'wn one. "Your head aches, does it not — and is hot? Let me put this cool little pillow under it. Mr. Holmes thinks it has a soothing effect sometimes ; and I brought some lavender water with me, in case you had a headache ; that is very cooling, you know." There was a very perceptible shrinking from the small white pillow, as though coming in con- tact with it gave the woman positive pain. Mrs. Holmes felt sure she would have refused it utterly if she could have found words soon enough ; but by this time the cool, trained hand of the self- SHE ATTEMPTS TO SYMPATHIZE. 8l 1 constituted nurse was making swift passes over the hot forehead, leaving a trail of coolness and delicate odor. *' You are very good," said Mrs. Carpenter, " but it is not necessary to take all that trouble for me. I am not used to it, and it is a waste of sentiment. It ought to be kept for people who know how to be grateful, I do not." •' Never mind the gratitude," said her nurse, cheerily; "we will give uttention just now to the ache, and to some other matters. I think it quite probable that you need some nourishment. What did you have for dinner ? " '« Spoiled fish-balls, the last dinner I ate," said the sick woman, promptly. " I haven't eaten any in two days. However, they were not more spoiled than most things are which come out of tin cans. We live in tin cans down here, you know, sealed up codfish and milk and every thing — even sentiment — and if any of it is exposed to outside influences it spoils." There was nothing amusing in this sentence. There was not even the slightest attempt to be amusing. Cold, dreary sarcasm was evidently what was intended. The genial woman bending over the speaker felt her heart shiver under its influence. Nevertheless, she controlled herself, and spoke bravely. "I should recommend some beef broth for a B2 HER ASSOCIATE MEMBERS. change, nnd fortunately I put into my basket a bottle of some which I made fresh to-day for my husband. I brought my little spirit-lamp along also, to heat it on, tor the day is so warm 1 tiiought you might not have any fire." While she spoke she busied herself in getting out the bottle and lamp, and a delicate china cup, tinted in pale blue. Mrs. Carpenter watched her with severe eyes. "Mrs. Holmes," she said at last, "there isn't the slightest need for that, and I wish you wouldn't. If you think you make me more comfortable doing it, you don't. I would much rather be let alone; I'm not used to being taken care of ; I have had no care since I was a young girl, and I never expect any again. I don't want it. All I ask of this world is a chance to work, and to be let alone." Over the first part of this ungracious sentence Mrs. Holmes had flushed and hesitated. Was there any use in trying to force kindness upon one who refused it with such persistent rudeness ? But one thing gave her courage. In the sentence, "since I was a young girl," there had been the slightest perceptible break in the speaker's voice, and there came to the listener a swift knowledge of the fact that some tender memory vvasi stirred, whether the woman would or not. " How do I know what dark story has frozen ber poor heart?" she asked herself, SHE ATTEMPTS TO SYMPATHIZE, 83 "Now," she said presently, quite as though the woman had not spoken at all, "it is all ready, and I know it will do you good, because Mr. Holmes said it was the best I had made yet ; and he is a judge. Will you let me feed it to you, or would you like to sit up and wait upon yourself.'" Much as though she were a victim to circum- stances over which she had no control, Mrs. Carpenter, with a half-disdainful gesture, raised herself on one elbow and drained the hot liquid with a few rapid swallows. Yet Mrs. Holmes could not be sure whether it was all fierceness, or in part starvation, for the want of proper food. " I will give you some more in a little while," she said, as graciously as though the recipient had responded with grateful words and smiles. Suddenly there came another knock at the door, followed by the swift entrance of a young woman with a basket in her hand. " I beg your pardon," she said, stopping mid- way; "I thought, of course, you were alone, and I brought you a little rice ; it was the only decent thing I could get hold of." "Come in. Mad," said Mrs. Carpenter, with more show of humanity in her voice than Mrs. Holmes had heard before; "I didn't expect you, because I did not think you would be able to accomplish it ; rice is nourishing, I suppose, and that is what I need to help nie get back to my ^,''"1 84 HER ASSOCIATE MEMBERS. work. Great business for me to break down, right in the middle of the week! I never did such a thing before." "Flesh and blood will not stand everything," said the girl; "though you try hard enough to make them. Will you have the rice now, or " — She glanced hesitatingly at Mrs. Holmes and the china cup. That young woman came forward courteously ; if she must be the hostess on this occasion, she was ready. "I gave her a few spoonfuls of quite strong beef tea," she said, sweetly, "all I thought it wise to let her have at first. The doctor has me give it to my husband in small quantities and fre- quently ; but I should think a little rice might be good for her, if she would relish it." "I detest it ! " said the woman on the bed. The two guests looked at each other and smiled ; from that moment they felt introduced. "Mad knows I hate rice," said Mrs. Carpenter, **and she knows that T have to eat it ; just as she and I both have to eat and wear and do things all the time that we hate. This is Madeline Hurst, Mrs. Holmes." The two, thus introduced, exchanged bows and smiles again. The girl flushed in an embar- rassed way. She looked as though she knew what proper introductions were, and might have resented this one had she thought it worth while, SHE ATTEMPTS TO SYMPATHIZE. «s She had bright black eyes, which had twinkled appreciatively once or twice, but which Mrs. Holmes decided could sparkle with another kind of feeling on occasion. She had black h^ir also, and the sharp features which indicate inte!i.>.ity of character in some directions. Mrs. Holmes found herself studying the girl curiously. "It is another type still," said this bewildered woman to herself ; " I cannot help being inter- ested in her ; but I cannot place her. What an extraordinary name to call her ! ' Mad ! ' I wonder if it is chosen because of its fitness.^" The girl did not^ give her much time for study- ing character. She bent over Mrs. Carpenter, said a few words in a low tone, went to the little corner cupboard, emptied her basket, and, with a promise to look in to-morrow if she could, hur- ried away. " Poor Mad ! " said Mrs. Carpenter, looking after her with a gleam of something like sympathy in her face; "we are kindred spirits in a way, though there is such disparity in our ages and positions; we both live miserable lives, and that makes a sort of bond between us." "Who is she.-*" Mrs. Holmes inquired with interest, "She is an orphan, and lives with her brother; he is a pussy kind of man, ruled by his wife ; and his wife is — well, she is what a woman can be ;f'»l 1 1 5 n \ .11 1 IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) .** r3 /s:^ 4^ 1.0 I.I 11.25 ■^ Itt 122 S IAS 1 2£ ■It* k FhotograiJiic Sciences CoLporalion •-C^ 1 <^ ^. v\ as WIST MAIN STRHT WItSTIR.N.Y. 14SM (716)l7a-4503 '^ ' ,.<*• ^ ^ 86 HER ASSOCIATE MEMBERS. who chooses to be hateful ; and she chooses exactly that, where Mad is concerned. She leads the girl a miserable life. I wouldn't endure it; I tell Mad so ; I would run away or drown myself, or do something desperate. She isn't bound by any law nonsense, and could go if she would. 1 hate slavery, though you might not think it." Mrs. Holmes shivered visibly. What a thing it was to have the girl, who could not be much over twenty, influenced by this unhappy, disappointed woman. "What does the ,';,'irl have to trouble her?" she asked, gently, with a feeling that it might ease Mrs. Carpenter's own see trouble to talk about another's pain. " Every thing that a woman — mistress of her house, and hating the other woman who has to make her home with her — can produce. If you cannot inr^agine what sort of a life that would be, you are fortunate. She is sneered at, and mocked at, and bullied — that's the only word for it — every hour in the day. According to her sister- in-law, she never by any possibility does any thing right. She is complained of to the woman's friends, or to strangers for that matter, if her precious sister happens to get a chance to talk to them. She is declared to be utterly selfish, deceitful and unprincipled in every way. There is not a mean or hateful thing that she is not SHK ATTEMPTS TO SYMPAtHlZE. «7 tapable of doing. Why, my life is comfortable compared with that child's ! She is art unutterable fool to stand it. Even I can afford to be sorry for her, and when it comes to thcit it is some- thing! Mad is no saint, but she is a thousand times better than her sweet sister-in-law would have you to believe." '* Why does the brother permit sUch treatment of his sister.?" Mrs. Holmes inquired. " Because, as I told you, he is a pussy-cat mart. Mrs. Hurst arranges all these things. He sits hieekly by, and does as he is told. Oh, they are not my kind of people. They are eminently respectable. He is an officer in the churchy bless you, and she is a leading member when it comes to fairs and sociables, and such things. They live on one of the good streets in a good house, and wouldn't be seen coming to Mrs. Car- penter's door except to get some washing done I One of Mad's sins is that she has low tastes, and is willing to associate with low-down people, mean- ing me. Poor Mad likes to escape over here sometimes. There are times, I think, when she even envies me." "There are harder lots in life than yours," said her guest boldly, busying herself with another portion of beef tea while she spoke. "I know, dear madam, that that sounds unsympathetic, but it is true. Think what it would be if you were ll I I i < li 88 HER ASSOCIATE MEMBERS. not able to keep every thing clean and neat about you. I feel sure that would distress you, yet I have known women who did not understand how to compass such a state of things, and were mis- erable in consequence." It was but a poor little crumb of comfort. She could hardly blame the sick woman for letting her lip curl in a hard, sarcastic smile over the thought that there was nothing for her to be glad about but a bare, desolate, clean room ! "I know," the comforter went on hurriedly, "what a dreadful disappointment your life must be. Do not think I do not understand, and in a sense appreciate it. To have one's husband" — She stopped in unutterable confusion. Cer- tainly she was treading on dangerous ground. Nothing but a desperate desire to help, could have made her do it. She would not have blamed Mrs. Carpenter if her face had flushed angrily. But to see, instead, that mocking smile was almost more than she could bear. "Go on," said Mrs. Carpenter, still with that terrible smile upon her face; "to see one's hus- band a brute, a sot, a miserable, staggering old hulk, who does not know even enough to keep himself decently clean ! Is that what you were going to say ? You see I have spared you the description. I understand the details so well ! but I want to hear the rest. What would you do SHE ATTKMI'TS TO SYMPATHIZE. 89 really, do you think, if we were to change places ? Do you fancy you would clasp your hands in thank- fulness because you were able to scrub your floor?" How was such a question to be answered? The guest felt her face crimson with shame for the disgrace and horror of it all. To what depths of degradation must a woman have been brought who could speak to a stranger in this way of the husband of her youth ! She resisted the tempt- ation to say that however low her husband had fallen, she would try to remember that she bore his name, and had made certain promises concern- ing him. This woman was ill, and she wanted to help her. The first step was to be patient with the frenzy which was an outgrowth of her misery. Before she could determine what reply to make, and while Mrs. Carpenter was regarding her with that mocking smile, there came an interruption. A shuffle, rather than a step, was heard outside. The whole aspect of the woman changed. She turned her head toward the door in a listening attitude. In place of the hard smile had come a look of intense scorn mingled with disgust. Sud- denly she spoke in a half whisper : *' Bolt that door, quick ! " In an instant Mrs. Holmes was at the door, her face pale with terror, and had pushed the bolt. Just in time, for an uncertain hand was already fumbling with the knob. i ! ¥. CHAPTER Vltl. SHE IS DISMAYED AND DISCOMFITED. I i THEN a man's voice was heard in expostula- tion : "Oh, come, Jane, let me in, I'm in a dreadful state. I've had an accident, and am as wet as a drowned rat. I shall catch my death of cold if you don't let me in. Come, Jane ; I won't muss any thing up ; I'll just get something dry, and go out again." There was no response from the woman on the bed, and no change on her dark face. "You reached the door just in time," she said to Mrs. Holmes; "I'm much obliged to you for that at least." "Are you afraid of him .?" asked Mrs. Holmes, in a frightened whisper. "Afraid!" The words seemed to explode from Mrs. Carpenter's lips, rather than be uttered by her. " What should I be afraid of ? He wouldn't 90 SHE IS DISMAVEI) A\n DISCOMFITED. or dare touch nm with his little finger, even if he wanted to." "But he is — that is — is he not" — and then she stopped in pain and shame again. How could she ask a woman if her husband, who stood out- side, pleading for admittance, was intoxicated ? "Oh, yes, he's drunk enough," said the woman calmly; "and wet and muddy, and every thing else that's revolting. Faugh ! But he's never Ugly, even at his wcrst ; not to me, at least. He wouldn't dare to be. As to that, I don't think he ever has any wish to be. I will give even him his due. I suppose that is another thing for which I ought to be thankful, isn't it ? " and the shadow of that mocking smile hovered about her face again. "But I'm not, I assure you. There have been times when I have thought if he would take me by the shoulder, and turn me out of the house, or kick me out, I could have a touch oi* sympathy for him. I can undei stand tlie devil when he takes hold of a soul in such ways, but driveling idiots are beyond my endurance. I believe in the devil, you see ; if ever a woman had reason to, I have. Oh, you will find me very orthodox, in some respects." Mrs. Holmes felt her whole soul shrink away from this terrible woman. The poor wretch at the door seemed more human than she. "Why do you not let him in," she asked coldly, 92 lIKk ASSOCJATK MEMBERS. "if you are not afraid ? It may be your duty. If the man is really wet and chilled, a life may be at stake. I will find for him what he needs, if you will direct me, then unfa^.ten the door and r tire." 'But I shall not direct you, and I will not let that drunken wretch into this room to-day ; not if I have to crawl out of bed and fight it out myself. I can do it. I went to bed for pru- dence' sake, because I knew I should not be able to do your fine ironing very soon unless I did ; but I could get up if I had to." Mrs. Holmes answered not a word. The out- sider had apparently already abandoned his efforts and staggered feebly away, making, as he went, a sort of dreary whimper, as an ill-used animal might have done. An inexpressible horror filled the soul of one of the listeners ; it seemed to her that she felt afraid, not of the drunken man, but of his wife. She looked toward the bolted door, with an impulse to open it and flee away, leaving this lost soul to herself. Yet the terrible look on the woman's face, and the glare in her eyes, said plainly that she was sick and suffering. "She may not know what she is saying," thought her visitor; "half of the horror of this sciene may be owing to the delirium of fever. I ought not to leave her alone in such a state ; but oh, I wish Dr. Portland had been going to return this way ! I should certainly call him in." SHE iS DISMAYED AND DISCOMFITED. 93 In silence she poured out and administered the beef tea once more, standing silently by while the contents of the cup were being drained again and pronounced very good. ** I can feel that it is giving me strength," said Mrs. Carpenter, as she returned the cup; "and I am obliged to you, though I've almost forgotten hew to express such feelings." Voice and manner were quieter than they had been. After a moment's silence, during which her visitor was v/ondering what arrangements could be made for the night, she spoke again in the calm, cold tone which belonged to the ironer at her board : " I have alarmed you by my fierceness this after- noon, I suppose. I do not often go on in this way, but I have suffered just enough to make me lose self-control ; it made me wild to think of that man coming near me to-night ; when I am well and can go out of the house and sit on the door- step, or can draw the chair to the further corner of the room and sit in it, I leave him n peaceable possession of the bed ; but share the room with him to-night I will not." The young and happy wife listened with eyes dilating in horror. What a life was that to live! To shrink in loathing from the one whose name she bore, who should have had a right to claim at her hand all that sacred love and tenderness could give. i I I 94 HER ASSOCIATE MEMBERS. i< And he is your husband ! " she thought aloud, rather than said the words. The face on the bed darkened. "Yes, he is. Do not remind me of it, if you please ; there is no need ; I never for a moment forget it. Mrs. Holmes, I hate shams of all sorts; at the risk of horrifying you even more than I have already done, I mean to speak out ; I do not often ; I live in an awful silence, but you have tried to be good to me; that is why I am going to speak. I hate that man who was fum- bling like an imbecile at the door a short time ago, no other word will express the feeling I have for him ; I hate him ! Why I stay and slave for him, and live the life I do, instead of going back where I came from, is owing to my mis- erable Puritan training. I have a sort of feeling that it is not respectable for a woman to desert her husband, and go away to what she was before she knew him, if that were possible. I have no near friends, no one in the world for whom I really care, when it comes to that, but I have acquaintances by the score, and the demon of respectability has gotten hold of them and me; it is more respectable in their eyes, and it always was in mine, to live on in the way one has chosen rather than to desert it. That is why I do it. But I thought it would save you trouble, and me talk, if you understood plainly at the beginning SHE IS Dir.MAYF.D AND DISCOMriTi.D. 95 that you could not do any thing for mc, and might as well leave me to my fate. I hate it, and him, and always expect to. If it were respectable, I should kill him, but it is not considered so, you know, and I have no fear of doing it." Was there any answer which ought to be made to such wild and sinfui words .^ Mrs. Holmes tried to think, and to steady her heart, so that she might speak quietly. The words which her hus- band had spoken about the transforming power of God's Spirit recurred to her, the more forcibly because she began to realize, as never before, that only God's Spirit could transform such lives as this. " Do you forget," she said, in a voice of studied quietness, "that there is a possibility of all this being changed ? That there is a Power which could make, not only your husband, but yourself, into new beings ; could give you back, indeed, the love and trust which belonged to the early days of your life together.^ Oh, Mrs. Carpenter, you asked me what I would do if we had to change places ; I know how little I can realize what the horror and terror must be, but I do know I would do one thing: if I had never learned to pray, I would make it my first lesson ; then I would pray, pray, day and night that God would take hold of my husband, as his power alone could do, and make him again the husband whom I loved and 96 HER ASSOCIATE MEMBERS. chose from all the world. Such things have been done, madam, you must know it ; and they may be again." She had not awakened even a shadow of tender memory, though the woman could not have been married much more than a decade. Instead, there was the horror of that wretched smile. "That is very good logic," she said, "with one exception — your premises are wrong; there never was any such time as the one to which you so feelingly refer." "What do you mean.'" asked Mrs. Holmes. " I mean that I did not marry for sentiment ; in plain English, I did not pretend to love the man 1 married." "Then why did you marry him.'" The ques- tioner's face was pale and stern ; her life had been sheltered from such women as this. Except in third-rate novels, she had not realized that they were to be found. "For a home!" said Mrs. Carpenter, with a sardonic smile; "for the comforts of life, for the respectability of the married state! Have I not told you several times that New England women will do any thing for respectability ? Surely you can understand the motive ! Do you not see what a lovely home he has prepared for me and how my life is sheltered? I needed a protector, you know; I was a poor lonely girl, drudging in a SHE IS DISMAYED AND DISCOMFITED. 9; country school to support myself ; and I was tired of it. There was nobody to care for me, or do for me, if I fell sick. I was at the mercy of aunts and cousins who considered me a nuisance ; and, in short, I did as hundreds of other girls do; only I never pretended that it was for love." "And you profess to hate shams !" Perhaps it was the tone, rather than the words, which made Mrs. Carpenter's face flush. "Yes," she said, presently, "I do, and am hon- est in it. Have 1 not told you there was no pre- tense of any thinj; but a business transaction }" •' Upon the part of both .? " asked Mrs. Holmes, solemnly. " No," after a scarcely perceptible hesitation ; " I will be honest in that, too. He thought he preferred me to all the world. I have no doubt he was sincere, and you see how much it has amounted to. What am I, compared to a bottle of whisky, or even to a quid of tobacco."*" But the disgust in her face was responded to only by stern dignity on the part of her questioner. "Was there, then, no marriage ceremony?" The woman on the bed glared on her in such a way that, had she been in less terrible eainest, she might have been frightened. "What do you mean.?" »vas the short, sharp question. "Just what I say. Was there no marriage cer- 98 HER ASSOCIATE MEMBERS. i emony performed by God's appointed servant, at which time you, havino^ called upon God to wit- ness, vowed to love a.-d honor the man of your choice until death parted you ? How dare you say there was no deception, when you remember that ? " The region where this woman's conscience ought to have been was touched at last. The flush on her face began to die out, leaving a gray pallor, but her voice was as firm as ever. "Honor!" she said, in fine ticorn ; "that is an expressive word to use to me; remember, there were two to make the promise. What has become of the pledge to 'love, honor and cherish' me? How could even God expect me to honor such a wretch as he has become .-* " "All that has nothing to do with the question," Mrs, Holmes said, firmly. She was amazed at herself. She did not under- stand how she had the courage to speak such words; she knew that in quieter moments she would question the wisdom of having begun this conversation at such a time, but, having begun it, it seemed to her of infinite importance that the woman should hear the truth. "That has nothing to do with the question," she said, firmly; "your husband must answer to God, for his broken vows, and so must you ; whether you are able to have the right feeling for SHE IS DISMAYED AND DISCOMFITED. 