THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES
 
 DRATTON-HALL SERIES. 
 No. IV. 
 
 FRANK AUSTIN'S DIAMOND.
 
 A Series of Stories illustrative of the Beatitudes, by the 
 Author of the " Golden-Ladder" Series, &c. 
 
 I. 
 LAURENCE BRONSON'S VICTORY. 
 
 " Blessed are the poor in spirit." 
 II. 
 
 CHRISTY'S GRANDSON. 
 
 " Blessed are they that mourn." 
 III. 
 
 ALLAN HAYWOOD. 
 
 " Blessed are the meek." 
 
 IV. 
 FRANK AUSTIN'S DIAMOND. 
 
 "Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for 
 they shall be filled." . 
 
 V. 
 EAGLE CRAG. 
 
 " Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy." 
 
 ' Blessed are the peace-makers, for they shall be called the children 
 
 of God." 
 
 The other Volumes are in preparation. 
 
 ROBERT CARTER AND BROTHERS, 
 
 New York.

 
 FRANK AUSTIN'S DIAMOND. 
 
 " Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for 
 they shall be filled." 
 
 THE AUTHOR OF 
 
 THE " GOLDEN-LADDER " SERIES, " LITTLE KATY AND JOLLY 
 JIM," ETC. 
 
 T 
 
 NEW YOKK: 
 ROBERT CARTER AND BROTHERS, 
 
 530 BROADWAY. 
 1871.
 
 Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1871, by 
 
 ROBERT CARTER AND BHOTHER9, 
 
 In the Office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington 
 
 CAMBRIDGE : 
 PRESS OF JOHN WILSON AND SON.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 I. THE PICNIC 7 
 
 II. MOUNTAIN LAKE 28 
 
 III. THE DIAMOND IN THE ROUGH .... 49 
 
 IV. MILVVARD'S CORNER 73 
 
 V. MARY ALLEN 97 
 
 VI. IN THE OLD BARN 117 
 
 VII. JOE MILWARD'S VISIT 142 
 
 V13I. A FLASH OF THE DIAMOND 157 
 
 IX. HIDDEN MANNA . . 175 
 
 6228:1 9
 
 FKASTE: AUSTIN'S DIAMOND. 
 
 i. 
 
 THE PICNIC. 
 
 " TTOLLO A, there, you lazy fellows ! Get 
 up ! It's morning ! " 
 
 "Oh, do stop, Will Seaton!" droned a 
 sleepy voice from a corner of the long dor- 
 mitory, through which the shrill call had 
 resounded. 
 
 But the first speaker was not to be so 
 easily silenced. In another moment, the bed 
 of his slumberous companion was stripped of 
 coverlet, sheet, and pillows, and the occupant 
 thereof dragged from it with a sudden jerk 
 which put his dreams effectually to flight. 
 
 " Seaton, Seaton ! Come to order at once, 
 sir," said the voice of Mr. Upton, the usher, 
 who had been wakened from his morning nap
 
 8 FRANK AUSTIN'S DIAMOND. 
 
 by the uproar. " You are forgetting all dis- 
 cipline ! " 
 
 " Oh, hear Uppy trying to come the Bent- 
 ley dodge ! " cried the irrepressible Will. " It 
 won't do, Uppy I you are laughing this min- 
 ute, you know you are. You can't talk 
 discipline in Professor Bentley's style, to save 
 yourself. You love me too well to frown 
 upon me, jolliest of ushers ! " and with a rush 
 and a spring, he was on Mr. Upton's bed in a 
 twinkling. " Look out of that window and 
 see how the clouds are breaking, and then lie 
 abed if you can. Didn't I tell you that we'd 
 have a bright day ? Come on, all who want 
 to go to Mountain Lake." 
 
 "Stop, Seaton!" said Mr. Upton, as the 
 boy would have sprung off the bed again. 
 " Those clouds are simply shifting a little ; 
 they are not passing away. Why, my boy, 
 this is no fit day to set out on such an ex- 
 pedition. We must wait until to-morrow. 
 I am sorry for you all," for the blank faces
 
 THE PICNIC. 
 
 about him betokened no little disappoint- 
 ment, " but Dr. Drayton will give us holiday 
 to-morrow instead." 
 
 But "to-morrow" is nothing to an eager 
 school-boy who has been promised a holiday 
 to-day ; and these boys had been promised 
 not only a holiday, but a grand expedition 
 through the woods and over the rocks, end- 
 ing in a picnic on a lake which lay half-way 
 up the highest mountain in all the country 
 round. 
 