99 him now or not does not alter the fact that, unless you had it then, you took lying words upon your lips, disgraced your womanhood by one of the most terrible shams of which a soul can be guilty. By your own confession, Mrs. Carpenter, the husbard whom you despise was less guilty than you." . The sick woman sat up, and began to twist, and put back into place her long black hair, from which the hair-pins had fallen. The red glow had come back to her cheeks, but her voice and man- ner were quiet enough. "I wish you would have the goodn' .s to go away," she said, with cutting dignity; ''go away and leave me alone ; you mean wel^ but you don't know what you are talking about. I saw from the very first that your intentions were commendable ; you meant to try to do me good; I felt aln»ost sorry for you, because I knew better than you did what a hopeless errand yours was. You haven't succeeded, and never will ; you do not know how. I would advise you as a friend to confine your efforts to the pretty girls, and red-cheeked, well- dressed boys, who are playing at life. You may understand enough about that sort of life to influ- ence them, but a hundred years of such talk as you have been giving me would do no good, would do only harm ; not even with the beef tea thrown in, and I don't deny that it was good. But until } I 100 HER ASSOCIATE MEMBERS. you learn that you have no right to go into a mis- erable woman's house and insult her, you would do well to keep out of it. All I ask of you is to let me alone. I am glad of the chance to do your ironing, because you pay well and promptly, and I am not afraid that you will run away in the night, leaving an unpaid bill, which is what some of your line ladies are equal to. I have a higher opinion of you than you have of me, for to that extent I trust you ; but at least I am frank in this, I want nothing more to do with you ; I hope never to see your face again." "I beg you to lie down," said Mrs. Holmes, regarding the sick woman with keen anxiety, "I am sorry if I hurt you ; I ought not at this time to have spoken as I did. You are quite right, I have very little experience with sick people; if you will only lie down and be quiet, I will leave you at once." It was evident that her presence was exciting the unhappy woman to a pitch which might per- haps be beyond her control. Trembling in every nerve with excitement and terrible disappoint- ment, Mrs. Holmes made haste to gather together her belongings, slip the bolt and disappear. Once out of the house, she breathed more freely. Surjly the sick woman could hardly be so glad to get rid of her as she was to go. Yet she was obliged to assure herself that she had a SHE IS DISMAYED AND DISCOMFITED. tot long walk to take through one of the main streets of tne town, and that she must by no means break down and cry, at least until she reached the shel- ter of her own room. What a horrible failure she had made ! How utterly foolish in her to speak as she did to a woman wild with pain and misery ! "I should not have noticed what she said any more than I would the ravings of a lunatic," she told herself, yet there was an undertone convic- tion that Mrs. Carpenter knew only too well what she was talking about, and had revealed the wretched truth. What was now to be done? To leave her alone in her helpless state, without even the care of the husband whom she had driven from her, was not to be thought of. Yet who was there that could be summoned to her aid ? There were neighbors, it is true, but Mrs. Holmes knew none of them, and the glimpses she had had of those nearest at hand did not incline her to hope much from their ministrations. "She cannot surely stay there alone," said this much-troubled Endeavorer ; "her husband may not return to-night, or, if he does, it may be much worse for her in her present state than if he had stayed away. I wonder if there is any thing which that poor Madeline Hurst can do.? I passed a house not very far from here with that name on the door; I wonder if it can be where she lives?" CHAPTER IX. SHE REACHLS ATTKR TIIKM. MADELINE HURST was in the dining-room of her brother's house, standing near the window, book in hand. The table was laid for tea — not very neatly, and without much regard to comfort. Madeline had prepared it, so far as it could be said to be prepared. It was not by any means as well as she could have done ; like poor "Happy," she rarely did any thing as well as she could ; and if she had been asked the reason, would have had no better reply than the evasive one, "What's the use } " She was quite as much given to having a book in her hand as was Happy. And, while they were of a very different type, so far as regarded literary merit, it cannot be said that they were more helpful to this girl's nature than were Hap- py's to her. Nearly always they were written from the standpoint of dissatisfaction with what their authors were pleased to call "the dull com- 102 SHE REACHfeS AFTER THEM. 103 monplaces of life," and all references to Bible or church, or to the opinions commonly held by Christian people, contained a covert sneer. In short, they were books such as no living, active Christian could have enjoyed, or even tolerated. Stories they were, of course. Girls of Madeline Hurst's development rarely read much of other forms of literature, better written as regards style than the dime-novel series, but almost as unreal in their way as the most absurd of these, yet the unreality was too subtle for an unformed mind to notice. So absorbed was the girl in the volume she held, that she did not hear the door open, and it was only when her sister-in-law was almost at her elbow that she gave a violent start and made an instinctive effort to hide the book ; then, realizing the folly of such an attempt, turned, with it held open in her hand. "Yes," said a high-keyed, peevish voice, "I would try to hide it ; only I was rather too quick for you this time ; you will not gain any thing by hiding them ; I know that you spend every moment you can steal in poring over worthless trash. I told your brother so, only last night; the wonder is, that you are not more nearly ruined than you are. When are we to have tea, pray? Must we wait until that three-volumed story is finished?" __A, 104 HER ASSOCIATE MEMBERS. "You are at liberty to have it whenever you choose, I suppose," answered the girl, in that sort of irritating calm which natures like hers can assume on occasion ; " I was not aware that I had the management of that matter in my hands." "No, and I suppose you were not aware that you were to set the table, nor put the dining-room in order; in fact, if one may judge from your behavior, you are not av/are that you have any duty in life but to read novels, and make yourself as disagreeable as possible Why didn't you make some gems for tea?" " I did not know that you wished any ; it is the first I have heard of them." "The first you have heard! Would a girl who had common sense, and who was in the habit of doing any thinking for any one but herself, need to be told that when bread was scarce and baking- day twenty-four hours off, something else would be needed .^" "I am sure, Emily, I did not know that bread was scarce. Why can you not be reasonable about that ? You must certainly remember that you ordered me to let the bread-jar alone, and said it was none of my business whether there was bread in it or not ; after that, how could I be expected to know, without being told, that a substitute would be needed ? " SHE REACHES AFTER THEM. !05 "Yes, you harp on that! Because I told you one clay that you needn't meddle with the bread when Nancy was there to attend to it, and that she knew as well a;; you did when the jar needed scalding, your Indian nature took offense, and you made a resolve to be as hateful about that as you are about every thing else. I wouldn't have such a disposition as you for any thing in this world ! Treasure up a word that is said to you in haste, as though it was something dreadful ; and make yourself and every one else uncomfortable. I suppose that is the way the heroine acted in the last novel you read ; a sweet creature she must have been if you have been patterning aftev her all this weeK ; for I must say you have surpassed yourself, even, in hatefulness." The sallow face of the girl grew crimson, and her eyes glowed until they resembled Mrs. Carpenter's. "You hive no right to speak so to me," she said, coldly; "but I suppose that will not make any difference. I am not reading a * three-volumcd novel,' and if I were, I cannot see whose business it would be except my own. What do you want for supper, Emily.-*" "It is a pretty time of day to ask that! What we can get, of course. Baker's bread, I suppose, which will have to be run after at the time when we should be eating it ; your brother is very fond io6 Her A5SOCIAt£ ME^fBfiRS. of baker's bread, you know ! he will have another proof of his sister's care for his comfort." The girl faced around and looked her sister steadily in the face. ♦' Emily, what do you mean ? What sense is there in this tirade.-* If you had wanted me to make something for supper, was there any thing to hinder your telling me so.^" "Oh, no, nothing in life; I might have had old Pete go through the town ringing his bell, and shouting out the valuable information that the Hursts were out of bread, in the hope that the news would fall upon your devoted ears and you would rush home from some of your haunts to attend to us ! How long have you been in the house, pray }" A conscious look came into the girl's face, as she said in a somewhat quieter tone : "I have not been away from the house very long, and I should not have gone out had I known that any thing special was wanted of me." "Of course not. How could such a stranger as you are in this house be expected to know that Nancy is always out on Friday afternoon, and that we commonly have supper on that day as well as on others ? Why should you have any responsibility in the matter, any way .•• Eating is a vulgar occupation ; I presume the fine ladies and gentlemen in your novels live without it." SHE REACHES AFTER THEM. 107 Madeline turned away with an expressive si^^h. "You are in worse humor than usual," she said, coldly; "and that is certainly unnecessary. If there is any thing you want me to do, more than I have already done toward getting supper, I advise you to tell me what it shall be without more waste of time." What would have been the outcome of this sisterly conference, but for the fact that Mrs. Hurst's attention was diverted, it might be diffi- cult to surmise. Fortunately for Madeline, her sister-in-law had not heard the last response, being engaged in watching the slow, uncertain movements of a lady on the other side of the street, who was studying the houses opposite with utmost care, and was apparently in doubt which way to go. Mrs. Hurst, looking on, saw her presently quicken her pace and cross the street ; a moment afterward the watcher uttered an excla- mation of surprise. «*I declare if she isn't coming here.? What in the world can that be for.? And I am not dressed ! Mad, run to the door while I fix my hair a little ; it is that new boarder at Mrs. Stet- son's. I can't imagine what she wants. I have never called upon her; she looked too stuck up for me. But go along, do ; she won't want to be kept waiting all night. Look in at the parlor as you pass, and see if it's in any kind of decent ■■1 io8 HER ASSOCIATE MEMBERS. order. If you would spend one third of the time you give to novels in keeping that room respect- able, I needn't be in a panic every time the bell rings. It was quite Mrs. Hurst's habit to plunge into new topics of interest without regard to any thing which she might have been saying before ; so Madeline was not surprised, and, without a word in reply, moved toward the door, glancing in at the parlor as she went, and wondering scornfully what particular good her sister-in-law thought it would do to "look in» upon " a disordered room on her way to receive a visitor! The room was not in order, and she knew it ; the dust lay thick on some of the mantel ornaments, and the few books on the pretentious little center-table were in wild confusion. Madeline knew that she ought to take better care of the parlor, but her conscience had long since grown callous to that simple word "ought." She had few friends and almost no visitors ; nevertheless, she was occasionally called upon to blush for the condition of the room. It was with a heightened glow, therefore, on her dark cheeks that she opened the door to Mrs. Holmes. "Oh, it is you," that lady said, with a relieved air. " I am glad ; I was not sure that the name on the door had any connection with your family. May I come in and speak with you a moment ? " SHE REACHES AFTER THEM. 109 and she entered the disorderly little parlor, seat- inp; herself with that courteous air of unconscious- ness in regard to all disorder which the well-bred know how to assume. '•I am distressed about Mrs. Carpenter, as to how she is to be taken care of during the night. Surely she ought not to be left alone, or at the mercy of her drunken husband. I meant to ask her if she had any friends or acquaintances who would come, but unfortunately I offended her, and she would not permit any further effort upon my part." "You offended her.^*" asked the girl, with a touch of surprise in her voice. Then immediately added : " Poor thing ! Of course you did. An angel from heaven could offend her when she is in one of her moods. Indeed, madam, I do not know what can be done ; she has no friends in town, and no £. :quaintances except the people for whom she works. That poor wretch of a husband would take care of her if he happened to be sober, and she would let him, but I am afraid she would drive him away." "She has already done so," said Mrs. Holmco. "Is he ever unkind to her.!*" Madeline laughed. "Oh, no; he would not dare to be. Mrs. Car- penter is mistress of the situation always. It is a dreadful house, Mrs. Holmes. I was attracted to no HER ASSOCIATE MEMBERS. I I them by the very peculiarity of their misery; so unlike drunkards' homes which one reads about." " How well the girl talks, and what a brilliant color she has!" was Mrs. Holmes* mental com- ment; "she has the elements of a strong charac- ter, capable of accomplishing good or ill, accord- ing as she is swayed. I wonder how much that poor woman's story about her home is to be relied upon ?'* Partly because of her desire to investigate this question, she made her next effort. "Then you do not know of any person to whom we couM appeal ,? Perhaps your sister would advise us." Madeline shook her head with a quick flash of eyes which might mean several things. "Oh, no! Mrs. Hurst does not know the woman, and she has nothing to do with such mat- ters. I am sure I do not know what can be done. I would be very willing to spend the night with her, but I am afraid my brother" — She hesi- tated painfully, and Mrs. Holmes made haste to her rescue. " I understand perfectly, my dear girl ; you are much too young for night work of this sort ; your brother would not permit it, of course." How little she understood only Madeline knew. But she was grateful for the escape from explana- tion, and began again. SHE REACHES AFTER THEM. Ill "There are one or two women, either of whom I think would go there out of kindness ; but the trouble is Mrs. Carpenter would not have them; she is very peculiar. There is a woman living on the next street who takes care of the sick for pay, but I am afraid" — and again she stopped in embarrassment. Mrs. Holmes caught at the ■word "pay." " Oh, if there is some one who would be accept- able, I should be very glad ; she should certainly be paid. Can we get word to her, and arrange it } I will pay whatever the woman is in the habit of receiving. I think she should stay for a few days and give Mrs. Carpenter a chance to rest. I do not know but it is rest that she needs more than any thing else. Is this woman one to whom we could make a little explanation — take into a sort of confidence.? Because I am afraid Mrs. Carpenter is not just now in the mood to receive even ordinary kindness at my hands. Perhaps, Miss Hurst, you could join me in a little bit of diplomacy ; let the poor woman think that the sin of engaging the nurse rests with you." Madeline shook her head with a pitiful smiie on her face as she spoke : *< It would not work, dear madam ; Mrs. Car- penter knows that I have not a cent of money to do any thing with, and never have. But we can manage it with the woman, if you will be so kind. I'l ^-^ 112 HER ASSOCIATE MEMBERS. She has common sense and a good enough heart, only she is poor, and cannot afford to spend her strength without beinj paid for it." "She shall be paid, ' said Mrs. Holmes again, much relieved. "That is the very simplest part of doing for others — the device of shirkers, I often think. There are people who have no trouble at all in getting out their pocket-books, but who shrink from personal work." Madeline laughed. •*I do not know," she said; "I never had a chance to try any of their ways, but I know people who never think of ])utting their hands into their pockets for such things ; it is strange that you should be willing to do so, when Mrs. Carpenter was rude to you." "That does not change the obligation in the least, you know," Mrs. Holmes said, quietly, "nor was the poor woman enlirely to blame. I think I was as injudicious as possible in saying what I did. I wonder if I can get you to manage the securing of the nurse for me.? I would not ask it, but I have been long gone now from my sick husband, whose sole nurse I am day and night." "I will attend to that," said Madeline, though as she spoke she wondered what Mrs. Holmes would think if she knew how hard it was for her to compass even so small a matter. ■"Thank you," replied Mrs. Holmes, sweetly, I SHE. REACHES AFTER THEM. JI3 "though you have better thanks than human lips can speak. He rcco<;nized even 'a cup of cold water,' you know, if given in his name. I hope you work for his regard.^" Her voice was very sweet. Despite her efforts at self-control, it brought a rush of tears to the eyes of the lonely girl. "I do not know," she said; "or, that is, I do know only too well that I do not do any thing nowadays from a right motive. I used once to think that I belonged to Him, but I have given all that up long ago." •' My dear girl, what a strange thing to give up ! Do you not remember that there is notning in life which lasts but that .^ " "Well," dashing the tears away, "I suppose I am wrong to say I gave it up. I mean, rather, that I never had it. I only thought I had. It was a miserable mistake, like all the rest of my life." "But mistakes of that Vind can be remedied, my friend," spoken with a bright, glad smile; "if I did not belong to the Lord yesterday, it is all the more reason why I should make haste to see to it to-day." She had risen, and was moving toward the door while she talked. In her heart was a burning desire to get back to her husband, whom she feared was at home and in need of her; bu^ surely this was the King's business. 114 HER ASSOCIATE MEMBERS. Madeline shook her head and struggled to speak with dignity. "Thank you, ma'am; you are good to think any thing about me, but you do not understand." "No," gently; "that is true, hut there is another truth that offsets it, my friend. The Lord Jesus Christ knows every turn of the way, and every brier and thorn which grows on it ; take them to him, dear soul, and his word for it, all shall be well." She was on the steps by this time, but she held out her hand cordially. "Will you not come and see me as soon as you can ? I do not leave my husband very often, but I have long, lonely hours while he sleeps ; I should be glad to have you come. May I expect you.?" "You are very kind," murmured Madeline. It was all that at that moment she could trust her voice to say. "*•*. CHAPTER X. ONE WALKS AMONG THORNS. WELL," said Mrs. Hurst, confronting Made- line at the dining-room door, •' why in the name of all that is extraordinary didn't you come and call me? Didn't you know enough to understand that that was your i)lace?" She had not only brushed her hair, but had exchanged her dress for a pretty evening one, and had evidently been waiting in a fever of expect- ancy for her summons. Madeline gave a start of dismay at the sight. She had forgotten her sister-in-law ! "She did not ask for you," she said, coldly; "her call was upon me." " Oh, indeed ! I was not aware that she had the honor of being acquainted with Your High- ness. She is no lady, any how, with all her fine airs, or she would have known enough to ask for me. Pray what did she want of you.-*" Madeline struggled with the desire to say, i»5 '.-If ii6 HER ASSOCIATE MEMBERS. "something which docs not concern you," and answered hesitatingly: ♦'She wanted to consult me about some one to stay with Mrs. Carpenter, the woman who did your curtains ; she is sick." "Consult with you ! " There was surprise and intense scorn in the tone. **\Vhat in the name of wonder did she think you would know about such things.-* or did she come to hire you to take care of the vvoman ? Is that the reputation you are acquiring among your chosen associates.'*" A wicked smile spread over the girl's face as she said : "No, she did not ask me to go; she spoke of you." The moment the words were uttered she would have given much to have recalled them. It was not only that they conveyed a wrong impression^ but they were so utterly out of accord with what had just been said to her! Poor Madeline knew that her sister-in-law stirred up all the evil there was in her. She honestly believed that it would be impossible for her to live a Christian life so long as she stayed in her brother's house. "Little she knows about the thorns!" she UAd herself, bitterly, yet even then came the memory of the sweet reply she had received : "The Lord Jesus Christ knows every brier and thorn upon tJiQ road," ONE WALKS AMONG THORNS. iif Meantime, Mrs. Hurst was regarding her with angry eyes. "Mad Hurst," she said, "if you are not the most exasperating girl tKat ever lived in this world, then I hope I may be saved from seeing a worse one ! What do you mean } " •'I simply mean that she asked me whether you knew of some one who could be secured tof stay with Mrs. Carpenter ; and as I knew you did not, I told her so." *'And what business had you to do any such thing.'' What right have you to decide what I know, or do not know } That is all of a piece! with your mean, selfish disposition ; you ^/ere sd afraid I would have a chance to speak to a lady once in awhile *"hat you took pains to cheat m^ out of it, even though I was asked for, it seems ; and then told a falsehood, and declared I vv^s not asked for! If you think I am going to stand every thing from you, you are mistaken. If I don't tell your brother all about this, it will be because I can't ! " This threat neither dismayed nor angered Mad- eline. Frequent repetition had caused it to lose its sting. Complaint she well knew there would be, poured out in torrents ; bu*^ she knew, also, that the utmost her brother would do would be to sigh and say : "It seems a great pity to me that two women ii8 HER ASSOCIATE MEMBERS. who have nothing to do all clay but stay at home and keep house, cannot live in peace." There was a certain degree of sympathy which Madeline had for her brother that often kept her from speaking the words she wanted to. He was an overworked, weary man ; forever struggling with the problem of how to support his family in a style which his business did not warrant ; for the truth may as well be told about this Hurst household. One demon which had n.s much to do with disturbing their pjace as any other was named "Appearance." To make as good a show as their neighbors, in dress and furniture, was Mrs. Hurst's ambition in life. For this she stinted the kitchen and starved the appetites of her family. She kept a girl, not because her sister and herself would not have been equal to the entire work of her household, had it been well ordered, but because in the society in which she moved, and especially in the society in which she was forever struggling to move, "they" never did t! -^ir own work. But she kept a miserable, slat- ternly, ill-taught girl, dull of comprehension, and with no desire to learn ; one who managed, in one way or another, to break and waste material enough to support a small family ; and who cre- ated an atmosphere of discomfort wherever she turned. No matter, she was a girl, and Mrs. Hurst, when she paid her round of visits among One walks among THoRns. 11^ I her friends, could talk as glibly as the best of them about the "trials connected with servants." Mr. Hurst, who, left to himself, or acted upon by other influences, would have cared little for such things, had allowed himself to be so warped by his wife's ideas, as to join with her in the weary strain to keep up appearances, until the tempers of both had been worn nearly threadbare. Given such a state of things, and you can readily understand what a storm of angry objections would greet Madeline's ears if she hinted at her wish to be independent and earn her own living. Not that they would have objected to her doing it in a genteel way, but the trouble was, that, in their judgment, no genteel way was open to her. She frankly assured them that she did not know enough to teach ; that she had no talent for plain sewing, and that the one thing which she felt sure she could learn to do and be a success in, was light house-work ! It cannot be said that the girl herself was really anxious to take up any such work. Her training had been too false for that. She now held the belief that she would make a decided descent by doing so ; but life in the only home she knew was so miserable that at times she almost believed herself ready for even that. At least, she had been ready to hold it over her indignant sister's head as the awful thing which she might be ' 1 m tn Hi 126 HER ASSOCIATE MEMBERS. driven to do. Of late, however, she had not cared to mention such a possibility, having dis- covered that her sister-in-law had fallen into the habit of entertaining a few of her most intimate friends, by whispering to them her awful fear that Madeline had inherited low tastes from some far- away ancestor, which^ as she grew older, were cropping out in unexpected ways, her passion for sensation being even such that she actually hinted, at times, of her longing to indulge it by going out to service! "We really live in terror of being disgraced as a family by some wild esca- pade of this sort." This was the style of sen- tence with which the confidence was apt to close. Mrs. Hurst was not slow in discovering disagree- able things, and in making what she could out of them. Thus, when Madeline had by accident come in contact with Mrs. Carpenter, and been painfully drawn to the fierce and suffering woman, Mrs. Hurst sneered at what she was pleased to call the "intimacy" between them» and on occa- sion produced it as a proof that the girl had low tastes. All things considered, it will readily be believed that the Hurst family did not sit down to a very comfortable table that evening. Mrs. Hurst was in her most disagreeable mood ; even the presence of her three children did not succeed in quieting her tongue. ONE WALKS AMONG THORNS. i2f ''Where is the rice which was left from din- her?" she asked, glancing with a glum face over the scantily-furnished table ; *• since we cannot have any thing else to eat, perhaps we may be allowed to have the remains of the dinner." A swift look of dismay flashed over Madeline's face. "There was very little left," she said, "after Nancy had finished her dinner." "So much the worse for us, but what there is I suppose we can have, since we must do without bread." "No," said Madeline, trying to speak quietly; " I did not suppose so small a dish of it would be needed, and I took it to Mrs. Carpenter, because she is ill, and I knew would have nothing suitable for a sick person to eat." Mrs. Hurst looked savagely triumphant. " Oh, you did ! You see how it is, George. As long as we have to support Mad's particular friends, we must expect to have our grocery bills enormous, as you are always saying they are." For some reason the unwomanly sarcasm hurt Madeline more than usual. It was of no use for her to struggle with the rising tide of mingled pain and indignation which threatened to choke her. As yet, she had not eaten a mouthful, and Tising suddenly, she said : " Since you are so troubled, I will save you the >;l 1 i I' I 122 HER ASSOCIATli MEMBERS. expense oi' my supper for to-night, at least. That will perhaps atone for the saucerful of rice which I took to a sick woman." In another moment the door closed after her with a bang, which but faintly expressed the tumult that was raging in her heart. Mr. Hurst looked annoyed. " I don't see why you could not have let her eat her supper in peace," he said ; "a spoonful of rice doesn't cost so much that there need be a fuss made about it." "Oh, of course, you take her side," Mrs. Hurst said; "you always do; before the children, too, which makes it pleasanter for me ! If you don't mind having the food given away, I'm sure I needn't ; only I do hope you will not consider it necessary to grumble at me about expenses, when the grocery bill is due." By this time poor Madeline was in her stuffy little back room up stairs, her head buried in her one small pillow, and she shedding some more of the bitter tears with which she almost nightly wet it. Contact with the sweet-voiced, gentle woman she had met that day seemed but to have added to her pain ; life was becoming almost intolerable to her. She had gone over so often the possible avenues of escape from it, that they were all almost equally offensive to her. She knew only too well her sister-in-law's scheme for disposing of ONE WALKS AMONG TlIOKNS. 123 her. Mrs. Hurst belonged to tlie class of women who believe that the one aim of a young woman's life should be to marry, as early and as satisfacto- rily as possible, provided one did not, by what she called being "too particular," lose valuable oppor- tunities. Such an opportunity was, in her judg- ment, being held out now to Madeline. "A better chance," she assured her husband, speaking vehemently, " than I ever expected Mad to have, I am sure! What the girl is thinking of, to hang back in the way she does, and run the chances of losing him, I can't imagine. I don't see why you don't speak to her, and help her come to her senses. She acts as though she could marry the President of the United States by saying the word." '♦ I don't want to order her to marry any body," the brother would say, walking restlessly up and down the room, "it looks too much like turning her out of the hou.se ; and I an? sure that is the last thing I want to do." "Oh, now, George," his wife would respond, with a contemptuous sniff, "don't go to getting sentimental ; you don't know how to do it ; and, if you did, it would be wasted on Mad ; there is nothing in life that she longs for more than to be rid of us all." » "Why doesn t she take the man, then, and be done with it?" would the brother growl, being U' U 4 in 11 iM kKR ASSOCiA^E MEMHERS. sure that he was very much vexed with somebody, and not being quite certain whether it was sister or wife. "That is just what I don't understand; I thoufjht she tvould jump at the chance. I'm sure I was never more astonished in my life tlian when I found out he actually meant business. I believe it is all because of her reading so many novels ; she has too high-flown ideas for common people — wants somebody better than he." Consistency was not a marked trait in IVIrs. Hurst's character. It was not an unusual thing for her to advance, on the same evening, the theories that Madeline was entirely above her station in life, and looked higher than the remarkably nice young man who had honored her with his attentions ; and that she had low tastes and interests, and would disgrace her family yet by some alliance utterly beneath her; if this were not the case, why did she run to that Carpenter woman's, who lived in one i\;om, in an alley, and supported her drunkard husband by taking in washing.^ Nice associates, those, for a Hurst! But it just showed the girl's make-up. From her interview with Madeline Hurst, Mr.«. Holmes made all speed homeward, in great fear lest the doctor should have returned before this, and her husband be in need of her. As she ONE WALKS AMONG THOKNS. 125 turned the corner and saw the doctor's carriage standing before the door, she almost broke into a run and daslicd up the stairs, at last, in a way to make her nearly breathless. Dr. Portland regarded her with his gay, half-mocking smile. "Deborah returned from service, weary but triumphant ! " he said, as he drew a chair for her, "or was it Dorcas.-* I'm a trifle mixed in biblical history, I fear. I have so little time to read up, especially on the days when I have to add the duties of nurse to those of my regular profession." " Have you been long here.'' Have you needed me, Stuart .'' Have you had any refreshment.-*" "Heen here for ages," said the doctor, promptly, **and he fainted three times, when he found you had not yet returned. As for refreshment, he is probably quite beyond eating any thing by this time, after such long waiting." "Doctor," said Mr. Holmes, smiling, "have you no respect for truth and veracity which needs guarding .-* Chrissy, my dear, I am entirely com- fortable. Not nearly so tired as you look at this minute. We have not been long here, but long enough for the doctor to evlove a glass of fresh milk, and some very choice crackers from some- where, on which I have feasted ; and the ride has done wonders for me, I think." "Outwitted ! " said the doctor, throwing himself l^ftck in his chair, as one whp had failed; "of £11 126 HER ASSOCIATE MEMBERS. course she will believe him rather than me; it is to be expected." Satisfied as to her husband's comfort, Mrs. Holmes' thoughts reverted at once to her recent experiences. And in answer to his question, she began to tell., at first only little bits, about Mrs. Carpenter ; but, growing excited with her subject, was in its very depths before she realized it. "I'll tell you what will have to be done," inter- rupted the doctor, suddenly; "you will have to reform that wretch of a husband. I don't know any thing which will bring Mrs. Carpenter to her senses like the shock of the discovery that her husband is really made of better stuff than her- self ! I believe it. But the difficulty is in con- vincing her, or, in fact, any other decent person, of it just now; but if you will engage to reform him, the thing will be done." It was the merest babble of words with him, and the merry mockery in it jarred almost pain- fully on Mrs. Holmes' tired nerves ; but her hus- band regarded the speaker very gravely and thoughtfully. "There is truth in what you say, doctor. God pity the soul who, failing in love, cannot have even a show of respect for her husband. If only he could be made, before her eyes, into a God- fearing, God-serving m.an, it might be the means of saving her soul as well as his." ONE WALKS AMONG THORNS. 127 The doctor bestowed upon him a look of puz- zled wonder, then burst into laughter. "I beg your pardon," he said, when he could control him- self, "but I really believe you think the thing feasible. Imagine it, Mrs. Holmes ! The fact is, he has not seen poor Joe, and we have him at a disadvantage. Only fancy Joe Carpenter- made into a respectable member of society!" Where- upon he indulged in another outburst of laughter. CHAPTER XI. SHE IS PERPLEXED ON EVERY SIDE. MR. HOLMES' face expressed only calm thoughtfulness. " Have you never really seen any exhibition of power of that sort, Doctor .? " he asked, after a moment's silence. •' Of what sort, my dear fanatic .? " "The sort which God uses when he transforms a soul. Is it possible that you have never known a character acted upon by a power manifestly outside of itself, to the degree that what it loved before, it learned to turn from with fear and hatred ? In other words, do you not know what a Christian means when he speaks of the con- version of a soul .-*" A sudden gravity, such as often overtook this man, shone for a moment in his eyes as he said : " I know there are forces at work in the world which we common mortals do not understand ; yes, I will be entirely frank ; I have seen their 128 SHE IS PERPLEXED ON EVERY SIDE. 129 power." Then, turning to the lady, he resumed his gay tone: "Mrs. Holmes, my horses will be firm disbelievers in home missionary effort after to-day ; I feel sure of it. Their supper-time must be long past. What is that about a * merciful man being merciful to his beast ' .•* I wonder what the effect is when the chief character is a woman ?" His eyes danced with merriment; it did not seem possible that they could have been almost dimmed with tears but a moment before over some tender memory. The lady marveled over it, while he said his parting words to her husband. Having departed by way of the western piazza, he looked in almost immediately to say : " Mrs. Holmes, it will be quite worth your while to come out and get a view of this marvelous sunset ; nothing in your frozen North was ever seen to approach to it in beauty. No, my friend," as Mr. Holmes made a movement to accept the invitation, "I did not say it would be worth your while. Your manif st duty is to take no more steps to-night, except those from that easy-chair to bed. No sunsets for you, if you please ! ** Once outside, he ignored the sunset, although it was a marvel of crimson and gold, melting away into a tender glory formed of both, and began to speak rapidly. " Mrs. Holmes, I am deeply interested in your home missionary efforts, or should they be called § I' m m -: !■•; I30 HER ASSOCIATE MEMBERS. foreign? Do you feel as though you were a pilgrim and a stranger, far from home ? You may not think it, but I have a keen interest in even Mrs. Carpenter, to say nothing of old Joe. Will you not take me into a sort of partnership? There are more than these two to look after; I do not know their names, but I feel sure that you do ; and you will find others — I see it in your eyes. What I am after, is to be counted in ; con- sulting physician, you know, or friend ; I like that word better. I shall require to know all the minute details of each individual case, the unpleas- ant features, as well as the pleasant ones, of course; and, between you and me, I am fully aware that the unpleasant ones will predominate. I am ready for them, but I want no rivals, if you please. You are to save all the particulars for me; if I am entered as an advisory member, I shall expect you not to forestall me by giving them first to somebody else." Mrs. Holmes regarded him curiously. It was not always easy to understand this man, who was sometimes grave when he meant the merest non- sense, and sometimes, under the guise of non- sense, gave her grave advice. The undertone of earnestness which she now detected in this whim- sical speech roused her anxiety. " What do you mean ? " she asked, quickly. " Nothing very alarming," stiU speaking lightly ; f SHE IS PERPLEXED ON EVERY SIDE. 131 " I was only offering to be sympathetic and help- ful to the best of my humble ability." Then, more gravely : ** Mrs. Holmes, it is perfectly nat- ural for you to return from your missions of mercy with your heart full of the sights and sounds which have confronted you ; it is also extremely probable that you will feel like talking them over; what I am after just now, is to give you a word of caution. Your husband is keenly alive to any thing which interests you, to say nothing of his own unaccountable interest in other people's sorrows and burdens, and he is not strong enough physically to bear the strain. He is doing wonderfully well, but his pulse goes to bounding like a caged animal over the stories which you tell him. Do not be alarmed, you have done no harm ; I am only guarding against the future. Save all the bright places for him — the whimsicalities, the grotesque features, of which there must be many ; people with over-tired nerves often need resting by some such means ; as for the heart-aches, if you will allow me to try to aid you in helping, where help can be offered, and in shouldering whatever end a clumsy fellow unaccustomed to the business can carry, I shall be honestly glad. I have a corner about me some- where which responds faintly to the needs of humanity, upon occasion, and I '/ould like to be useful." 132 HER ASSOCIATE MEMBERS. She thanked him with her lip quivering a little. She felt like a hopeless bungler. What, for , instance, had she been able to accomplish that afternoon ? In point of fact, she had been turned away from Mrs. Carpenter's door with orders never to come again ; and now in her zeal she had actually injured her own especial charge! However, she was comforted somewhat, upon her return to her husband, with the thought that neither she nor the doctor understood him perfectly. "Chrissy," he said, his eyes bright with feeling, "God is very good. While I wait, resting, he lets my little wife go out and do her work and mine. Did you notice how much interested the doctor was in your description of that poor woman.? It o^jurs to me that the road to his heart may be through the trials of others ; and that his faith in God might be developed through becoming interested in humanity, enough to watch and discover what God is daily doing for it. He has been so good to us, dear, I wish we might repay him by turning his thoughts toward the source of all good." " He is less troubled than the doctor supposes," thought the favored wife, "because he rests the world's burdens where he does his own, upon the mighty Arm, of which Dr. Portland knows nothing." SHE IS PERPLE-^Eb ON FVERV SIDE. iii Nevertheless, she resolved to be more cautious in future. Her strange experience with Mrs. Carpenter had overbalanced her prudence for a time. ♦' You are not to think about any * poor woman ' save this one before you," she said, gayly, "and she is going at once to make you a slice of per- fect toast with a whole tablespoonful of cream on it. I have found a place where they will let me have a gill of cream a day. What do you think of that > " Meantime, Happy had somewhat broken the level of her life with spasmodic efforts at doing her work as well as she could. It is true that as yet her efforts at reform had not been so marked as to surprise her employer. In fact, Happy had been almost gleeful over her assured reputation as a prophet when she said to Mrs. Holmes : " I told you so ! It didn't do a mite of good, not a mite. She never so much as noticed the stairs that day, nor the table, nor nothing, and she scolded — why," waxing eloquent in her earnest- ness, ** I really b'lieve she scolded more that Sat- urday than she has all the other Saturdays put together this fall." Happy's rhetoric was striking, but her meaning was plain. "Never mind," Mrs. Holmes had said, cheerily; you had even a higher object than to please her, (t m u 134 HER ASSOCIATE MEMBERS. you remember. And beside, she might have been pleased, although she said nothing about it ; peo- ple do not always speak what they think about such matters." "She speaks all she thinks when things ain't to suit her," said Happy with a sagacious nod of her head; "or, if she doesn't, she must have an awful lot of room for her thoughts. But I don't care; you noticed the stairs. Mis' Holmes, and that done me more good than though Mis' Stetson had sot down on each particular stair and praised it. I done it for you in the first place; I didn't care nothing at all about her." What a very low plane it was on which poor Happy walked ! The Christian woman could not help a faint effort toward lifting her higher: " Oh, Happy ! I like to have you want to please me, but have you forgotten what I told you about God, your Heavenly Father.? Do you not have a little desire to do right in his sight ? " Actually Happy giggled, not in a bold way, but with a sort of shy bashfulness, as she said : "Oh, Mis' Holmes, I don't know nothing about them things; I don't really." "She can waive the entire subject as effectively as Dr. Portland can, if not as gracefully," her questioner thought, as with a sigh she turned away. What to do for Happy was a question which SHE IS PERPLEXED ON EVERY SIDE. 135 perplexed her perhaps as much as any of those which now haunted her leisure. There had been a little relief from the chief immediate anxiety by the departure of Mr. Arson on a business trip for his firm, but he would be back in a few days, and Mrs. Holmes felt that some decided step ought to be taken to save the girl from his attentions, but she had not the remotest idea how to take it. She smiled sadly over the thought of how Stuart's keen brain would take hold of the prob- lem, if only she dare consult him, and, remember- ing Dr. Portland's offer, smiled again, still sadly, as she felt how powerless he would be to advise in a matter like this. There was no one to advise, and there was every one to worry over. Amc ng •others, Liph. Since the night when she had spoken such plain words to him, she had only seen him across the street, and once, face to face for a moment on the piazza, when he attempted an awkward bow in recognition, his face redder than usual the while ; but she heard much of him ; rather, she heard his name often mentioned by his mother, and always in that loud, rasping tone of fault-finding. Such bitter words did this mother use to her one boy that those who over* heard could almost find it in their hearts to excuse some of his evil ways. How could a boy help going wrong, when he was daily the subject of such a tongue? Yet Mrs. Holmes remembered 136 HER ASSOCIATE MEMBERS. also those bitter tears. Surely his mother loved him. If only she could be made to understand how steadily she was driving him further down the road to ruin. "If I dared tell her so," thought Mrs. Holmes; "if I could only in some way get an influence over her, so that she would allow me to speak plainly." This "if," like all others, she took to her one infallible Helper. The answer He sent her was so commonplace, and yet so entirely out of the line of her expectation, that for a little while she did not recognize it as from Him. It was Saturday morning again, the day of days in Mrs. Stetson's kitchen. It was con.stantly a puzzle to Mrs. Holmes how they evolved a break- fast out of the confusions which reigned there on all days, but on Saturday the plot thickened. She stood for a full minute with her hand on the knob of the door, unwilling to enter because of the loud voice which rasped the air: "I wish you would get out of my way! I should think that at least you could keep your lubberly feet from staying around, where I have to stumble over 'em to do my work. Not a stick of wood have you brought me this blessed morn- ing, and I've pumped every pail of water I've had to use. There's a son for you ! Oh, you're a precious one ; I'm proud of you I When it comes SHE IS PERPLEXED ON EVERV SIDE. 137 I' to smoking and spitting and loafing, there ain't your equal in the whole country round ; I'm sure of that." There was a low-growled reply which the irres- olute woman at the door could not catch, and then the mother's voice again : " Shut up, do ! I won't stand any more of your sass this morning, I declare I won't, not if I have to break a broomstick over your head ! Get out of this room this minute, or I'll pour this kettle of water over you ; I declare I will. Flesh and blood can't stand no more ! " This was growing too dreadful ! The woman at the door resolved upon a retreat until quieter times. So did Liph. He came with a fierce stride, his hat drawn over his eyes, so that he did not see the startled form which he almost ran against ; he was muttering fiercely, but his step was not unsteady. Poor Liph was at least "him- self," and a miserable specimen of humanity was that self. "It is a worse face than Mr. Carpen- ter's, I think," was the verdict once more passed upon it. Then, when she could summon courage, Mrs. Holmes made another effort fqr the cup of which she was in search. The confusion was greater than ever before. The boarder had not believed such a thing possi- ble, but it was. Dishes, lamps, kettles, pans, tubs M 1 38 IIKR ASSOCIATE MEMBERS. of dirty water, pails of garbage, empty tin cans, a basket of partially decayed vegetables, any thing and every thing which could add to the sights and smells, seemed to have chosen this moment to appear. Midway across the room Mrs. Holmes stopped in bewilderment. "What do you want now.?" This from her landlady, in the most ungracious of tones ; there were times when Mrs. Stetson found it hard to be gracious, even to this most courteous of boarders. " I am in search of a cup, Mrs. Stetson, one which will fit inside my alcohol-heater, but " — " Well, you wo*- t find it," interrupted Mrs. Stetson, "not a clean one; there ain't a clean disl in this house. If we had five more sets of dishes, that good-for-nothing hussy would have them all out here in messy-rows. It does beat all what I have to stand ! Happy, you everlasting idiot, why don't you find a cup for Mis' Holmes, and not stand there gauping.?" Thus directed, Happy sprang forward with evi- dent desire to accomplish; but, alas for the attempt ! A large hole in her apron, where a patch should have been, seized this opportunity to clutch at the handle of a saucepan, which stretched itself out from the back of the stove in search of mischief. Over went the saucepan, apparently rejoiced at the chance, scattering its greasy contents in all directions, among others, I • SHE IS PEKl'LEXEU ON EVEKV SIDE. 139 over the front of the spotless white wrapper which Mrs. Holmes wore. On the top of the saucepan had been a platter, with the remains of fried ham and eggs, and a small plate containing scraps of various sorts. Of course, both platter and plate broke into a thousand pieces. Mrs. Stetson, with an exclamation which her boarder did not want to understand, made a dash for Happy's cars, and succeeded in boxing them soundly before she attempted to speak. "I'm sure I'm sorry for your dress, Mis' Holmes, but ladies in fine dresses should not come down to the kitchen ; it is no place for them ; and that is all there is about it." "Never mind the dress," said Mrs, Holmes; "it will wash." Happy, even in the midst of the angry tears which she was trying to mop away with her wet apron, could not help stopping to stare at the woman whose voice was low and quiet, and whose next words were : "I am sorry about the dishes, but isn't it fortunate that this pitcher did not break?" And she stooped to pick up a small, round-bodied glass pitcher, which the jar, or the quick steps, or something, had set in motion, and which had seized the opportunity to roll off the stove hearth and skip under the stove. " That is such a pretty pitcher, it would have been a real trial to have it broken. Have you a harder day's work than usual, Mrs. Stetson 1 >i it' 140 MER ASSOCIATE MEMBERS. "f should think I had!" said that woman, in awful grimness. " I declare I don't know which way to turn. I was up half the night with the few stumps of teeth I've got left. If I could ever get time, and could scrape money enough together to pay the bill, I'd go and get rid of them, any- how. Then this morning, of all days in the year, Sally must give out, and go to bed with a chill, and a pain, and I don't know what not ; and me having to fuss with her, and leave every thing in the kitchen to t^at good-for-nothing Happy. And if I'd sent her up st:iirs to read a story-book, I'd have been further along with the work this minute. It is enough to use up the patience of two Jobs, the life I have to live. How there is ever going to be a dinner got for eleven people is more than I can see." Mrs. Holmes understood her hostess quite well enough to know that when she appealed to "two Jobs." the extreme limit of her endurance was indeed reached. It was certainly a situation cal- culated to call forth sympathy, to say nothing of one's p'jrsonal anxiety as regarded dinner. The boarder thought with satisfaction of the unfailing r^i ource, beef tea and the "gill of cream"; and of the basket of very choice oranges which the doctor brought the day before. Stuart's bill of fare was assured — what mattered the rest ? CHAPTER XII. t- " SHE " ENDEAVORS IN A NEW LINE. SHE had secured her cup, not without certain other minor perils of dress ^nd temper, and was back in their room brewing her husband's after-breakfast cup of tea, before it even occurred to her that the unusual state of things in the kitchen might have a remote connection with her wish and prayer for Mrs. Stetson. With the thought came an exclamation of dismay, so out- spoken that her husband looked up from the book he was reading to ask : '• What is it, dear ; any thing happened ? " "No, ' said Chrissy; "or, that is, a great many things have happened, I suppose," with a little laugh, "and this thing may, but I don't believe it; not yet." "A riddle!" he said, smiling; "am I to guess the answer, or is it to be told to me ? " "The answer ic not made, my dear, but your cup of tea is. Did you think I might have gone 14,1 142 HEi< ASSOCIATE MEMBERS. to China in search of a new variety ? I have been so long in getting it ready." She stood leaning over his chair while he drank his tea, her face thoughtful, a trifle troubled. "Are you making the answer.