 The very idea of to-morrow was laughed 
 at, hooted at, or grumbled at, by each and 
 every boy in the dormitory, all of whom, now 
 fully roused, were hurriedly dressing ; for the 
 expedition had been ordered to start at five 
 o'clock. The dark morning had deceived 
 them somewhat as to the hour of rising ; and 
 woe be to the Drayton boy who was behind 
 time in a frolic, no less than in the study-hall 
 or class-room. The doctor's watch was never 
 slow, and the doctor never waited an instant
 
 10 FRANK AUSTIN'S DIAMOND. 
 
 for a tardy boy, after its inexorable hand 
 touched the hour. 
 
 As the occupants of the " long dormitory," 
 as the room in which Will Seaton and his 
 comrades slept was called, reached the outer 
 hall, they were joined by crowds of their 
 school-fellows from the other apartments, all 
 earnestly discussing, like themselves, the 
 weather and the prospects for the picnic. 
 
 The clouds hung heavily overhead, broken 
 here and there by little rifts just large enough 
 to excuse the hopes of the most sanguine, but 
 too small and too soon hidden again to cheer 
 the more despondent. All about the roads 
 around the Hall stood the great farm-wagons 
 which had been hired for the occasion, the 
 wagoners eying the heavens askance, some- 
 what discontented with the thought that, hav- 
 ing had to keep their teams in the village over 
 night, in order to be in readiness for the early 
 start, they seemed likely to be disappointed of 
 their work. Among them and around them
 
 THE PICNIC. 11 
 
 stood the boys, some hopeful, some despair- 
 ing, some sulky, some full of jokes and pranks, 
 all eagerly watching for the stroke of five ; 
 for that would bring Dr. Drayton, and Dr. 
 Drayton would say yes or no, and the matter 
 would be decided. 
 
 " Oh, he'll say go. Of course he will," said 
 Will Seaton. " He never backs down." 
 
 " But he's wondrous prudent, Will," said 
 Ned Churchill, who stood near him. 
 
 " And wondrous weather-wise," said Lau- 
 rence Bronson. "If the doctor says that it 
 will storm, I shall think we had better wait, 
 much as I want to go." 
 
 " Oh, he'll be sure it's going to storm, I 
 know that well enough," said a surly voice 
 behind the group ; and turning, the boys saw 
 Albert Semmons. 
 
 " It will rain, of course," he went on in the 
 same tone. " It always does when we want 
 to do any thing." 
 
 " ' All de world am sad and weary,' " chanted
 
 12 FRANK AUSTIN'S DIAMOND. 
 
 Will, in such exact imitation of Albert's dole- 
 ful voice, that the boys broke into a shout of 
 laughter so loud and merry that they did not 
 hear the sharp stroke of five from the old 
 clock in the hall, nor see the tall figure which 
 at that very moment took its stand on the 
 piazza. 
 
 The first intimation they had of Dr. Dray- 
 ton's presence was the sound of a load voice, 
 saying, " The wagons may be made ready at 
 once. Young gentlemen, you will do well to 
 take something to eat before we start on our 
 long drive." 
 
 A low murmur, breaking after an instant 
 into loud cheers for the doctor, told whether 
 the decision was a welcome one or not, and 
 the boys flocked into the dining-room in a 
 body. 
 
 Ten minutes after, they were all crowding 
 into the wagons, a noisy, tumultuous multi- 
 tude, their wildest shouts and most mischiev- 
 ous tricks all unrebuked and unrestrained ; for
 
 THE PICNIC. 13 
 
 the doctor had made up his mind that the 
 long talked of expedition should be a thor- 
 ough and genuine frolic, and had given orders 
 that all liberty consistent with safety to life 
 and limb should be given to the merry-ma- 
 kers. 
 
 " Holloa, Churchill ! There's Miss Mary," 
 cried Laurence 'Bronson, as a carriage was 
 driven into the grounds. " Now, it's sure to 
 clear." 
 
 A little lady, with a sunny face, leaned out 
 of the carriage as Ned sprang down the hill 
 to meet it. 
 
 "All ready for your ride, eh?" she said. 
 " Does Dr. Drayton think we shall have a fine 
 day ? 
 
 " I don't know," said Ned, catching her in 
 his arms and lifting her down as if she had 
 been a child, holding her just long enough to 
 give her a quick kiss on either cheek. " He 
 says go, so go it is. You won't care if you 
 do get a little wetting, will you, Mary ? "
 
 14 FRANK AUSTINS DIAMOND. 
 
 " No, indeed, not I. Where is Mrs. Dray- 
 ton ? " 
 
 " In the library, waiting for you. She asked 
 me just now if I thought you would be here, 
 and I told her I was sure you would come. 
 There she is, coming down with the doctor." 
 
 There were only three ladies in the party, 
 
 Mrs. Drayton, Mrs. Leonard, the wife of 
 the minister, and Miss Mary Churchill ; but 
 as these were all great favorites with the boys, 
 they were considered quite sufficient. 
 