^" he asked at last, as he returned the empty ciip. "No," slowly; "I am afraid the answer is made, and I do not quite like it There are very disagreeable things that one might feel it one's duty to do, Stuart." He laughed at that. " Nothing is truer, my dear wife ; I can speak feelingly; I have been placed in such situations myself." "Have you.^" she said, almost wistfully; "I cannot think it ; you seemed always, to me, to be not only willing, but eager, to do the thing which ought to be done; but I am very different." He reached his thin white hand out after her plump one, as he said : "You do yourself injustice, my little Chrissy; I have never seen the shirking from duties which seems to haunt you. You must remember, my dear, that since I have had the right to look after you, I have always been obliged to hold you back, instead of urging forward ; in other words, your temptation is to overdo, instead of underdo." "Ah, but that is when work pleases me. Don't you know how I have wasted my time SHE ENDEAVORS IN A NEW LINE. 143 since we left home ? But never mind, you must not think or talk any more ; it is time you were sleeping. Will you take a very long nap, and spare me all the morning.?" "I will do my best, dear. But you are not going out for a long walk this morning, are you ? It must be quite warm in the sunshine ; there is less breeze than usual." She shook her head. "I am not going to walk further than the kitchen this morning, Stuart. Some of the mem- bers of my Christian Endeavor Society need special help, and the place of meeting is the kitchen." The look he gave her was so full of curiosity that she burst into merry laughter. "You shall have a detailed account of the meet- ing some other time," she said ; ''just now you are to sleep." He ventured but one question, having watched her with eyes that, had she taken time to look at them, might have told her several things, while she moved about, wheeling his couch into just the right spot, and setting the screen to her mind : •'Are you going to the kitchen in that dress.?" "Oh, no, indeed!" It was the delicate white he liked so well, fresh as the rose at her belt. Her first care on coming from her former trip to the kitchen had been to lay aside the one which I if 144 HER ASSOCIATE MEMBERS. had been soiled there. " I shall attire myself in a manner suited to the needs of the kitchen. You ought to be able to look into it ; or, no, on second thought, I don't believe you ought." It was the plainest of prints in which she next appeared, made without a superfluous plait or gather — small-figured, dark-colored, but fitting perfectly, and the plainness relieved only by an edge of white at the throat. Happy looked up on her entrance, astonished, but respectful. Plain and dark as the dress was, it had an unmistakable air which the girl recognized. No dress of hers ever looked like that. Happy did not know why. Mrs. Holmes moved skillfully through the mul- tiplied bewilderments of the kitchen to her land- lady's side. "Mrs. Stetson, may I come and help you with the dinner ? I know how to do some things, and you can tell me about others if you will." Mrs. Stetson let the spoon sink softly and swiftly out of sight into the mixture she was stirring, while she surveyed her visitor from head to foot, amazement plainly written on every feature. " You don't mean it ! " she gasped, rather than said, at last. "Certainly I do. If Sally is sick, somebody ought to do at least some of the things which usually fall to her. I shall be very glad to help if SHE ENDEAVORS IN A NEW LINE. May you will let me. Where shall I commence ? I wash the dishes ? " '* For the land of pity ! " said Mrs. Stetson ; "no, you mayn't. Think of washing dishes in that dress ; you look as though you were going to meeting this minute." Mrs. Holmes laughed pleasantly. "It is a ten-cent calico, dear madam, bought and made with special reference to work in the kitchen. This dark blue cloth is what is known as 'oil-boiled' goods, and will take almost innu- merable washings and come out fresh and bright. Mrs. Stetson, I am sure that Happy and I can reduce these dishes to order in a very short space of time." Without more ado she set to work ; it was quite evident that if she was to be of any help to the dazed woman, she must take the initiative. As for Happy, she was quite as bewildered as her mistress, and looked on in a condition of giggly embarrassment while Mrs. Holmes, with skill- ful fingers, marshaled the sticky multitude into orderly ranks; good-naturedly refusing to receive forks with spoons, or cups with glasses, when Happy, in a spasm of helpfulness, plunged some of these miscellaneous articles into her pan. " Oh, no, Happy, let us wash and rinse and dry the glasses first, then the silver; after that the cups and saucers may have their turn; one can 1' < 146 HER ASSOCIATE MEMBERS. work a great deal faster in that way, besides hav- ing the dishes nicer. Did you know it .?" No, Happy did not know that, nor any of the five hundred little things which go to make the difference between skilled labor and slovenly, half- done service. Mrs. Holmes, as she plunged the astonished glasses into their bath of hot water, moralized over the folly of it all. Why should Happy, for instance, be expected to know the scientific ways of doing these things ? Who would think for a moment of engaging her to teach their. children arithmetic or music, without first discovering what degree of training she had had to make her fit for the work ? Yet kitchen jgirls were supposed to understand their business without having ever so much as had the oppor- tunity to learn ! Was it so strange that the majority of thern stumbled into the wrong way, ?ind lived on, a, trial to their piistresses and a mis- pry to themselves f M If I were a philanthropist and had fifty thou- sand dollars to give to some important cause I ^ould go through the country establishing cook- ing and housekeeping schools." Chrissy Hollister in her mother's dining-room had often made some such remark as this ; behold her now in Mrs. Stetson's kitchen establishing her first c ae ! "Without the 'fifty thousand,' too," she saicj to I m Id to SHE ENDEAVORS IN A NEW LINE. 147 herself, with an amused Httle smile, while she worked. She was no novice playing at reform. Her mother had been a pattern housekeeper in her own way; and her daughter Chrissy, when she awakened to the fact which always astonishes a sweet-hearted earnest-souled young woman, that she was actually to have a home of her own to order, set about learning the best ways of order- ing it, bringing to the work the same untiring zeal and energy which had made her a power in whatever direction she turned her thoughts. It is true that she had been especially favored ; for, in addition to her mother's practical knowl- edge of all domestic matters, during the last six months of Chrissy Hollister's girlhood there had been set up in the city where she lived, one of those institutions which have recently arisen to bless humanity, a thoroughly well-regulated cook- ing-school, where a certain number of young women could, for value received in dollars and cents, go through a systematic course of instruc- tion in regard to all the bewildering routine belonging to the kitchen. It was perhaps, then, no wonder that in the pretty home which awaited her in the great city where her husband lived, she speedily became a mystery and an object of envy to her young married friends because of the skill ^nd ease with which she attacked problems m 1 I ! « 148 HER ASSOCIATE MEMBERS. which were infinitely worse to them than any in Euclid. •* I do it," she had said once, in answer to a despairing question from a housekeeper of three months* standing, "just as you play at sight one of Beethoven's masterpieces, because I have been taught how. It is a science, my friend, as assur- edly as music ; the only trouble is, it is a wofully neglected one." So now she said, in answer to Happy's admiring " Law, Mis' Holmes, how do you do it so quick and so nice": "Because I have learned, Happy. In my own house I made a regular study of washing the breakfast dishes. For the first six weeks of my housekeeping I could get no help; and I used to plan ways of arranging the dishes so that they would come in regular order, the more delicate and least soiled ones first ; and I planned where to set them so as to make the fewest moves possible. I changed my arrangements every morning for a week, until I had the matter reduced to perfection." Happy chuckled : " It seems awful funny," she said; "I sh'd as soon think of one of the roses off the big bush in the corner out there comin* in and washin' the dishes, and knowin' how ; and it seems awful funny to think of your thinkin' about it, and planning ways to do it. Why, I don't do that myself; I don't think about them a mite piore than I can help ; I keep goin' on with the SHE ENDEAVORS IN A NEW I INE. 149 last story I read, all the while I am doing the dishes ; I try to plan what he'll say next, and what she'll do, and all of 'em ; and sometimes I get that busy over 'em that I forgit what I'm about." Mrs. Holmes could readily believe it ; also, she could have wept over the poverty of poor Happy's life, and her pitiful attempts at making pleasure. ** It will not do to let one's mind go much away from one's work," she said, gently, "until the work, in all its details, has been thoroughly mastered, and there is no new thing to learn about it ; then, indeed, some work becomes a sort of habit, and one's fingers can be trusted to carry it out to perfection, while one's thoughts are busy elsewhere. I studied French in that way, last winter." "You did!" said Happy, in unutterable awe and admiration, holding her drying-cloth poised in the air while she stared and admired. *'Yes. I would not keep those dishes waiting for a moment, Happy; the rinsing-water is too hot for that ; take them out one by one and let them drain ; no, do not attempt to dry them now ; see how wet you will get your cloth almost imme- diately ; by the time we have the salver full, those first ones will be almost dry ; they will need but a touch to finish them. Mr. Holmes was teach- ing me French ; and I lived a very busy life, with not much time for study ; so I planned that whea 11 ISO HER ASSOCIATE MEMHERS. I was making my bed and setting my room iri order, I would learn a French verb. I fastened the book open on the mantel, and looked at it when I passed that way, and managed very nicely both work and study ; but that was after I had mastered all the details of thc^ room, and knew •exactly what needed doing and how to do it. I remember, one week, I wished to change the arrangement of the spread and the pillows on my bed, and I was obliged to close the French gram- mar for two mornings and give attention to the new way ; otherwise I would become so absorbed in the study as to forget it." "You are an awfui funny woman ! " said Happy, with perfect frankness ; " I never see any one the least mite like you before." During that busy morning, Mrs. Stetson, to judge from the expression of her face, must have felt the same. Mrs. Holmes worked steadily, skillfully, and with a swiftness unknown to that region, going from one task to another with the air of one who had done such work before, and knew instinctively what would be needed next. " I declare for it," said her landlady, at last, her admiration breaking all bounds, " I most wish you was a poor widow, with nothin' to do but house- work, to earn your living, and I'd hire you quicker than a cat can wink, and pay you the biggest SHK ENDF.AVOKS IN A NEW LINE. I$t wages ever was paid in this kitchen; see if I wouldn't!" Mrs. Holmes could hardly repress visible mani- festation of the cold shiver which ran through her frame over that terrible word "widow." She had come too near the shadow of it, not to feel a dart from its quiver of pain. "What is the next thing.?" she asked, making quick effort to turn Mrs. Stetson's thoughts from herself. " I notice that your bread dough is light May I mold it into loaves, or do you prefer to do that yourself.?" "Oh, land!" said Mrs. Stetson, "you don't say you know how to make bread ! Well, I don't« and that's the truth. I've been feeling my way along with it, and wondering how it was going to come out, and it has hung like a great stone around my neck, all this morning. You see, Sally, she understands it, and always tends to it, and I never sensed the idea that she might get sick. I've always been in luck having girls who knew how to make bread ; I've never done it more than half a dozen limes myself, and made a failure of it then, pretty much ; and since you are so powerful good and kind, and I'm sure I'll never forget it of you if I live to be as old as Methu- selah — which I hope to the land I won't — if you will knead it up and get it into loaves, I'll be gladder of that than of all the rest put together." Ill i liii 152 HER ASSOCIATE MEMBERS. The younger woman looked with wondering pity upon this housekeeper of a quarter of a cen- tury who yet had not learned how to make the one important article of daily food ! Then, with- out more delay, she proceeded to the task of '•kneading up" the bread. How glad was she that her own careful hands had washed those bread-tins but a half hour before ! CHAPTER XIII. SHE CALLS LEMON TIE TO HER AID. THE last smooth loaf was receiving its final patting, preparatory to being tucked under covers, while Mrs. Stetson stood at a little distance, soliloquizing ; arms akimbo, tired, wrink- led face, with a dab of flour on one cheek and a streak of soot on the other. Such was the picture which she presented to the trim young woman who patted the bread, and looked out at her from the half-open door. "What in the name of wonder will I get for dessert.?" Mrs. Stetson pronounced the word as though she were speaking of the plains of Sahara. •'I wish to the land folks didn't have to have desert every blessed day of their lives ! It hasn't got any reason nor sense in it, to my way of think- ing. Eat a good big dinner of roast beef, and two kinds of potatoes, and beans, or something, and pickles and bread and jelly, and every thing they can get, and then begin all over again, with fresh X53 i I i 154 HER ASSOCIATE MEMBERS. plates 'ind all, and swallow down something sweet and sticky — I'd like to know who first got up such a ridiculous fashion, any way ! But there is no use in talking ; folks do it, and so I s'pose folks will keep on doing it to the end of time. But I don't know more than the babes in the woods what to have, nor how to make it," Mrs. Holmes, hearing this forlorn confession, stepped forward for a better view of the speaker, the better to entertain Stuart with the entire scene. It was impossible not to be amused, but, as she caught a glimpse of the worried face which 'lad grown prematurely old, it was also impossible not to be sorry for her. Mrs. Holmes considered. She had been long gone from her husband, only taking occasional trips to see that he was comfort- able. She had been very busy and was growing weary, despite the fact that youth and a perfectly healthful body were her strongholds. Should she? A long-drawn, almost hopeless sigh closed the soliloquy in the other room, and decided the list- erer. That sigh covered other worries than what should be had for dessert, and she who knew what some of them were, and felt powerless to help, was yet determined to lift where she could. She took thoughtful care for the loaves v/hich had now become her pride, and for which she had con- ceived that mingled affection and solicitude which SHE CALLS LEMON PIE TO HER AID. 155 every good bread-maker un dp. stands ; then turned to the mistress, whose face v/as still puckered over her problem. "Mrs. Stetson, I have been looking at some beautiful lemons while I was at work. Do your boarders all like lemon pie, and do you care to have me make some for dessert ?" The instant lifting of the shadows on the worn face would have been answer enough, but Mrs. Stetson broke into another torrent of words, " I declare for it if you was an angel come down from heaven, you couldn't do any more than you have this morning, nor half so much ! I don't suppose the angels know how to wash dishes, and make bread and pies ; at least, I hope to the land that they don't have to do it where they live. Like lemon pie f I should say they did. Every last one of them looks as though he had had a fortune left him when he sees a piece coming. Anr] as for Liph — well, I never in all my days seen any one so crazy after any thing as he is after lemon inc. I'd have it oftener than I do, jest for him, if tht'y didn't all like it so ever- lasting well, and want two pieces around, some of 'em, and boarding-houses can't stand that. Mis' Holmes ; not at my prices. But lemons is get- ting plenty now, and cheap ; and there's eggs and things plenty, too ; 1 never thought of lemon pie. But I'll* make it. Mis' Holmes, and thank you for } i II i i i 156 HER associatf: members. putting me in mind. I can't make as good a crust as Sally, and that's a fact ; but I ain't afraid but I can make one that they'll eat." Mrs. Holmes had her own opinion of Sally's pie crust, and if her landlady's was not so good, why, then — . She made haste to speak. •* I would just as soon make it for you, if you choose. I used to make lemon pies for my mother. It will seem quite like home to make them again. I will just run up stairs and see if my husband needs any thing, then I will attend to the pies. You are tired, and have quite enough to do besides." There was a smile on her face, and her step was light as she went away she did not feel so tired as she had but a moment before. One sentence in Mrs. Stetson's flow of words gave her hope and courage: "I'd have it oftener than I do, jest for Liph." There spoke the mother-heart. It was another proof that Mrs. Stetson had by no means lost her love for her all but ruined boy ; it afforded also a hope that, through the medium of lemon pie, a hint might in some way be conveyed to the mother of a better way than the one she was taking. " I am conducting my Christian Endeavor meet- ing," was Mrs. Holmes' statement to her husband as she held his glass of milk, while he settled him- self on the piazza. SHE CALLS LEMON PIE TO HER AID. 157 "The subjects before us are dish-washing, bread-making and lemon pies." "Capital subjects," he said, returning her merry smile; *' there certainly has to be a great deal of 'endeavoring' over the first two; I don't know about the 'Christian' part of it." " I c >. There is a great deal of the * Christian ' part needed for those occupations ; more than you gentlemen, who never have to endure the trials connected with them, know any thing about." " You are mistaken in your premises ; I know a great deal aboMt both. When I was in college I boarded myself, and washed the dishes regularly and thoroughly every Saturday. Tlicre were seven of them. I could never understand how there came to be so many, when I used the same plate for each meal, and drank neither tea nor coffee ; but there certainly were, I remember particularly a certain bowl, I think it was, which was always grv -\'. I am sure I do not know why ; there were very few things on my bill of fare which contained any grease. Oh, I know all about housekeeping, and I assure you I think it requires a great deal ot grace to get through with it; mine did. I do not Iciovv about bread," he added meditatively ; " I never really tried to make any, but I have wajtched rhers, and it looked rather easy to me ; however, I tried griddle cakes once, and they were a totai failure." 158 HER ASSOCIATE MEMBERS. "Oh, Stuart," said his wife, dropping into a low seat before him, in a bubble of laughter, "did you really live in such dreadful fashion when you were in college ? You never told me about it." "Not at all," he said, composedly sipping his milk. "I lived elegantly; fared sumptuously every day, I used to have my plate fresh for breakfast, and turn it over and use the other side at dinner-time." " Oh, horrible ! But how did you get it clean ? I thought you washed dishes only once a week." "That was all," he said tirmly; "I set my foot like a flint against doing it oftener. VVelland wanted to do it on class days, but I never yielded an inch to him. He was m) chum, and boarded with me for awhile. He is a lawyer now ; lives in Chicago, and has several courses with his din- ners. Why, about the plate, that was easily man- aged. I rubbed it off very carefully after dinner with a bit of clean paper, ans prayers. You said you would die for him, and I believe you. What you are called upon to do, instead, is to live for him, and to pray for him. Give yourself utterly to God, dear friend, and cry to Him for the salvation of his soul. He will help you ; I am sure of it. I know Him well ; he never failed a soul who asked : he never will. He can speak to Liph in a voice so full of power that the boy must hear and think and decide. If you will pray for your son with the strong crying of those who mean it, and then rep- resent God in his m'^rcy and patience to him, I I feel in my soul that I have the right to tell you God will get hold of him and save him. Will you do it ? " Mrs. Stetson had retired to the window, had buried her gray head in the apron, regardless of I.*- !' 164 HER ASSOCIATE MEMBERS. dabs of egg and flour and butter with which it was besprinkled, and was vainly trying to regain self-control. A moment of prayerful silence, then the young worker spoke again : "Dear madam, I know you will forgive the plain words I have said, because from my soul I long for your son's salvation, and mean to pray and work for it ; and I believe you will try to save him in the way I am proposing. I feel so sure of it that I am going to ask you something further. We are now almost ready for dinner; every thing is in shape and progressing • 'cely, and I can man- age the whole to your entire satisfaction, I am sure. If now you are willing to trust me, to promise to join me in this matter, and f'O to God on your knees for your boy, and never give him vip again while God gives you breath to pray, then please go away to your room, and think it over, and pray it over. If you will go up stairs now, I will take it as your answer to my plea." Would she ? Mrs. Holmes felt her nerves quiv- ering almost as one in a chill, so great was her desire and her fear. Like a statue stood the woman at the window, while one, two, three min- utes passed ; then turning suddenly, without drop- ping her apron from her eyes, she strode across the room and vanished up the back stairs. Mrs. Holmes drew a long, quivering breath and felt as though she must fly up the other stairs into her I SHE CALLS LEMON I'lR TO HER AID. .65 husband's arms, and cry. Rut of course that could not bo done, on Stuart's account. Hesiiles, there were pies to bake and potatoes and turnips to mash, as well as numbcrletis other things to be done! CHAPTER XIV. SHE AMAZES ONE OF THEM. LOOK here, Mis' Holmes, what arc you doing it for.?" It was Happy's voice, bewildered, almost awe- stricken. In her hands she brandished a knife, a spoon and three forks, which had just been ban- ished by Mrs. Holmes from the neatly laid table, because they were not bright enough to warrant their moving in such society. Happy had for the third time, under Mrs. Holmes' instruction, taken off some of the dishes in order to straighten the cloth ; but so very gentle, even genial, had been the voice and manner of her new mentor that Happy had not even once frowned nor twitched her shoulders ; on the contrary, she had developed a continuous tendency to laugh. "You see, Happy," said her teacher, as for the third time the cloth was re-arranged, " it will never do to have this table-cloth awry; it is a i66 SHF. AMAZES ONE OF THEM. 167 very fine one, and is ironed beautifully ; but to lay it crooked would spoil the effect, and j;ive us an impression of disorder and discomfort." Happy surveyed the table-cloth with curiosity; it was one of the marvels of this eventful Satur- day morning. But a few moments before Mrs. Stetson left the kitchen she had made a dash into the dining-room, surveyed with disdain Happy's leisurely efforts at setting the table, given a short, sharp order to the effect that the few dishes already in place be removed at once, snatched at the soiled and much-worn cloth, cast it in a flimsy heap in the corner of the room, and then pro- duced from her store this marvel oi whiteness and fineness. In vain Happy ventured to sug- gest that it wasn't the day for clean things. "Yes, it is, too," said the landlady, sharply; "it's the day for clean things of all sorts! I guess I can have a clean table-cloth Saturday, if I want it. Go and ut that rag in the dirty clothes and set this table nice, or I'll be after you." To Happy's comfort and the table's benefit, it was Mrs. Holmes, instead, who had been "after" the disorderly girl, and, by dint of patient direc- tion and patient determination that the thing should be done right, had at last succeeded in having the table-cloth properly straightened, and laid without a wrinkle. But Happy's wonder, ■'( ^■M^ 1 68 «ER ASSOC I AT r: MKMBERS. \ I I :1 which had been rising all the morning, now reached its climax, and she arrested proceedings by that short, pertinent question : "Look here, Mis' Holmes, what are you doing it for ? " " Doing what, Happy ? Set the dishes in place as rapidly as possible, please, as we have very little more time." "Doing the hull of it. Mis' Holmes; the bread, and dish-washing, and every thing. Nobody ever did so before, not in this kitchen, and it ain't because you're a friend to her. She sassed vou only this morning right to your face, and she says you are stuck up, and she can't cook fine enough to suit you, and you fuss over things. Now, what's it for ?" It seemed desirable to respond to the look on the bewildered girl's face, if not to the words in which she voiced her perplexities. Evidently the simple bit of Christianity involved in reaching out a helping hand had thrown Happy's brain into a whirl. She was utterly at a loss to discover a motive for such action. '• Lay the mats in this way, Happy, and the glasses want to be set so. Don't you think they look better than they do standing as though they were thrown on the table ? Why have I been helping Mrs. Stetson and you a little while this morning, do you mean ? Do you remember what SHE AMAZES ONE OF THKM. 169 : I said to you a few days ago about the Lord Jesus Christ ? I am doing it for him," "My land!" said Happy, "I don't know what you mean no more than if you talked Dutch. What could He care about washing dishes, and all Mis* Stetson's other work?" "But he does care! Don't you know 1 told you? He cares for her; knows just how troubled she is to-day, and how many hard things she has to bear. He wants her helped and comforted, and he sent me to do what I could." ■'It beats all!" burst forth Happy again, after a moment's puzzled staring. "I never heard any body that was stark crazy talk as queer as you do. Any body would think that that One you talk about was up stairs in your room this minute, and had sent you down here to work." "Which is the simple truth, my girl" — albeit the lady smiled while she spoke ; Happy's way of putting the truth was rather unique — "He is up stairs in my room, and down here with us, and in the kitchen, and everywhere. Do you not remember that He sees all persons and things, and is interested in our smallest acts ? Why, Happy, when He was on earth He went about all the time doing kindnesses for any who needed, and would let Him help. Have you not read His life? You like to read stories ; some of the strangest stories ever written you will find in that book." ■■Ji ' I/O HER ASSOCIATE MEMHERS. "The Bible is an awful big book," said Happy, discontentedly, "and I don't know much about it ; but I don't understand it a mite more than I did. He woiildn'i wash dishes and make pies." "He would do whatever the soul He was hel{> ing, needed most, Happy. At one time He washed the feet of twelve tired, dusty men, to teach them not to shrink from the humblest duties ; and He said that His life here was to be an example to His followers. I am one of his followers ; that is why I try to help." " I'd be willing to help people that I liked," declared Happy, in growing discontent. "I'd wash dishes, or scrub, or do any thing for you, Mis' Holmes, but she's so dreadful cross and snappy, and ready to bite you if you do the least thing. How would you like to have your ears boxed, and you a great big, grown-up girl ? I guess you wouldn't have washed her dishes if she'd 'a' done that to you." Happy, scowling, was a curiosity. She had evidently felt her disgrace of the morning keenly. Poor Mrs. Stetson would be likely to have even a harder time with her hereafter, unless some influ- ence outside of herself could reach and recon- struct this girl. They were both in the kitchen now, and the self-appointed cook was giving care- ful attention to the dozen or so "last things" which go to make or mar a dinner. It seemed a SHE A.MAZKS ONE OF TIIKM. 171 most unpropitious time for a lesson in thcolo<;y. There were even those who would have deemed it shading on the irreverent to attempt to talk of religious matters under sueh circumstances. lUit Chrissy Holmes' religion pervaded every thought and act of her life, and assuredly had to do with the kitchen fully as much as with the parlor. •' I have sometimes heen ahle to conduct myself in a Christian manner in a well-ordered parlor, without having a realizing sense of \.\\ii presence and help of Jesus Christ," she said once to a lady who was exclaiming over the impropriety of "bringing religion down to the level of the com- monplace," "but when my duty lies in the kitchen, especially at the nerve-distracting hour of 'dishing up,' I have discovered that I need a special meas- ure of the grace of God to keep my voice gentle and my face unruffled." There were people in her own station in life who thought Mrs. Holmes "just a little queer, you know " ; perhaps it was not strange that she so impressed poor Happy. She knew exactly how much milk she was adding to the gravy ; neverthe- less, she was considering at the moment how to make a solemn, far-reaching truth plain to the girl who held the platter. "Happy," she said, "1 have been thinking about your being willing to help jieople whom you liked ; that is a very natural state of mind. •«i i I I n 172 HER A^oOCIATE MEMBERS. and there is a sense in which we must always have more pleasure in serving those whom wc love than any others. God meant that it should be so, in order that many duties might also be pleasures ; but that other One of whom we were speaking — your example and mine, you know — served steadily and patiently those who scolded and threatened and mocked ; yes, even those who struck at Him not only, but actually spit in His face!" "Oh, my land!" said Happy, in solemn horror and disgust; "that ain't true. Mis' Holmes; now, is it? Because there ain't a man living but would knock folks down for such things, if he could ! " "This One could, you know ; He had all power He could have killed with a word, with a look, the men who mocked and the .>u n who struck and spit. What He did was to say : * Father, forgive them'." Either Happy had never heard this awful fact in history before, or else — and mo e probably, she had heard it as hundreds of others have, with- out giving it a moment's consideration — heard it as something which had not in the remotest degree to do with her, and happened so long ago, if at all, that it was not worth while to regard it. She was entirely silent, but the look on her face interested and half bewildered her teacher. Was it a scowl, and, if so, for whom ur what? SHK AMAZES ONE OF THEM. 173 1- "Mis' Holmes," she said at last, exploding the words as thou<^h they must be spoken, " if they'd have done it to me, I'd have spit back and hated them, and I couldn't help it either." '* Hut, Happy, what if you had been there by the side of this One who was hanging on a cross, dying for you, and they had done it to him, not to you ? " "Then I would have dug my nails into them and scratched their eyes out ! " It would not do to think of Happy as a' mere good-natured simpleton, after this ; her eyes flashed as Madeline Hurst's might have done, and there was a whole avalanche of pent-up hatred in her tones. "Yes," said the teacher, gently; "but, Happy» suppose you had loved that One hanging there so much more than any body else in the world, that to please Him was what yon lived for; and sup- pose that you were quite sure that to please Him you must forgive even such people, and help them if you could.'*" "Oh, Mis' Holmes! Then I'd a' tried; I would really. Because I would do a'most any thing for any body that loved me ; I would, honest ; because I ain't never had much loving done, you know, and I know what it U to get tilong without it." Poor hungry soull Cou.i a Christian woman ;tl :^^!l, iil l I i I 174 HER ASSOCIATE MEMBERS. li ■ 'i help calling out to the infinite Lover of souls to come into this starved heart and transform it ? Happy loved by Jesus Christ ! It was a wonder- ful thought, truly ; yet the Christian woman who knew Him well, could not for a moment doubt the fact. "Poor child!" she said; "I wonder at you for being willing to get along without it. The world is a very hard place for those who undertake that. But we are ready to serve the dinner now, and I expect you to do it very nicely ; because it is my dinner, you see, and you said you liked to please me. Let me see how swift and skillful and quiet you can be. Remember, I shall be watching you." It was certainly a success. What the boarders thought, who sat down to spotless whiteness, and handled dishes as smooth as velvet, and found the mashed potato delicate and creamy and hot, and asked for a second supply of turnip which had no lumps and was seasoned just to the taste, I do not know. The probability is, that, being most of them men, they thought nothing about it in detail ; they simply had a sense of being comfortable, more comfortable than usual, and wondered why a dim memory of home haunted them to-day, and wondered what made them so hungry. Not a man of them knew what it was that was so different to- day from yesterday. It takes a woman to realize ^ SHE AMAZES ONE OF THEM. 175 that the right amount of salt in the turnips, and the absence of lumps in the potatoes, and a hundred other kindred trifles, actually contribute toward making her a better person than she would otherwise have been. There is one other thing she knows, and that is that all these trivialities have a like influence over mankind in general, even though they neither realize it nor admit its truth after they are told. As for Happy, she certainly did astonish Mrs. Holmes and encourage her. The girl could move swiftly, it appeared, when she chose; she could shut the door without slamming it, and fill the glasses without making si river of water on the cloth. A dozen mistakes she made, of course, but the improvement in her was, as I say, astonishing, and gave the watcher a hint, which almost startled her, as to the possibilities of the transforming power of love upon this unloved one. Midway in the meal Mrs. Holmes became aware that she might relax her vigilance and anxiety so far as the kitchen was concerned, for another hand was plainly at work there. Through the half-open door she caught a glimpse, once, of Mrs. Stetson's face. It was wrinkled and old, and the traces of tears were upon it, but there was also some- thing else — a new look which she could not name. Liph, in his accustomed seat at the foot of the :!' ':| •■M, •IM M ''® .! '•'.; 176 HER ASSOCIATE MEMBERS. long table, ate his dinner in his usual silence ; he was nearly always late, and stayed after the boarders had departed ; he did so to-day, until only he and Mrs. Holmes were in the dining-room, she with her hand on the door-knob, ready to go. "You ought to like that lemon pie very much," she said, lingering and smiling. **I do," said Liph, taking a mouthful large enough to convince her of the fact, "but I dunno where the 'ought' comes in." " I do ; it is because your mother had it made on purpose for you. She told me it was your favorite, and that she liked to have it on that account. When mothers do things on purpose for their boys, the boys ought to like and ai)pre- ciate them. Mothers are wonderful beings, my friend. Did you ever think what it would be if yours were gone.''" The last mouthful of pie was swallowed, and Liph sat, knife and fork in hand, looking down into his empty plate. His face was grave enough; was it also sullen.'* Did Liph love his mother.' "She has been telling me of the pride she used to have in you when you were a handsome little boy in a white dress and yellow curls. If I were a boy, I would make my mother so proud of me at nineteen that she would laugh when she told of bow proud she used to be when I was two ; and never cry." ♦ f ■ • SUE AMAZES ONE OF THEM. 177 The door-knob turned swiftly and silently, and Liph was left to himself. "Happy," said Mrs. Holmes that eveniii:; as her piteher was being filled for the night, " 1 have been thinking of some things whieh you said this morning. Did you never read the story I told you about Jesus being mocked and spit upon.-*" "I dunno as I ever did, Mis' Holmes; not to sense it, any how : I don't remember it. The Bible is so awful big, you see ; and 1 don't under- stand it very well." " You have a Bible of your own, have you not ? " "Not much of a one; it's a little, old, ugly thing, with only one cover, and it's awful fine print. My teacher give it to me years ago, and I used to read in it some ; but it is fine print, and there ain't no beginning to things in it, somehow. It kind of hurt my eyes : I give it up a good while ago ; but it's kicking around somewhere, I reckon. I ain't seen it this age." Poor Happy ! She could sit up until after mid- night with her dime novels, and did, whenever she could elude the vigilance of Mrs. Stetson, without ever thinking of her eyes ; but when it came to a question of Bible reading, like many another higher in the scale of being than she, there was lack of time, and weakness of eyes i M CHAPTER XV. SHE LAYS SNARES FOR ONE. GOOD afternoon," called Mrs. Holmes, lean- ing far over the piazza rail to greet Made- line Hurst; "you are coming to see me, are you not ? I am all alone. The doctor has carried Mr. Holmes away for a ride, and I was trying to decide how to spend the time. Come up to my room and we will have a co.sy visit." In point of fact, Madeline Hurst had not intended any such thing. It had been several days since she received this lady's cordial invita- tion to "come and see her very soon," but the girl had had not the slightest intention of "put- ting herself forward," as she phrased it. The very fact that her sister-in-law was constantly pushing her way into a society which, as society looks at these days, was above her, made Made- line almost fiercely afraid of doing so. The truth is, she had lost many pleasant hours which might have been hers, because she fancied that those 1,8 SHE i>AYS SNARF.S FOR ONE. 179 ' who kindly triud to brij^htcn her life were patron- izing her. " I would rather associate with the Carpenters and i)eople of their stamp v.ll my life," - le had said an^^rily to her brother's wife once, "than be ])atronizcd by those who say \ oor thini ,' behind my back, or else sneer 01 laugh at my ignorance of their ways. They do not want me, and I know it ; if you would recognize the same thing, and not be forever trying to creep in where you don't belong, it would be better for all of us." Such truths were bitter to Mrs. Hurst's soul, and were a fruitful source of much of the angry disgust which these two fidt for each other. Therefore, the last thing which Madeline had meant to do was to put herself in the position of appearing to "run after" Mrs. Stuart Holmes. She had meant only to walk by that way, and per- haps see again the bright young face, so little older than her own, and so much fresher and sweeter than hers had ever been ; there would per- haps be a chance for a bow and a smile, if Mrs. Holmes should happen to remember her well enough to recognize her, which was doubtful ; there might at least be opportunity to look at her, as one would at a picture ; and to Madeline's starved and beauty-loving soul this was worth the effort. But who could resist such a cordial Invitation nil iU ! 1 ;i>''^ t m i^^ ^^^-< ^ \^ ^ > IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 1.0 u lift I.I us m u 140 zo 11.25 Hiotographic Sdenoes Carporation ^ ^ \ on many subjects. "She must have had a good mother," thought the lady, watching the play of expression on the changeful face. "A careful, cultured, tender mother ; and she is waiting for her in heaven. And the girl is in danger down here. If I can only save her lor her mother!" • CHAPTKR XVI. THKY SKAKCII FUR " REAL THINGS. i» LATER in the evening, when the lamp was ' turned low to allow full sway to a flood of silvery moonlight, Mrs. Holmes hoped for an opportunity to get closer to the heart of her guest, and learn, if possible, what dangers beset her way. They were quite alone again, Mr. Holmes having retired to his room for the night. "Oh, do not go yet," her hostess had said as Madeline madr a movement to depart; "I will give you a book to read while I am making Mr. Hclmes comfortable, then we will have time for a long talk. I was troubled as to how you were to get home, but I have thought out a charming plan. You know Uncle Tommy, do you not ? He is the nicest old man, and a particular friend of mine ; he comes this way each evening to bring our mail ; his way home lies directly by your door, does it not ? Oh, Uncle Tommy will take excel- lent care of you." 190 THEY SKARCII FOR REAL THINGS. 191 "Care of mc ! " said Madeline, laughing ; " why, I had not thought of such a thing ; I am accus- tomed to going where I please and when I please. I am not at all afraid in the dark, Mrs. Holmes." The woman who had been sheltered by thought- ful care all her life looked astonished and seemed distressed. "My dear girl, I beg your pardon for saying it, but you ought to be." "Why, pray.-*" "Why.? Ikcause Satan and sin are abroad in the world ; believe mc, dear, it is not safe for a young girl to walk the streets of any city alone at night. It cannot be your duty to go alone after dark, and I can think of no other motive which ought to take a self-respecting girl into such pos- sible peril." Madeline's cheeks were very red, and she bent low over the book which bad been placed in her hands. " Nobody ever troubled me," she .said, trying to speak lightly. " But somebody may, my dear girl ; and, if they should not, you set an example for those less care- ful of their ways than you." But at this Madeline laughed coldly. "You are really mistaken in me, madam," she said ; " I am not, and cannot be, a fine lady, to put on pretty airs and insist on being taken care of ! 192 HER ASSOCIATE MEMBERS. There is no one to do it for me if I wanted it. As for my influence, I have none in the world. Who is there that "ou imagine would quote Made- line Hurst in pr^v^f that an act was right or wrong ! " "More than one person," said Mrs. Holmes, earnestly; "people of whom you know nothing, perhaps. It is folly for any of us to declare that we have no influence. Until we can know all the past, and all the future, even as God does, our lips are sealed upon that point." Saying which, she vanished, giving those last words a chance to sink into the girl's conscience. "You have an interesting study out there," her husband said, inclining his head toward the door; "is she one of your associate members.!*" "I am afraid so; I half hoped at first that she might prove an active one, but this afternoon has not encouraged me." "The soil is full of weeds," he .said, "but per- haps she had a Christian mother." "Oh, she had; a good one, I believe; but she has been long gone, and the poor girl has spent her life of late among thorns." •'Still, perhaps the good se6d is not dead, only choked," he said, smiling; "we must adopt her and win her for Christ." "Do you like that book.!*" Mrs. Holmes said, returning to her guest a little later. THEY SEARCH FOR REAL THINGS. 193 Madeline gave a slight start. "Yes'm — or — no — I don't know, indeed; I have been thinking, and reading only sentences here and there." "You like to read.-*" inquiringly. " Oh, indeed, I like it too well ; better than I wish I did. The habit of reading every thing I can get hold of is always getting me into trouble. Yet I do not know how I could have lived without books." " What books do you read .'' " " Every thing I can get, as I said ; but that does not mean much ; my opportunities are lim- ited. There is a circulating librar)^, a small one, from which I have been getting books ; but it doesn't help much ; I have read and re-read every thing in it, and they only get new books once in an age ! " "What books do you like the best — history.^" "Oh, no, indeed," with a deep blush; "I do not like histories at all." " Biographies, then, or books of travel ? " "No, I cannot say I like such books; biogra- phies I think I hate. I like stories, Mrs. Holmes, real genuine love stories. I suppose that is very siLy, if not worse, and you are shocked with me." " Why should I be ? Am I not supposed to approve of love, my dear girl ? " "Oh, I don't know. They prose about it, you 194 HER ASSOCIATE MEMBERS. know, good people do ; they think it is wrong to read any thing more exciting than a psalm-book. I like exciting things, such as make me forget my every-day life, and lose myself for awhile at least, in the lives I read about." "And books which help you to live the life set for you, with a better aim and a truer purpose than before.? I like such books. Do the on^^s you choose help you in this way, Madeline.' I may call you Madeline, may I not ? ' *'If you will," said Madeline, coloring partly with pleasure and partly with shame of the con- fession she was about to make. " No, the books I read do not help me, I sup- pose ; at least they make me hate my life more than I did, and that is useless. Oh, I do not choose the best reading by any means. I do not do the best of any thing. I read to help me for- get myself, and my hateful surroundings, as much as I can ; that is my single motive." "But, Madeline, is it a wise one.' Is there not a better way ? If, for instance, there were books which would help you lift your life into an atmosphere which would give you joy and peace, would not that be better ? " "There are no such books; at least I never saw ttjm if there are, and I don't believe there is any thing in this world which would make me do other than hate my present surroundings." THEY SEARCH FCR REAL THINGS. 195 "Very well, let us go beyond this world, then. Is there nothing in the life of God which could do for you what he has for so many ? " Silence for a moment ; then, in lower tones than before: " You mean the Bible, I suppose. I do not read that any more ; I used to. i read it with mother every day, and for a little after she was gone, but not long. I couldn't ; it made me feel horrid — worse than any thing else." *♦ Poor child ! Do you not understand why > " The silence lasted longer than befor:;; then Madeline's great eyes, which were almost black, looked full at her questioner. " I may as well tell you the truth ; I suppose it was because my conscience told me plainly that I was not living in accordance with the teachings of the book." " And your only remedy for that was to close the book.? Oh, Madeline ! " "Well,'* said Madeline firmly, rising to the defensive, "I could not help it. As I was situ- ated, it was simply impossible to live by the Bible. When I had my mother it was different, but I told you that you did not understand my position." " And I told you that there was One who did. Do you believe it possible that He placed a soul where she could not follow out His dearest will 196 HER ASSOCIATE MEMBERS. concerning her? Is that in accordance with your mother's teachings about her Savior?" Madeline's head drooped suddenly, and again she was silent. After a moment Mrs. Holmes spoke again : "I do not know how you are circumstanced, it is true, nor, so far as this subject is concerned, does it make the slightest difference, except that those who have not in this life the place they crave, are especially called by the loving One, Have you forgotten how he said, ' Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest ' ? Is not that meant for you, my friend ? " But Madeline was obstinately silent. In her heart was an assured conviction that if Mrs. Holmes knew her sister-in-law, and had to live with her, she would talk and think differently. And then Mrs. Holmes, who felt that perhaps she had said enough of a strictly personal nature, tried another subject, or, more properly speaking, a different form of the same subject. "You like to read stories, you say, but you have not made plain to me what ones. There are stories and stories, you know ; some of them I like exceedingly." "You would not like my favorites." Made- line's tones were growing cold and dignified. "How can you be sure,, my dear? There is TIILV SEARCH FOR REAL THINGS. 197 Ig. roll ire ike ie- is hot such a striking difference in our ages that our tastes should be so greatly unlike." "It is more than age which determines these things," said Madeline, with the air of a sage; "I like sen.sational stories, such as you would call unreal, overdrawn and all that cort of thing." "And do you like unreal, overdrawn things, my friend .? " "Yes," said the girl defiantly, "I do. When the real things all about one are horrid, why should not one enjoy beautiful, unreal things, in books at least ? What harm can it do ? " " It is thought to increase one's dissatisfaction with reality, and at the same time to offer no rem- edy. Is that a just charge- ? " "I suppose so," said Madeline gloomily; "but that doesn't keep me from enjoying them, at the time." "You have not given me the name of a sin- gle author as yet. I am going to see if you do not, after all, like some of my favorites. Do you ever road Miss Warner's books ? " " What has she written ? I hardly ever notice the name of the author. You would not approve of that, either. Of course, 3'ou would choose your author with care, and avoid a book written by one whom you do not like, but I have little opportunity for choice, and read every thing ; so what does it matter who writes them ? " 198 HER ASSOCIATE MEMBERS. "Miss Warner has written a large number of books. «The Hills of the Shatemuc' was one of my favorites, and 'The Old Helmet' was another." "Oh, «Thc Old Helmet'! I read that once. I did not like it at all. People talk about unreal characters, Mrs. Holmes ; I do not know where you would find any more unreal than those described in that book. I do not believe such people ever lived as that Mr. Rhys, for instance." "In that case you ought to be fond of it, my dear; did you not just confess to me that you liked overdrawn books .' " Madeline flushed, and laughed a Hi tie. "I do not mean of that sort," she said, after a minute. "You think me absurd and childish, but I know what I mean, though I find it nard to explain myself. I have not of late years been in the habit of being asked my reasons for things. The unreal stories which I read and enjoy, deal with society and dress and amusements ; things about which one has a right to be as extravagant, on paper, as one pleases ; but when it comes to talks about religion and the Bible and matters of that sort, it never seemed to me it was right to picture things different from the reality. I do not think I am making myself very clear, but that is as nearly as I can express my thoughts." " I get your meaning, my friend ; there is force THeV search for real tHiNGS. 19^ in it, or would be, if there were not a very import- ant point which you overlook. What do you mean by unreal things — the impossible or the improbable?" "Well, the extremely improbable, perhaps. I do not think the absolutely impossible has much charm for me. I never liked fairy stories when I was a child ; but a delightful thing which might possibly be, I revel in, no matter how improbable, because I cannot help saying to myself : * Strange things have happened, they possibly may again, and they might, some of them, come to me.* Not that I expect any thing of the kind, either, only it is pleasant to imagine once in a while that I do ; but, as I said, when the highly improbable has to do with religion, it is not to my taste." "I understand, but let me ask you, suppose these highly improbable things were so only because people chose to take no steps to secure them ; and suppose that the moment one chose to make the apparently unreal his own, he could do so ; would it not alter your estimate .'" ** Of course ; but I do not see what that has to do with our argument." '• Do you not } To me it has every thing to do with it ; I have heard the charge of unreality brought against my favorite books before, and there is a sense in which it is true. For instance, it is true that there are few men like Mr. Rhys ; I 200 HER ASSOCIATF. MEMHERS. would not make so strong a statement as you did, for I have known a few who were much like him, but I grant you there are few. Now, the infinite difference between Miss Warner's extreme charac- ters and those of many extreme characters in fic- tion is, that hers represent not only the entirely possible, but they produce before us the picture of what it is our manifest duty as Christians to strive to become. Can the same be said of any of the books to which you are referring.?" "No," said Madeline, promptly, "nothing of the kind could be said, and I never before heard any body say that it was possible to be as good as Miss Warner made her characters. I'm sure I should like to see some who were like them ! " " But, my dear friend, is the pattern held up in that book any better than the one which the Bible calls for when it says : * Present your bodies a liv- ing sacrifice, which is your reasonable service.?'" "Perhaps not, but then who does it.?" "That is not to the point. You know the question is not so much * Who does it .? ' as * Who will .? ' If Madeline Hurst, reading of the pure and beautiful life of some fictitious character patterned after the man Jesus Christ, is moved thereby to the remembrance of Him who was not fiction, but glorious reality; who lived on earth, and loved and died in order that we might be conformed to his image ; and if she resolves because of it to try THEV SEARCH FOR REAL THINd.S. 201 from henceforth to order her life after that pat- tern, has not the unreal and unnatural character accomplished a blessed result ?" "Then you tliink it is all right to be unreal in religious fiction ?" "If by unreal you siniply mean, as I suspect, not common, and if the picture is something which might be real, this is, in my judgment, the realm of legitimate fiction, and its only excuse for being at all." "Well," said Madeline, drawing a long sigh, after a minute of silence, " I confess that I have a stronger hope of suddenly falling heir to a hundred thousand dollars and exchanging my one room in the attic for a palace, as the young lady did in the last novel I read, than of growing into such a perfect character as Mr. Rhys, or even as Elinor did, after she became his wife ! " And then Uncle Tommy came with the mail, and the evening was gone. CHAPTER XVII. SHE FINDS AN "ACTIVE MEMBER. • f MRS. HOLMES, as she looked after them down the moonlighted street, wondered sadly what she had accomplished, after all. The girl was bright and interesting, but so positive in her views, and so narrow in her range of thought ! She seemed almost as far away from that one perfect life as poor Liph himself. "And I did not say a word to her about Mrs. Carpenter," she added, with a self-reproachful start. "After all, of what use would it have been ? The poor child cannot help her, not until she is helped herself. And what is there that she will let reach close enough to help her.^ " She was on the lower piazza, whither she had gone to see Madeline off, and have a minute's talk with Uncle Tommy. She walked back and forth in the moonlight, full of sad thoughts. How was the work to be done, any of it ? There 202 SHE FINDS AN ACTIVE MEMBER. 203 were so many now in whom she was keenly inter- ested, yet she was making no progress. "It is very strange," she told herself sadly, "so many and yet so utterly unlike one another, and so unlike any persons for whom I have ever worked before. I cannot help being interested in them, yet I do not seem to be the one to accom- plish results. Some of the time I even repel. I wish I could have discovered the names of some of the books which Madeline Hurst reads ; they seem to have a strange influence over her. They cannot be like Happy's selections ; the girl has too much mind for those." As she walked back and forth thinking her troubled thoughts, she heard footsteps approach- ing, and was surprised to see Uncle Tommy returning. "Wbv, Uncle Tommy," she said, going to the gate to opeak to him ; " are you coming back ? I thought you had started homeward for the night. Have you seen my charge tc her own door already .?" "I started home, ma'am, but had to turn around and trudge back because I forgot some- thing I was to bring. Uncle Tommy never could depend on his head to save his heels, and grows worse as he grows older. No, I didn't see her to the door, ma'am ; she met with some one whose company suited her better than mine, and said I 204 HER ASSOCIATE MEMHERS. nccil not trouble further, though it would have been no trouble at all, of course." '• Met some one ? Did she meet a friend ? " "Aye, and he turned and walked with her, and seemed glad oi the chance, and she likewise, or at least willing ; so there was nothing for me to do but turn and leave them." "A gentleman was it, Uncle Tommy?" "Aye, at least that is what he calls himself. I make no doubt there might be two opinions about that." "Was it her brother. Uncle Tommy?" "Oh, no, ma'am ; not her brother." The old man did not seem disposed to say any thing more, though she waited in hope that he would give her the name of Madeline's friend. She was disturbed, she hardly knew why. Cer- tainly it was not an unusual state of things for a young woman to have a gentleman friend who could with propriety join her in an evening walk. Nevertheless she could not help feeling troubled. Truth to tell, Mrs. Holmes was strongly tempted toward discouragement to-night. The reaction from the nervous strain caused by her steady effort to entertain Madeline Hurst, was upon her, and perhaps helped to make her mental vision less clear than usual. She could almost have cried out with the prophet of old, "I, even I, only am left." There was so much needing to be done, and no SHE FINDS AN ACTIVE MEMBER. 205 workers ! Here, for instance, was Uncle Tommy, a clean-faced, neatly-dressed, self-respecting old man, whom every body liked and trusted ; who v/as so true to his word tliat it hud passed into a sort of proverb among the people of his neighbor- hood, "It is as sure to be done as though Uncle Tommy had promised it." Yet it came to her suddenly, standing there, that she had never said one word to the old man on the one important theme! His hair was whitening fast, and the time he had to spend on earth must of necessity be short. Was any one interested in where he would spend his future ? Who was trying to help him settle so important a question ? "What is a gentleman?" she asked, dreamily, more for the purpose of seeming to be friendly with the old man, and yet carry out her own train of thought, than because she was interested in his reply. "Well," said Uncle Tommy, straightening him- self in the moonlight, "there might be different opinions about it ; looking on at folks, I've no kind of doubt that there are ; but if you ask for my views, why, according to my way of thinking, there is only one kind of true gentleman, and that is a man who is keeping to the road He trav- eled, just as near as he can." There was such intense reverence in the use of the first pronoun, that it did not need the rever- 1-1 ■id 4 206 HER ASSOCIATE MEMBERS. ent uplift of Uncle Tommy's bared head to tell the listener to whom he referred. There was an instant lighting up of her expressive face, and she reached forth her hand impulsively. "Oh, Uncle Tommy, do you know Him.? Then we are kindred." "I do that, n"^'im," said Uncle Tommy, clasp- ing the soft young hand in his old and wrinkled one. "I've been traveling on after Him for nigh on to forty years, and I reckon I'm coming pretty nigh to the turn where I shall see His face. It's a curious thing," and his old face rippled into smiles, "I've thought about It a great deal, and it's a very curious thing, but there comes a time when He lets us catch up with Him and walk along arm in arm." "Do you mean here.?" asked Mrs. Holmes, in a voice which was almost awe-stricken. Uncle Tommy's face shone in the moonlight almost as though it might have been the face of an angel. "No, ma'am, I mean there; though I've come to think, of late years, that we've a right to get a good deal nearer to Him here than the most of us have understood." "I have found an active member," said Mrs. Holmes to her husband ihe next morning. You can not think what a surprise and joy it was to me. I had almost grown to think that there were no Christians here. Well, of course I do not SHE FINDS AN ACTIVE MEMBER. 207 mean that, exactly, but you know we have not come into intimate acquaintance with any, as yet. I do not know of one professing Christian in this boarding-house, and I had some way forgotten that there were any. Where do you think I found him ?" "I can hardly imagine, if you have come in contact with him since I last visited with you," her husband said, smiling. "I had the impres- sion that that dark-faced, fierce-eyed girl was the only one you met yesterday. Did he call upon you.-" "Oh, no. I met him at the gate." "At the gate! Ah, you mean Uncle Tommy.? Oh, yes, I knew he was a prince of the Royal line. I had a little talk with him one day last week when you were out, and he came with let- ters. He is a blessed old saint, and has had a troubled voyage. He told me he was so glad to lie by in a quiet harbor for a little while, and make the shore through still waters. He was once a sailor, and his languag;; is filled with the imagery of the sea." Mrs. Holmes was quiet, with a sort of grave sweetness upon her face. She had had another surprise. The husband whom she supposed too ill to speak or think of Christian work, yet at his very first opportunity had a word of inquiry ready for the man who she thought had been neglected. •I' r: J 208 HER ASSOCIATE MEMBERS. Perhaps there was everywhere a great deal more work being clone than she imagined. The story of the old prophet came to her, and she fciniled as she repeated mentally the words, " I have left me seven thousand in Israel." • It was destined to be a morning of surprises. Mrs. Holmes, when she went down to see about her husband's breakfast, had another. She had just come from an encounter with Happy. That young woman had been met at the head of the stairs, water-pail in hand, a generous supply of the liquid which it had contained when she started having been left on a number of the stairs. "Land!" she had said, '"T b'lieve this pail leaks; or else I swashed it about. Don't drag your dress into it, Mis' Holmes ; though I dunno as it would do any hurt if you did. Dirt seems to slip off of you, like water does off of a duck's back. It doesn't do so with me ; every blessed thing that can stick to me, does." "Happy," the lady had said, interrupting this steady flow of words, "I have something for you which I hope you will use. When I was a young girl," she omitted to say how young, **I had a large-print Bible, neatly bound, which was a great pleasure to me. Every week I had a new verse marked in it, in red, or blue, or green ink, and that verse I was pledged to read, at least once each day. My Sunday-school teacher gave me SHE FINDS AN ACTIVE MEMBER. 209 a eat rse and ncc me the book, and I promised her I would be faithful to the daily readings. I learned to enjoy them very much. Now I have found a Bible as much like my copy as I could, and marked one verse. Will you take the book, and promise to read the verse each day for a week, and then let me mark another .-* " "Oh, land!" said Happy, giggling much, yet looking pleased, " I can't read in the Bible ; but that's an awful pretty one. It doesn't look a mite like the one I used to have." " It is only one verse a day," said the lady, in a persuasive tone, "and the print is large; it will not injure your eyes." Happy's eyes were as bright as jet beads. She laughed consciously over this sentence, then said, blandly: "Well, I don't mind, if it ain't but one verse a day. Land! I'd do more than that for you ; only I don't see why you care. What color did you mark it in ? " "Red," said Mrs. Holmes, promptly, "a very pretty red called carmine ; and I wrote your name on the fly-leaf. Now, Happy, in giving you this for your own, of course I trust you ; it is a token, you see, of the pledge between us that you will read the verse each day." "Oh, I will," said Happy, setting down her pail, to rub her hands upon her soiled apron before taking the neatly-bound volume in charge, \^: U' 1 210 HER ASSOCIATE MEMBERS. then looking with admiring eyes at her name writ- ten in full. "I declare for it," she said, "it ain't a bad-looking name when it is written pretty. My ! It must be fine to make such writing as that. I admire pretty writing, Mis' Holmes. I've got a friend," and now there was a conscious blush and that ever-present giggle, "who can write nice, too ; he wrote my name once in a book ; bui it ain't done as nice as this, and I mean to tell him so. I most always keep my word, Mis' Holmes, when I really and truly promise, down- right ; and I will this time, so there ! " Happy looked as though she had made a great concession to the prejudices of the lady, one for which she deserved thanks. She received them, Mrs. Holmes wondering, meantime, whether the fair little seed dropped into such unpromising soil would ever spring up and bear fruit. " I placed a card book-mark in the place where the verse is marked," she said, as she turned away, "You will like the card, I think; and you can change it from week to week to the newly marked verse. This is Saturday, is it not ? I think on Sunday, one week from to-morrow, will be a good day for a new verse." Then she had gone down stairs, leaving Happy to look at and exclaim over the card book-mark. She might well have liked it. Mrs. Holmes had given it an entire morning of careful work. The SHE FINDS AN ACTIVE MEMBER. 211 here ned you iwly ? I will ippy lark. bad The name "Hepzibah" was made in delicate vine- wreatbed letters on the center of the card, and winding about it on a spray of Southern jessa- mine were painted the words : " Shall the Lord •delight' in thee?" While the lady worked, sbe had bad a dim consciousness that many, perhaps most Christian workers, would consider this as time thrown away, a sort of "casting of pearls" before those unable to appreciate them. How could Happy be expected to understand the deli- cate hint in the question, or appreciate the care- ful workmanship.? Yet the girl loved pretty things, and had always a bright-colored flower or weed tucked into her frayed button-hole, or perched jauntily among the masses of her frowzly hair. Who could tell, after all, what this bit of beauty might do for her ? From that encounter Mrs. Holmes had gone, first to the kitchen, then to the piazza, to wait ; the scarcest thing in Mrs. Stetson's kitchen was hot water, freshly boiled ; it had nearly always to be waited for. Mrs. Holmes walked slowly back and forth, busy with her thoughts, and did not see Liph Stetson until his voice startled her. "Mornin', ma'am. You was talking about something the other night which made me think last night that may be you could do something there, if you had a chance ; and I thought I'd juat yWi , ill 111 fM' IM 51 212 HER ASSOCIATE MEMBERS. give you a hint, if you can keep dark as to wnere you got it," This extremely lucid beginning surprised and half frightened the one to whom it was addressed. Was she expected to enter into partnership witn Liph Stetson and "keep dark" as to his schemes? Uncertain how to reply, she concluded to let a kindly smile and question do for response. "Can I help you in any way.!*" and the smile might have won a statue into response. "'Tain't me," said Liph, succinctly, "only you talked that way, as though you was looking out for folks, and I thought maybe you might" — there he stopped. "Yes," said Mrs. Holmes, encouragingly; "is there somebody I can look out for: somebody who is in trouble or danger.^" "That's just it; I dunno about the trouble; I guess she don't think it is any trouble to speak of; and as for danger, why, that's the way folks look at it ; but you said if I had a sister, you know" — Another full pause. " I remember," said the lady, on the alert. "You see something ahead that, if the person were your sister, you should call danger. Is that it ? Are you speaking of Happy.?" " Happy ! " exclaimed Liph, with a disdainful toss of his shaggy head and a sort of ipdescfibablQ SHE FINDS AN ACTIVE MEMBER. 213 sniff; "no, I ain't! There's a girl that ain't a bit like her, that that fellow is making up to and going around with, and making believe he is some, and I dunno how much he means nor how much he don't mean ; only he's a scamp, if he is a gentleman, and maybe you, bein' a woman, would think there was something you ought to do or might do, though I dunno what it would be." Mrs. Holmes was very grave and keenly attent- ive. This mysterious matter, whatever it was, evidently meant serious business to Liph Stet- son, and he was making an unusual effort. She wished she knew how to aid him in his unwonted work. ** Do you mean Mr. Arson .-* " she asked, lower- ing her voice, though there was no person within hearing. Liph nodded emphatically. " I do that, ma'am ; and he is real out and out, downright what you might call mean, though he is high enough up in some things, and goes to places where such as me would get kicked out. And he goes to some other places where even such as me wouldn't be seen going ! " There was terrible significance in tone and manner. The startled woman felt that the boy of nineteen, far down the road to ruin, knew what he was talking about. '* Only," said Liph, beginning again, and lower- ing at her from under his shaggy brows, "that til i >3 'U l>i > m 'A 214 HER ASSOCIATE MEMBERS. ain't a tWng to be told over; I'm in scrapes enough now, without having to stand a chance of being half killed, telling of things that ain't sup- posed to be none of my business. If you can't keep dark, and if I hadn't had a notion that you could, why, then " — II CHAPTER XVin. SHE DISCOVERS A "LOOKOUT COMMITTEE. >» I WILL be very careful, indeed," said Mrs. Holmes, earnestly; "you shall not be gotten into any trouble through me. Will you tell me the name of the girl whom you think may be in danger?" "She's a girl that lives on Seventh Street, just out of Green. She lives with her brother, and her name is Hurst — Mad Hurst they call her. I dunno what her real name is ; that is some kind of a nickname, I s'pose. But she is a nice-look- ing girl, and she ain't got no mother, nor folks, to take care of her much, and her brother wouldn't take no notice of any thing I'd say, and would just as lief get me into trouble besides, and I thoug.^t maybe" — Liph's full pauses were more eloquent than his words. Mrs. Holmes felt herself trembling with surprise and apprehension of, she hardly ais " t (-' ts • iff J "J t ) \i i r 2l6 HER ASSOCIATE MEMBERS. ii: ill Ii; ■! knew what ; but she controlled herself to answer reassuringly : "I understand; thank you. I will be very careful, and will do what I can. You were right to tell me about this. It is good to be on the alert in this wicked world to save people from danger. It gives me courage to think that you mean to save yourself. You have a mother, you know." But at this Liph turned away, his duty done. Evidently he had no intention of applying the lesson of his good deed to himself. "Wait just a moment," Mrs. Holmes had called after him, and, moving forward, had spoken low : "Tell me, please, why you thought of this just now. The person is not here." "Yes, he is," said Liph; "he got back last night." It was a very grave and quiet woman who went in due time up the stairs with a pitcher of hot water and a plate of toast. She had almost noth- ing to say as she prepared a dainty morning meal, even to the poaching of an egg by the aid of her invaluable alcohol lamp. She was certainly a suc- cess this morning in keeping her hands busy with one line of work and her thoughts on another. Were the "fellow" of whom Liph Stetson warned her, and the "gentleman" about whom Uncle Tommy spoke, one and the same ? If so, SHE DISCOVFRS A LOOKOUT COMMFTTEi:. 217 what influence had he over Madeline? What was he trying to do with her ? How far was Liph's judgment or truthfulness to be depended upon, and in any case what could she do about it? Grave enough questions, certainly. No wonder they kept her quiet to the degree that her hus- band watched her with a shade of anxiety upon his face. Was this fair Christian whom he had himself helped to rouse to earnest endeavor, going tc indulge in her besetting sin again, and overwork ? Yet even while he thought, and was on the verge of speech, there was a sudden light- ing up of the grave face, and she turned toward him, smiling : "Stuart, my society is growing. Last night, you know, I found an active member, and this morning, don't you think, I have discovered a 'lookout committee' ! I am not going to tell you about it, not now, because you must eat your breakfast, and the doctor said I must entertain you while you ate." "Your lookout committee is not entertaining, then?" She laughed softly. "There are circumstances under which it might be, but there is a story connected with it, which you shall h; ar when you are stronger," "T am stronger now," he said, sitting upright; "you and the doctor pet me altogether too much, iiiif"^ \P 2i8 HER ASSOCIATE MEMBERS. u I give you warning that I am not to be done in pink cotton and laid aside mucli lunger. I'm almost ready to become an active member again myself, Chrissy." This time her laugh was free, and her face aglow with gladness. The happy wife remem- bered that whatever anxiety and danger there might be in the world hei own cup of gratitude was full to overflowing. "Chrissy," called her husband on the afternoon of that same day, as she was passing through the room, "have you something on your programme which demands an hour or two of absence ? And, if so, is not that useful maiden, Hepzibah, with her inevitable book, needed elsewhere than at my door.?" His wife halted before his chair in smiling won- der. "What does all this mean.? Do you feel anxious to be rid of me for that length of time ? " His answering smile was very bright. "I have been wondering uhethti I could not entice that poor fellow over here to look after my needs for awhile, on the plea of benevolence, or something of that sort, and so find opportunity, perhaps, to speak a word to him which might be helpful. I have been watching him sitting over on that gro- cery step. He is the most dreary-looking person 1 have seen since we came here. I have a long- ing desire to try to reach him." Silli DISCOVERS A LOOKOUT COMMIT lEK. 2 H) " Do you mean Lipli ? Oh, poor fellow! there he is. He sits on that door-step nearly every afternoon, and appears so dreary and aimless. What a thinj^ it would be if some power sufficient to arouse him could take hold of the boy ! " ♦•Whoa!" said ;he clear voice of the doctor, and he reined in his ix)nics before their door. "Ah," said Mrs. Holmes, "instead of my going out for an hour, I think it will be you ; the doctor is in search of company, I presume." But having carefully questioned his patient, and expressed satisfaction with his progress, Dr. Port- land turned to the lady : "Have you broken your contract.'" he said, with an air of great gravity. " My contract ! " "Yes, your contract. Do you mean to say you ignore it ? It will not do, madam ; I am perfectly familiar with evasions of that kind ; still, I admit I did not expect it of you. Did not you promise to take me into partnership .-* And did not I expressly stipulate that there should be no third party to the concern ? " "Oh, well, I have kept my pledge, or, rather, your pledge ; if I remember correctly, I made none. But I have said almost nothing to Mr. Holmes about my friends and their needs since that day." *• Oh, ' Mr. Holmes ! * Who has mentioned his :!, l! § i H^. .is; 220 HER ASSOClATi: MEMBERS. name? That is just like a married woman; she believes there is only one man in the world, and he has the honor to be her husband ! Mr. Holmes, I entered into a business contract with this lady — I was to give advice, and, otherwise — in short, assistance to the best of my ability, to her patients of all sorts and conditions, and only stipulated in return that I should be sole partner in the concern ; and, behold, to-day I discover a rival in the person of Uncle Tommy." "Uncle Tommy ? " repeated Mrs. Holmes, start- led and a little disturbed. What had he been saying to Dr. Portland .-* There was an instant fear lest Madeline Hurst was involved in some way. She waited anxiously for further words, but the doctor regarded her with a serious face and an air of mock disapproval. "Do you call that honorable treatment, Mr. Holmes.^" he continued, still addressing her hus- band. "Here is Uncle Tommy stopping me on the street when I am in great haste, and calmly giving me advice concerning my own patients. 'I think, sir, the madam at Mrs. Stetson's would do something for her — something that you and I cannot do.' Those were his words. 'You and I,' indeed ! As though we were equals in skill and experience, and *the madam' was superior to us both!" "A patient of yours!" said Mrs. Holmea, SHE DISCOVERS A LOOKOUT COMMITTEE. 22 1 relieved. Madeline Hurst was not ill, for she had seen her in the distance that morning. "Who is there that I can help, Dr. Portland.?" " I don't know, I'm sure. If Uncle Tommy is to be believed — and he is evidently a partner — you can do more than I ; which is not saying much, for I frankly confess my inability to do any thing to speak of. The question is, how do you reconcile it with your conscience to have made a confidant of Uncle Tommy, after my express proviso." "Sit down, Doctor," said Mr. Holmes, "and tell us what you are talking about." "I haven't time to sit, and I'm talking about a sick woman who lives two miles out of town, and to whom Uncle Tommy says ' the madam ' can do more good than either he or I. I give myself credit for great discernment. I did not so much as ask Uncle Tommy what madain he meant ! There was a sort of intuitive perception about it. It only remains to learn whetJjr she will take a seat in my carriage, and be driven out to the said sick woman's to try her skill." "What is the matter with the sick woman.''" demanded Mr. Holmes, with such emphasis that the doctor faced around to him and answered with great gravity, 'It is a case of small-pox and typhoid combined, with a touch of yellow fever, or something of that sort, thrown in." ' n m II .! ! n 5 .' ,!' m i, n i ■; m I 222 HER ASSOCIATE MEMBERS. "No, but seriously, doctor, of course I can not allow Mrs. Holmes to go where there is any grave disease. She is not strong enough for any thing of that sort." **0h, I have not mentioned any thing grave, you know — just those trifling ailments! Seri- ously, my friend, do you suppose for a moment that I would ask your wife to go to a place of danger.^ The woman of whom I spoke is gravely ill, I fear, but it is a case of mind more than boJ^. She is simply broken down under the weight of a life which has been too much for her. If you could ride out and speak a word to her, Mrs. Holmes, there is a possibility that you might bring a little comfort into her tired heart." One of those sudden changes of which this mercurial doctor was capable had come upon him. He was gravity itself, combined with a certain gentle deference which became him well. It ended, of course, in Mrs. Holmes accompanying him on this new mission of mercy. Not very courageously, it is true; her brief experience as a Christian worker had not brought her into con- tact with the abject poor, either among sick or well. She had grave doubts as to her being able to meet Uncle Tommy's hopes in these directions. She questioned the doctor as they rode, hoping to learn something of what was expected of her, but, if he understood, he did not offer to enlighten her. SHE DISCOVERS A LOOKOUT COMMITTEE. 223 f? :, * i ; CHAPTER XX. SHE RECEIVES, TO ACTIVE MEMBERSHIP. IT is a pity that Mrs. Holmes could not have had a picture of Hepzibah Smithers, as she set her smoky little lamp on an over-turned box which did duty in her room as a toilet table, and drew her one wooden-seated chair toward it for the purpose of fulfilling her pledge and reading that marked verse in her Bible. There Was an air of resoluteness about the girl, as though she had resolved once for all to enter martyrdom and conquer the verse before she slept. She was very tired and unusually sleepy ; the little wads of discomfort over in the corner, which she called a bed, looked most inviting to her, yet the memory of her emphatic "I'll do it," held her before the box and book. "When I promises I promises," she said, stoically, and opened the Bible. She might have been awed had she known with what painstaking, prayerful care Mrs. Holmes had selected the marked verse. In truth, that lady 240 SHE RFXEIVES, TO ACTIVE MEMBERSHIP. 24 1 had been long in doubt which pearl out of the wondrous treasure-box to choose. The familiar one so often used occurred to her: "God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have everlasting life." But she shook her head over it ; it was too high, too wonderful, for Happy. She did not understand that she was in any danger; she felt no need of an infinite Savior. In like manner, the tender calls of the compassionate One to the "weary" and "heavy laden," did not seem to fit the present moment. Happy might be "heavy laden," but she did not know it, in the sense which the call meant. Her choice at last was one which bewildered herself; when she came to think it over afterward it seemed not suited to Happy, yet the persistent way in which her thoughts went back to it while she was searching, and the persistent impression that here was the verse to be marked, was not to be resisted : " He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment ; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but will confess his name before my Father and before his angels." What did Happy know about overcoming? She did not even want to know ! Nevertheless, this searcher after lost sheep made her heavy red lines about the words, and wondered why it w^s • ''1 n ii 'r It M ' ' i ;%f 242 HER ASSOCIATE MEMBERS. that she must choose thus. The "Chief Shep- herd" knew. If Happy did not understand the word "overcome," there were certain other words as she slowly read them which caught and held her thoughts. Certain experiences of that very day had prepared her to be thus held. She had met that afternoon, on her way to the grocery for molasses, Mr. Arson and "that Hurst girl " walking together ; walking slowly, absorbed apparently in conversation ; at least, Mr. Arson had been so absorbed that he came almost upon Happy, staring and blushing, before he saw her at all ; then he actually frowner?, and made not the slightest attempt at recognition. " He doesn't want to own that he even knows me," said Happy to herself with a heart swelling with indignation ; then she looked after the two, eagerly, longingly; stopping on the street corner regardless of observation, to do so. What a thing it must be to have a whole afternoon when one could dress up and walk the streets, and be talked to by the man who was bending his head toward Madeline Hurst ! And Madeline was clothed in a dress of spotless white, without so much as a touch of color about her. Madeline knew that the dress was coarse and plain, and that she was outgrowing it, but Happy did not; to her eyes the girl was dressed like an angel, po you get a conception of what the unfamiliar SHE RECEIVES, TO ACTIVE MEMBERSHIP. 243 Bible words may have said to the poor dark heart ? "He that overcomcth, the same shall be clothed in white raiment." Somewhere Happy had heard that word "raiment," in connection with lier novel-reading, and understood its meaning; she caught her breath over the sentence, and read it again. Here was a chance for somebody; these words were in the Bible, and she had a vague feeling that what was in that book was somehow true. The way to secure the "white raiment" was as Sanscrit to her, but it was something to feel that there was a way, and that Mis' Holmes could tell her how to find it. "And I will not blot out his name out of the book of life." What did it mean ? She did not know. Only it was nice not to have your name blotted out, of course. She liked her name on the fly-leaf of this book. She would like to see anybody dare to blot it out! But over the next sentence she fairly held her breath: "I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels." " He darst to own that he knew me," she mur- mured ; "and before angels an " all ! That Hurst girl wouldn't be much by the side of a lot of angels, I guess. Oh, dear me, I wisht I knew ! " She leaned her elbows on the dry-goods box and bent herself forward over the book, reading the startling words again, slowly, carefully, to ! . ' »IM 244 TIER ASSOCIATE MF.MRERS. make sure that they were really all there then ; lifted her eyes to the dingy wall before her and said again, "I wisht I knew!" but this time she added, after a moment's thought, "And I mean to; so there! " What she wished she knew was what it meant to "overcome." "To the weak became I as weak, that I might gain the weak," said the great apostle hundreds of years before. Was he in this, as in other things, but faintly copying his infinite Master, who was at that moment bending to the weakness and almo.st ridiculousness of poor Happy's conceptions, which were "of the earth, earthy".? "That I might by all means save some," said Paul. And it may be he understood some of the "means" he was directed to use as little as did Mrs. Holmes, who sat in her room at that moment deploring her folly in having chosen a verse infinitely beyond Happy's understanding. "Look here. Mis' Holmes," said Happy, next morning, waylaying the lady as usual on her transit from the breakfast table ; " I read the verse over three times; what does it mean?" There was no giggling now ; instead, there ^vas intense earnestness, and a certain reserve force of determination behind the words, which impressed the listener. "Which part of it, Happy?" she asked, to give herself time to plan how to answer. SHE RECEIVES, TO ACTIV^E MEMnERSHII'. ^4!^ "The very first of it: 'Me that overcf)nieth * ; them's the words. Mow do you do it, and what is it, any way ?" Here was a question, truly ! Mrs. Holmes, half-way up the stairs, w:is expected to pause and answer that over which theologians had been studying and writing tomes for centuries ! She sat down on a stair, the better to do it. "Happy, it means those who take Jesus for their pattern, and try every day to do the things which he likes, and to keep from doing things which grieve and disappoint him ; all such over- come the temptations which Satan sets for them^ and show by their lives that they are following Jesus. Then, when the time comes, he takes them to his home, and introduces them to his Father and the angels as his friends." "Oh, my ! " said Happy, but her face was grave. " Folks don't do it, though. Mis' Holmes, none of 'em." "Don't do what.?" "Right; always, without ever making mistakes, and forgetting, and all that. Leastways, I never saw 'em if they did." "But they try, Happy. If you had a little sis- ter who wanted to please you so much that she tried everyday to do just as you did, wouldn't you love her, even though she didn't get any thing she did, quite right?" ^■if i-i l!li I . i i ;; m : Si !M.> M 246 HEK ASSOC! ATP. MKMI;KRS. ••Ycs'm, I should that!" said Happy, with energy. "And don't you thini< if she kept on trying; every day, she would certainly after a time be able to do a great many things right ; even the things she had failed on at first ? ' "Course," said Happy, confidently. "Then, that is, as nearly as I can explain to you now, what Jesus means by 'overcoming.' It is in the first place a fixed resolve to follow his directions — not to follow them to-day and neglect them to-morrow; not to do as He pleases one hour and as you please the next hour ; not to say, 'Maybe I will do it, sometime.' You could not think that your little sister was honest in her desire to please you if she managed in that way; neither can He. It is, as I said, a fixed determ- ination to follow his directions, always, every- where, no matter what they lead to. That is the first step." Happy stood considering. Mrs. Holmes had never seen her face grave for so long a time before, when it was not in a frown. She watched the gill with a kind of tremor in her heart, lest she should not have said the right words to her in this which was evidently a crucial moment. She was hardly prepared for the next question. "Well, what's the next one?" "The next what, Happy?" SHE RECEIVES, TO ACTIVE MEMnPRSlIlP. 247 • » "Step. You said that was first; what's next? Mrs. Holmes* face hghtcd with a reflection of the thrill of gladness in her heart : this looked like decision. "To tell Him about it, and claim his help." Now poor Hap])y giggled ; not as though she were amused, but embarrassed, almost distressed: "Oh, land! Mis' Holmes, I can't. I s'pose you mean prayin* ; now I couldn't ! " "Happy," said Mrs. Holmes, earnestly, "it is just as simple a thing as it is for you to stand here talking to me ; more simple, because He can understand what you mean, even though you do not know quite how to express it. There are no large words necessary, nor sentences such as you may have heard used in prayer, and did not under- stand. It is simply saying : • Lord Jesus, I have made up my mind that I want to overcome. Show me how to do it." Mrs. Stetson's voice sooner or later always sum- moned Happy. It called her now in peremptory tones, and the girl went away swiftly, without another word. As for Mrs. Holmes, her face, though glad, had a strange solemnity upon it as she went about her morning work. Had she been given a glimpse into the "Holy of Holies," wherein the Savior of souls came down to the level of this feeble little soul and called it? Could she have looked in upon the girl that even- ''I ii 1'' I, ^ m;'\ 248 titk ASSOCIATE MEMfeEftS. ing, she would have been sure of it. Happy was near the dry-goods box, and the open Bible had a faint streak of soil upon it near the red-lined verse. But the smoky lamp had been suddenly quenched ; Happy could not have told why, only she seemed not to want it. The light of the full moon flooded the desolate little room and touched even its few worn-out belongings with a kind of beauty. And angels, listening, heard spoken, in low, awe-stricken, yet steady tones, these words : "Jesus, I've made up my mind. I want to 'overcome' and be owned before the angels, as you said. I don't know how, but she said you'd show me, and I mean to do it. When I promises, I promises." And the angels knew that, from that wonderful moment, although the way might be long and tortuous, and the mistakes so many as to almost discourage poor human patience, yet, neverthe- less, the day would come when this poor little earth-worm, kneeling in her uttic, would be pre- sented by the King to his Father and the holy angels, with exceeding joy ; and that she would be "without spot or wrinkle, or any such thing." "I am going to call on Madeline Hurst," said Mrs. Holmes to her husband, appearing before him dressed for a walk, after she had made all things comfortable for his afternoon rest ; "I do not know what to say to her, and am half-fright- SHE KKC:EIVES, TO Acfivi, MEMBERSHIP. 249 'ened at the thought 'A saying i'liy thing; yet I seem unable to let the matter rest. How are people to be saved from themselves, Stuart?" " By the expulsive power of a new affeeti^ti/' he said, smiling almost wistfully upon her. Occasionally this man, who had been taught some lessons in the school of affliction, wondered almost timidly how his wife would be taught to trust the part which was not for her to manage. A frowzy-headed, most slatternly-looking girl ^answered Mrs. Holmes' ring, and announced that "Mis' Hurst" was out, and "Mad" was up stairs sick. "Sick!" repeated the caller, anxiously. Made- line seemed like one who needed but a slight illness to prostrate her. The girl, on being ques- tioned, "guessed she wasn't much sick; she- coughed some, but she mostly did when she took cold, and she took cold about every time she stirred. She hadn't seen her to-day, but Mis' Hurst told them that she could have come down to dinner if i^he had wanted to." Over the anxfously-put question whether the caller could be allowed to go up and see her, the girl frowned and pu/zled. She "didn't know, she was sure; Mis' Hurst was away, and folks that come a-calling didn't commonly go up stairs. She hain't got her room fixed up for callers," the girl added, with a half-em barrass^/J It {-• i'i . :,n\ O'O gl« A 'SO HER ASSOCIATE MEMBERS. "You may ask her if she will see me," said Mrs. Holmes, with decision; "tell her I would like very much to spend a little while with her if she is able. Take this card to her, please." Poor Madeline's cheeks were burning with fever, and her head ached so she could hardly read the card which was thrust into her hand. It is humiliating to have to confess it, but I am afraid the feeling uppermost in her heart was that if she permitted her caller to come to the attic- room, it would be the surest way of mortifying her sister-in-law. She gave one swift dance about the low, dreary room, with its one curtain- less window, save for a newspaper pinned against it, with its uncomfortable cot in place of a bed, and its utter absence of the usual furnishings of a young woman's room, and, with a smile which would have grieved and frightened Mrs. Holmes, said : "Yes, let her come up. She will understand some things better than she docs now, after she has spent five minutes in this room." It was perhaps an hour afterward that Mrs. Holmes, on her way through the lower hall, came upon the lady of the house, who had just entered the front door. "Mrs. Hurst, I believe.''" she said, in answer to that woman's stare of astonishment. "I am Mrs. Holmes. I think, madam, you cannot know SHE RECEIVES, TO ACTIVE MEMBERSHIP. 2$ I that your sister is quite ill. I have been with her for the last hour, and she grows steadily worse. Her breathing is becoming very labored, and I fear that, unless promptly relieved, she will have congestion." "The idea!" said Mrs. Hurst. It seemed a strange reply to make to such information, but the fact is, the only portion of it which the bewil- dered and dismayed woman had realized was that Mrs. Holmes, the elegant stranger whom she had watched at a distance with envious eyes, had actually been to her attic spying out its bare- ness ! Her face flushed angrily at the thought; she knew only t(JO well how the attic looked. What unparalleled impudence it was in this upstart woman to force herself into other people's houses ! "If I can do any thing," said Mrs. Holmes, hesitating ; •' I came down to see if I could find you, or somebody else, and speak about a physi- cian. I hall pass Dr. Portland's office on my way home , .^ he is your physician. I c 3uld leave a message." Then Mrs. Hurst rallied to the emergency. "You are very kmd," she said in a tone which was intended to be dignified, "but there is no occasion to trouble you. My sister-in-law is accustomed to these attacks, and I know what to do for her. bhc ^s inc^inied to make a great deal of a little sickness, md ha.s frightened you, I sup- ■0*' H I 'tr 4' M ■i T' i-l J \' ■■ ■;>! Ill i 1 ', i 252 ilEk ASSOCIATE MEMBERS. f)ose. I know ho^ to deal with her. There is nothing to be alarmed about." l^ut now Mrs. Holmes' cheeks wefe red also, and her eyes very bright. '•Indfeed, madam," she said earnestly; "pardon rne for saying I feel very sure that you are hiistakcn. I am accustomed td illness, having i^ecehtly nursed my husband through a long, feevete attack, which was not unlike this in its beginning, and was allowed to get too firm a hold before we understood it, or realized the danger. I am confident that when you see her you will decide that a skilled physician should be sum- moned at once." "Oh, very well," said Mrs. Hurst, loftily; "if Mad is frightened, she can have a doctor, of course ; but we by no means wish to see Dr. Port- land ; we /ould not employ him to doctor a cat !" There was nothing for it but to go away filled with anxiety over one who seemed so friendless. The disturbed • iller felt that she would almost rather have left the girl alone than trust her to the tender merries of such a woman. Madeline was light in one respect; Mrs. Holmes under- stood better now the sort of life the poor child must lead. CHAPTER XXI. SHE TURNS SURGEON. WELL of all things in this world ! " was Mrs. Hurst's exclamation as the door closed after her visitor ; "it I ever in my life saw any impudence equal to that ! I wonder how that hussy came to show her the way up stairs ! She ought to be discharged this minute to pay for it. 'Dr. Portland,' indeed! I think I see her sending him here! That is just like Mad; anything to create a sensation ; but it is too outrageous to think she let her come up stairs! I believe she did it just to spite me ! " Before that evening was over, both Madeline and Nancy wished they had not been so rash. Though truth to tell, poor Nancy, out of whose hands the matter was taken altogether, could not understand why she should be blamed ; but blamed she was most roundly. The entire Hurst family heard nothing else but the story of Mrs. Holmes' insufferable insolence, and Mad's mean-r 253 i 3 ■ ■ ■- ' ' I - .41 1 '! ; III*- .: -IS ■ '■■ii' i ' mi 1 *m| U 254 HER ASSOCIATE MEMBERS. ncss and Nancy's stupidity in aiding and abetting it. Under the influence of the general disorder, Mr. Hurst made a remark which placed him under the ban of disapproval also. "Well," he said, "I don't see why you can't keep things decent, so you needn't be afraid to have folks go up stairs when it is necessary ; there are fancy gimcracks enough in the parlor to make Mad's room decently comfortable, if the money spent on them had been put there." You will be ready to admit that this was hard upon Mrs. Hurst, for the "gimcracks" in the par- lor were her idols. It was two days before Mrs. Holmes saw Made- line again ; she called on the day following her first visit — was assured that "Mad" was better, needed nothing, and could not be seen ; on the second day, having knocked gently at the open front door and been unanswered, she waited a minute, then ran lightly up stairs and tapped at Madeline's door. She was even more shocked at the girl's appearance than on her first visit, and could not help feeling that this sickness was seri- ous. Madeline was alone, and evidently glad to see her caller, though she expressed surprise at her coming. "How did you get permission to come up here again .'* " "I took it," answered Mrs. Holmes, with a the open a at at and seri- to at here ;h a SITE TURNS SURGEON. 255 quiet smile; "the door stood invitingly open and my knock was unanswered ; so, as I knew the way, I took the liberty of coming up." "Good!" said Madeline, her eyes glowing with a strange luster which was not pleasant to see; " come up in the same way whenever you can ; it is the only way you will ever get here, and it annoys Mrs. Hurst so much that il does me good." " My dear girl, do not say such words, even in jest; I am sure you do not mean them." "Don't I!" said Madeline. And then Mrs. Holmes made haste to change the subject. "Are you really better.-*" she asked; "do you cough as much as you did .-* What physician attends you ? " "Madam Hurst." " My dear, have you not seen a physician ?" " Only the one I have mentioned ; she prides herself upon her skill. Doesn't she impress you as a woman whom I ought to enjoy having nurse me.?" "I think that is wrong," said Mrs. Holmes, gravely ; "I am sure you ought to have a doctor." "Never mind a doctor," Madeline said, leaning wearily back among the pillows, after a violent spasm of coughing; " I do not think I care to see one ; not of her kind, and I can compass no other. \it\ :1 '1* ' ' i 1 illl 256 HER ASSOCIATE MEMBERS. I am glad you have braved the consequences and come to see me ; you do not know how disagree- able they are, buL, ?li the same, I am glad you have come. Perhaps I became sick in order 10 give me a chance to think ; I need to do some thinking, Mrs. Holmes, and I have almost made up my mind to ask you to help me decide something." "If I can help you in any way, I shall be glad; but will you tell me what you mean by 'braving the consequences ' ? Does it make it harder for you to have me come here.^ " "Nevermind,* said Madeline; "she is jealous of you because you have had the kindness to notice me, and have not noticed her ; she would be jealous of a kitten if it purred for me ; so it is nothing against you personally, you see ; never mind her, Mrs. Holmes; I v/ant to talk to you, to ask you something. I have spoken very plainly to you, more plainly, perhaps, than I ought, for my self-respect ; I ought to shield my family, of course; I know enough about common politeness for that ; but I had an object in speaking, and in letting you see something of my life. It is quite intolerable to me, Mrs. Holmes ; really and truly I can endure it no longer ! I know a way out ; but the way is almost as disagreeable as the life I now live ; in some respects, indeed, it is more so, but in others it would be a manifest improve- SHE TURNS SURGEON. 257 ment. Can you give advice under such vague conditions as that?" " I might, my friend ; that is, if I may be allowed to ask a very few questions and receive frank answers." "Oh, questions!" said the sick girl, nestling uneasily on her cot ; " I am afraid of those ; especially when you ask them. Still, of course, I ought to answer, when I have asked advice." "The first one is very simple and easily answered: 'Would it be right to take the step which you say would in some respects improve your condition.-*' " "This is the very worst question to answer," Madeline said, and, flushed with fever as her face was, Mrs. Holmes could see that the glow deepened. "The truth is," she added, after a moment's silence, "it is a phase of the subject which I do not want to consider at all. I v/ant to look at it from the standpoint of expediency alone." "Then," said the lady, with quiet firmness, "I can not answer you. I aim to order all my acts in life with that question in view, as the leading consideration." "That would be inconvenient, I should think," the girl said, laconically. After a few moments of silence she began again, still in that restless, half irritable tone : im 1 111 258 HER ASSOCIATE MEMBERS. "You can theorize, I suppose. What if a home and friendship and protection, were offered to a lonely, desolate girl and she felt reasonably sure that she could do her duty by the one who offered it, is there any good reason why she should not accept such an escape from misery, even though she — she" — and then poor Made- line stopped, her face aflame. Mrs. Holmes felt that she was sitting on the edge of a precipice; or, what was worse, watch- ing the feet of another who was very near the edge, and whom a single false movement upon her part might precipitate ovor the brink. She tried to keep face and voice in utmost quiet, while she questioned, "Are you speaking of marriage, Madeline.?" It was evidently a more direct reply than the girl expected, and she hesitated before she said : "Suppose I were, what answer would you make ? " "There can be but one answer. If there are no obstacles such as self-respecting people con- sider, to prevent a marriage, then the all-import- ant question which each soul must answer to itself before God is, 'Can I honestly take with this person the vows which God and the law of the land make necessary to a legal marriage .? In other words, *Do I love him with the sort of love which I give to no other, so that he is you are con- iport- er to with w:^ of } ' SHE TURNS SURGEON. 259 the one man on earth to whom I could so bind myself'' Any other marriage than that, Made- line, is perjury in God's sight." Madeline turned her small, hot pillow angrily. " How many people do you suppose marry in that way ? " she asked, almost with a sneer. •*I do not know, my dear girl; nor do I see what the question has to do with the subject. As well ask me how many false people there are in the world, in order to prove that there can not, and need not, be such a thing as truth. Entirely aside from the Christian standpoint, I do not see how there can be moral decency in any other mar- riage than the one I have described." "But, Mrs. Holmes, a good, true man, who loved and respected a woman might give her the protection of his name, and care for her all his life, it seems to me, even though she could give him in return only friendship." Madeline's tones had changed ; the fierceness had died out of them, and they had almost a pleading sound which went to Mrs. Holmes' heart. But she resolutely shook her head, "It will not do, dear. No good man could respect a woman who would consent to take vows upon her lips which her heart did not echo. I can not conceive of the possibility of a good man wanting a wife who did not love him. God has so ordered it that marriage shall be a faint, but, '^■,. ' i i <{ !l ii '' -'.' ] W^- 1 Efi 'i' I'l ^ , *': mo. ^-j 'i! ■ iJ Hk 26o HEk ASSOCIATE MEMnERS. SO far as it goes, honest, type of the union between the soul and Christ. It is dishonoring to Jesus Christ to belittle the type, and make any of its terms other than strictly true." " I do not know anything about such high-toned reasoning, you must remember," said poor Made- line, coldly ; and Mrs. Holmes, reflecting, won- dered whether she would do better to drop to an illustration which was of the very dregs. "Did you ever hear Mrs. Carpenter talk about how she married for a home and for protection.?" she ven- tured to ask. But Madeline's swiftly changing face grew dark, and her eyes flashed angrily. •' I am talking about a very different person from Joe Carpenter," she said, in intense scorn. "That is, he seems very different to you now; but, Madeline, if he is one worthy to be loved and respected, believe me he would accept nothing less than love from the woman of his choice ; and what men who are not worthy, will become, only the God whom they insult can know. From a merely selfish standpoint, even, it is not safe to trust them. " Then she had the benefit again of a pair of flashing eyes. "I thought Christians were expected to be char- itable ! " the girl said, fairly biting off the words. "Do you call that charity, Mrs. Holmes, to see no _good in anybody who is not governed by the nar- Joe now; and hing and only m a fe to iir of char- rords. jee no le nar- SilR TrRNS SURGEON. ii I row rules which hedge a few people in ? I should call it narrow-minded and shallow." And then Mrs. Holmes knew that the poor child was quoting from some one who was trying to be her leader, and who had already warped her judgment by a few high-sounding phrases about "larger liberty" and "wider outlooks." She was talking very much in the dark, yet grew every moment more certain that Madeline Hurst was considering herself and Mr. Arson ; that she did not love him, but imagined she respected him, and had been made to believe that his love for her was so great he was willing to give all, and receive only this cold return. If only the girl would con- fide in her fully, so that she might speak plainly! She had not been hurt by the last rude outburst ; it was so manifestly the utterance, in borrowed words, of a tortured mind which did not fully know what it was saying. Her voice was never more gentle than when she ventured to break the ominous silence : " Madeline, I am talking blindly, of course ; I do not know why you asked the question you did, but you asked, you know, and I have tried to answer. I can not expect you to confide in me, for I have known you too recently to win your confidence ; but I love you, dear child, and my heart goes out in a great longing to help you. I can not help knowing from observation, as well : l\ M ■ I i\ ' \^ -11 m m "I ; ^ \\: li» 262 HER ASSOCIATE MEMBERS. !! as from the few hints you have gi/en me, that your life just now is a hard one, and I can readily imagine that you are sorely tempted to take some rash step, which you may spend what will seem like an eternity in regretting. Let me beg of you to wait and think and pray, before you do any thing which your enlightened conscience disap- proves. Remember that you have been too well trained in the years gone by, to really approve a lie, no matter how glossed over it may be by sinooth-sounding words. I beg your pardon for giving the matter a personal turn, which perhaps your words did nol justify, I think I am feeling more keenly than usual, just now, in these direc- tions. I am looking on with fear and trembling over the possible wreck of a life very differently situated from yours, but fully as lonely and friend- less. Do you know that poor little Happy Smith- ers who works at Mrs. Stetson's ? " "I have seen her," said Madeline, turning her pillow again, and becoming every moment more conscious that her head ached violently. She was already ashamed of her angry outburst of a few moments before, and was beginning to wish that she had asked no questions, but kept her tormenting thoughts to herself. It was very hard to try to appear interested in Happy Smith- ers. She did not think she cared what became of her. KHR TtJKNS SURf;EOiy. 263 «t And do you know any thing of a boarder at Mrs. Stetson's by the name of Arson — a young man?" Then Madeline opened her eyes, and fixed them full upon her caller. They seemed almost to burn the lady as she steadily returned the gaze, but all that the sick girl said was, " I have seen him, too." ** I could wish that poor Happy never had ! " The words were spoken with a sigh, partly for Happy, and partly because it was evident that Madeline did not mean to confide in her. "Why.-*" A short, sharp word from the cot, that demanded answer, and told a great deal whicn the questioner did not mean to tell. "Because that young man is trying to deceive her, and is succeeding ; what his motive may be, those who know him better than I do will have to imagine. I know that he shows her attentions such as honorable men keep for their nearest and dearest ; that he gives her presents such as she ought to know enough not to receive ; but poor Happy is quite ignorant enough to be duped. He takes surreptitious walks with her under cover of the darkness, and parts with her with Kisses which can only mean disgrace." Not for a moment did she take her eyes away from the burning ones ; after the first random sentence, she had been sure that she was not mis- 1' "^ !-K ■ ,::i !i> : u ' . 5 f'SH ...f'J I I i it 264 HER ASSOCIATE MEMBERS. taken, and had resolved to go on to the humiliat- ing end, and give this warning before it was too late. She had decided that it was better that the gi; ' had not confided in her; she could speak the more plainly. "How do you know that you are not repeating a set of miserable lies ? That girl is a street pau- per, who does not know how to speak the truth, I suppose ; she would consider it a fine thing to tell such tales of a gentleman." Madeline's voice did not sound as though her heart had received a death-blow, but rather as though her self-respect had been rudely handled, and she was burning with indignation. The steady eyes did not droop before the piercing ones, and Mrs. Holmes answered quietly : "The girl never mentions his name, so far as I know. I know of the gifts from having seen them in his hands one hour, and in hers the next, being proudly shown as from a friend ; the poor thing seems to have sufficient sense of propriety to mention no names, or else is tutored not to. I know of the walks, and the partings, and indeed of some of the words exchanged, from the same reliable source. I have trusted only my own eyes and ears as witnesses to the tale I tell." This entire conversation had been frequently interrupted by distressing paroxysms of coughing; and Mrs. Holmes, between the moral duses which m SHE TURNS SURGEON. 265 she had felt compelled to administer, had also done what she could for the physical, but at this point the cough became so distressing, and the weakness which followed the paroxysm so extreme, that the looker-on was visibly alarmed. "Indeed, Madeline," she said, anxiously, "I can not think you do right to let this illness get such a hold upon you. If I could see your brother I would certainly interfere and beg him to secure a physician at once." "Don't!" said the girl, panting for breath, and holding her hand to her throbbing heart. "I do not want a doctor ; I want the disease to get such hold that it will not let go — I want to die! If ever any person had reason to be utterly tired of this false, hateful world, I have. In some respects I am in worse condition than Mrs. Car- penter, because that disgusting, mumbling, drunk- ard husband of hers loves her nfter his fashion, and is true to her. I hope I shall die, Mrs. Holmes, and see mother for a few minutes, any way. It is all there is left to want." While Mrs. Holmes stood amazed and sorrow- ful over these wild, foolish words, uncertain what response to make, the door opened and Mrs. Hurst appeared. 1 ' f m 1 J ; CHAPTER XXII. ONE DISCOVERS HIS OPPORTUNITY. DR. PORTLAND, who had been driving briskly through the sand of a country road, reined in his horses and regarded attentively an object which sat on a fallen tree in the sunshine; it had a slouched hat on the top of its head, and limp hands in its pockets ; its entire attitude was one of mild discouragement and apathy. "Is this you, Joe " your ghost .-* " "I reckon it's me, doctor," said the object, turning its watery blue eyes in his direction. "Are you sober.!*" "Ain't drank a drop since" — "Since the last time," said the doctor, as Joe stopped to fix a date. "Where are you going, or where do you expect to go, when you can coax yourself to leave that old pine stump .-*" "I'm on my way home, doctor; I've been out to the Hall place on an errand and got so far back." 266 ill. ONE DISCOVERS IIlS OPPORTUNITV, 267 ••Well, jump in and I'll take you back before you would have made up your mind to start." Whereupon Joe moved with alacrity ; a ride behind the ponies which were at once the envy and admiration of all the boys in town, was some- thing which had never fallen to Joe Carpenter's lot before, •• It is too bad for you to be such a worthless old fellow as you are, Joe," the doctor said, when they were started. •'I know it," said Joe, with becoming gravity. ••I've thought it more times than you have, I'm dead sure." ••That is very possible; I do not remember ever thinking much about it until lately ; but when a fellow like you succeeds in setting the mind of a good woman into a ferment over him, it seems to me it is time for him to think for himself." •'I know it, a better woman never lived; honest as the day, and hard working; keeps everything clean and neat, with nothing to do it with ; it is too b .d ! " Joe's face was gravity itself ; nothing could be plainer than that he was in deep earnest. Doctor Portland's face was a study; the half- amused, half-sarcastic curl of his lip gradually changed, as Joe's sentences rolled out. Actually he could not help having a touch of respect for m :i 268 HER ASSOCIATE MEMIiKKS. this miserable wreck of a man ; who, low as he had sunken, was not yet low enough to speak other than with kindness, even with tenderness, of his wife. Had the wife been unknown to Dr. Portland, the pocr fellow's words would have pro- duced no such effect ; but he understood perfectly that she never omitted an opportunity to set his sins before him in their darkest hue; that she was coldly sarcastic when she was not worse ; and that in short the place which Joe had most reason to shun, was the one he called home. "Of the two, T pity poor Joe the most," the doctor had said more than once. Now he almost felt that of the two he could respect Joe the most. "I was not speaking of your wife," he replied gravely, "th )Ligh I know she has qualities which you ought to respect ; my reference was to quite another woman ; one who takes the trouble to think about you a great deal." "Me!" said old Joe, and his monosyllable, some way, expressed not only intense surprise, but pathos. "I dunno who it can be; mother used to care about me, but she's been gone this twenty years and more ; and there never was anybody else," " I mean a good, true woman who is very anx- ious concerning you, and would give much to see you a different man. You must have seen the ONE DISCOVERS HIS OPPORTUNITY, 269 lady who is boarding at Stetson's ? She has been here but a few weeks and has an invalid husband." "The little woman with pretty hair, and eyes that make you think of stars and sunshine? Yes, I have seen her ; she comes to our house some- times ; and she sends more than she comes ; Mad Hurst let me know v/here the things come from that helped my wife through her sick spell ; and though you wouldn't think it, I'm grateful to any body who does things for my wife ; but you are mistaken about her caring any thing for me. She ain't never spoke one word to me." "Nevertheless I tell you she is deeply inter- ested in you. I have heard her say so. She must see in you something which the rest of us haven't. She thinks you could do more for your wife than all of us put together, if you would." " You mean about work, doctor ? Well, now, it's curious how scarce work is in this place — for me, anyhow; I've been four miles into the coun- try this afternoon in search of a job I heard of, but I couldn't get it. I do work whenever I get a chance, now that's a fact." "I don't mean any thing of the kind, Joe, and you know it. I mean whisky. Haven't you brains enough to know that the reason work is scarce, is because people can not trust you ? You may go off in the middle of an important job and get on a spree and not be seen for days. Why W i hn 270 IIER ASSOCIATE MEMBERS. should any body in his senses employ such a man as that ? " • " I know it, doctor," said Joe with the grave air of a philosopher contemplating a fact in Natu- ral History ; " I'm not complaining, I'm merely stating a fact." The doctor lost patience. " Look here, Joe Car- penter," he said sharply, " I do not see any sense in your talking in that way. It would do very well for an idiot, but really you arc not one, yet ; why should you ape the manners of one .-' Why don't you rouse to the situation and act like a reasonable being .'' " Poor Joe did not so much as turn his weak eyes in the speaker's direction ; instead, he looked gravely at the wheel, from which particles of sand were steadily falling, and was silent for several seconds. When at last he spoke there was a curi- ous undertone of pathos, though his words were slow and quiet enough. ♦' Doctor, you wouldn't think it, I suppose ; I wouldn't have thought so myself once, but the stark-naked living truth is, that I can't do it!" "Can't do what.?" "Give up the blamed whisky. There'd be no use in trying to tell you how often I've tried ; why, as many times it seems to me as there's grains of sand in this road ; and meant it every tii.iC, and made a dead failure. I didn't sense it at first ; I ONE niSCOVERS HIS OPPORTUNITY. 25^1 thought it was accident, or mistake, or something of that kind, and of course I'd get hold of the thing at last. But I didn't ; and at last it dawned upon me that I couldn't. Mother, she told me once that I'd git where I couldn't, and I didn't believe her." A less scientific man than Dr. Portland would have had some glib, encouraging answer to make ; but he, looking at the bleared eyes, the enfeebled lines about the naturally weak mouth, and watch- ing the trembling arms and hands, was silent. An embarrassing silence it was to him, though Joe did not seem to feel it so ; he looked meekly grave and contemplative, still. " You have days when you do not drink, though ?" the doctor said at last, putting the tone of a question into his words. Joe nodded. "Yes," he said, "I do; and that's what fooled me along at first I says to myself, says I, 'Joe, if you can stand it four days at a time, why can't you forty .^ and after forty days maybe things would get different somehow.' But it wa'nt of no use!" shaking his head sadly, " I stuck it out most two weeks, several times ; and once nigh on to two months ; but when one of them raging spells of thirst come on me, it didn't make no difference whether it was weeks or months since I'd had a drop ; I couldn't no more manage them than I could a wild tiger this minute ! You don't know 1^ > fl'-'^i in 'i\ i' :. S'J 272 HER ASSOCIATE MEMBERS. nothing about it, of course ; and my wife don't. That's what tries her so, and I don't wonder; but there it is !" This was certainly a very remarkable turn for the conversation to take. But for his strange embarrassment the doctor could have laughed. Joe seemed actually to be apologizing for his wife ; because, not being able to appreciate the strength of his temptation she was hard on him ! But there was some thought which held his mentor silent and unsmiling. At last he spoke, with evident effort : "Joe, the lady of whom I told you, looks at these things in a different light from what you do. She evidently understands, in a degree at least, the strength of the appetite, but she believes that there is a Power outside of himself which a man can bring to bear upon it, if he will. In other words, she believes that God, the God whom she worships, stands ready to help any poor wretch who is willing to put himself in the way of help, and follow directions ; so that these terrible fits of thirst of which you speak shall be held in check by His Almightiness. What do you think of that.?" A singular change had come upon Joe's face while he listened; his bleared eyes were turned from the wheel and the sand, and their gaze fixed fully upon the doctor's face; the muscles of his ONE ;ilSCOVEKS HIS OPPORTUNITY. 273 "Si face lurned fixed )f his lips twitched almost convulsively, and somcthinj^ like a thrill of energy seemed to run through his loosely-jointed frame. •' What does she know ibout it .-• " It was the first short, decisive senten- e Tlr. I^ortland had ever heard this wreck of a man .■-peak. "She has had experience, it seems. Has known of a man, or of men, several of them, who by this means have conquered the appetite, even when Lir under its influence, and have gotten back their manhood. She believes that you could ; and moreover, she believes that such a course would save your wife from the mental wreck which she will almost certainly become, unless relieved from the fearful strain which is upon her now." He was speaking quite glibly ; if there was a shadow of manhood left in the fellow, certainly the statement which he had now boldly made, ought to rouse him. He was hardly prepared for the question which followed. " Doctor, do you believe it .? " *' Do I believe what.''" spoken almost sharply. There was that in Joe's voice which made him feel that the question was not asked with refer- ence to his latest communication, but had to do with a subject about which he knew less. " That she's right in what she thinks ; and that a fellow like me could get a hold of some- s^. - ^ ^^^^ ^ \^ ^ -> IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) // 4^> j< su. ^ 1.0 I.I lli|2£ IIS ■tt Itt 12.2 E |£° 12.0 |i-25 III 1.4 >; v Sdenoes Corporation M ^ \ <> 4^ --v » WIST MAM S1MIT WnSTU,N.V. 14SM (7t«)tr3-4S03 ^ V ^K^' •^^'d- ^ ^ ^ ^ ^*> ;5^ ^ 274 HER ASSOCIATE MEMBERS. ■ thing or somebody — it would have to be God, for there ain't any mortal could, I know that — to help him when the spells come on ? Say I've brought *em on myself; and I know it is true; I've told myself so a hundred times; I know there was a place, away back, where I could have let the stuff alone ; but say that time is past, and it's my fault that it is, does she mean, and do you mean that such as me could get hold of this Something?" How was the gay, mocking, skeptical young man to answer such a question ? A man who had less knowledge of the human frame, and of the terrible ravages which rum can make upon it, might have talked eloquently about the " God-like powers of the human will," and the "tremendous force of an iron resolution." Dr. Portland, glanc- ing furtively at the human wreck beside him, could not bring himself to utter such nonsense. Whatever it had been intended the will should do for him, poor Joe Carpenter had done what he copld to make his powerless to resist temptation, and had certainly succeeded well. The doctor would not have trusted the strongest promise this weak-kneed, trembling wretch could make, long enough to expect it to last him while passing the next liquor saloon. "If he could go to a place where the sight or the smell of the stuff could not r^ach him/' he myttered to himself^ "if there ONE DISCOVERS HIS OPPORTUNITY. 275 ,, for — to I've true ; know have t, and you ,f this young ho had of the pon it, }od-like lendous 1, glanc- e him, insense. lould do rhat he iptation, doctor lise this :e, long iing the a place lould not lif there were such a place on this rum-cursed earth, why, then — but as it is*' — and he drew a long, dis- couraged sigh. How, then, was he to answer Joe's question.' Was there really no hope for the man who had placed himself in such a cruel position ? Volun- tarily released his will, and his nerves, even his muscles from their duty toward him and trained them to be false.? In his heart of hearts Dr Port- land believed just that. "Nothing less than a miracle could save a fellow constituted ac be is, set down in the midst of temptation," he told himself resolutely ; and as one who did not believe in miracles, what was he to say ? Joe was waiting. The doctor coughed nervously and cleared his throat ; why had he been such a fool as to get himself into this ridiculous position ? Since Joe Carpenter was, by his own confession, confirmed b' .c'entific knowledge, too far gone to exercise self-control — always supposing he had been of the calibre which ever exercises it to a very great degree, of what use to torment him with long sermons about manhood, and the like ? "My mother believed in it," he said at last, and his voice sounded unnatural even to himself; "she had utmost confidence in this miraculous power which is supposed to get hold of people; and men who have had good mothers always '*.S 276 HER ASSOCIATE MEMBERS. believe they were about right in everything, don't they ? " "Do they?" asked Joe Carpenter, thoughtfully. "Then I ought to think such things, for my old mother was one of them kind. I believe you're right, doctor; mothers is queer; for a spell you think you know more than they do, and then you think anyhow you know about as much ; and after a while you know that they know more than all creation ? " This bit of moralizing fitted in with Joe's unus- ual mood; he was entirely grave, and the retro- spective notes in his voice had still that touch of pathos ; but something had irritated the doctor. "If you had such a mother as that you ought to be ashamed of yourself," he said in caustic tones. "I am," said Joe, laconically. "I've been ashamed this long time, till I kind of got used to it, and expected always to be, and no help for it. But I seem to have got hold of a new idea this afternoon, somehow ; I don't hardly understand how. I know there are such folks as Christians, and that the Lord looks after 'em ; He did after my old mother ; but looking after an old broken- down hulk like me, seems different, don't it.^" "Very different!" said the doctor with decis- ion. Then he reined in his horses so suddenly that they almost lost their balance, adding as he