 The packing of baskets, boxes, and bags, 
 
 not to speak of boys, was at length com- 
 pleted ; and the long train of wagons started 
 off, led by the largest of them all, an immense 
 affair, drawn by four horses, and painted 
 bright red, looking, as Mary Churchill said, 
 very much like the advance guard of a circus 
 caravan. This magnificent vehicle had been 
 claimed by each and every clique of boys in 
 the school ; but, having at length been seized 
 by force of arms by a detachment of the sen-
 
 THE PICNIC. 15 
 
 ior class, had been yielded to the use of the 
 ladies, Mr. Leonard, and Dr. Dray ton, the 
 remainder of the seats being occupied by 
 members of the class. Ned Churchill, Frank 
 Austin, Laurence Bronson, Will Seaton, and 
 a score more, sat packed like sardines in a 
 case ; but all were too jolly and happy to 
 complain of any discomfort, and the flow of 
 laughter, jokes, and fun, ran on, spite of the 
 drizzling rain which had begun to fall just as 
 they left Drayton Hall. 
 
 " I do believe we are riding right into the 
 rain," said Frank Austin, with a mischievous 
 chuckle of delight. " Look over on the moun- 
 tains. Don't you see how it is pouring down 
 there ? I guess old Prof, will find he has 
 made a mistake this time. Never mind, we'll 
 have a ride, any way." 
 
 " And if we have to give it up, we'll invite 
 him up to the barn to eat cold wittles," 
 put in Will Seaton. " Oh, just look 
 there ! "
 
 16 FRANK AUSTIN'S DIAMOND. 
 
 The heavy rain, that had been falling on the 
 mountains which raised their tall heads before 
 them, had suddenly ceased. The clouds had 
 broken, and were beginning slowly to roll 
 back, gray billow piled upon gray billow in 
 heavy swells, untouched as yet by any clearer 
 light, but surging and rolling, wave upon. 
 wave, like a mighty ocean. The curious 
 spectacle had drawn all eyes to the moun- 
 tains, and the wildest of the gay party were 
 awed and hushed by the grand sight. All at 
 once the billowy masses of cloud were touched 
 and tinted here and there by a rosy glow, 
 which widened and spread until the whole 
 dark mass was transformed into a sunny sea, 
 which surged over the mountain-tops and 
 broke, disclosing bits of bright blue sky 
 beyond ; then closed again, again to part as 
 if in joyous frolic. Suddenly, with one mad, 
 last leap, the glowing waves rushed apart, 
 rolled heavily down the fair blue walls on 
 either side, and lay at their base, the pink
 
 THE PICNIC. 17 
 
 light fading slowly out, leaving them like 
 snow-drifts on the far horizon. 
 
 A great stillness had fallen on the whole 
 party. For a moment even Will Seaton felt 
 the influence of the beautiful scene which 
 they had witnessed ; but only for a moment. 
 Determined to break the spell, he sprang 
 quickly to his feet, shouting out at the top of 
 his strong voice, 
 
 " All de world am bright and sunny, 
 
 Ebery road we take ; 
 Oh, fellows, we must all be funny, 
 Going up to Mountain Lake." 
 
 A shout of laughter followed the impromptu 
 lines, and Will's ruse proved a decided suc- 
 cess ; for the happy hearts all overflowed 
 again, and the fun "ran fast and furious," 
 only heightened by the brilliant sunshine that 
 now bathed mountains, streams, and valleys, 
 in its glorious light 
 
 " Wouldn't it be jolly fun to take old 
 Christy up with us?" said Will. "There
 
 18 FRANK AUSTIN'S DIAMOND. 
 
 he is now with the two boys. Let's ask the 
 doctor." 
 
 " Dr. Drayton, may we take Christy and 
 the boys up to the lake ? " he asked, as the 
 old fisherman and the two lads who stood 
 with him on the beach waved their hats to the 
 happy party. 
 
 " I have no objection, if they can come 
 away at once," said Dr. Drayton. 
 
 That point was quickly settled, and the 
 three were soon seated in the second wagon, 
 greatly to the delight of the whole company ; 
 for Christy and his boys were prime favorites 
 with the entire school. 
 
 A ride of fourteen miles brought them to 
 the foot of the mountain ; when every boy in 
 the various wagons sprang out to relieve the 
 horses, and to rest his own cramped limbs 
 by a scramble up the rough road. What with 
 berries to pick, rabbits to be chased, squirrels 
 to be hunted, and so forth, the ascent was a 
 slow affair in one sense; but, although the
 
 THE PICNIC. 19 
 
 toiling horses often left the pleasure-seekers 
 far behind, a fleet race soon brought the lag- 
 gards up with the more sober part of the com- 
 pany, to be again left behind, as some new 
 object of interest caught their attention. 
 
 " And who is this who makes his way by 
 himself alone ? " asked Mr. Grau, the German 
 professor; who, busy in collecting specimens 
 for a beautiful herbarium in which his soul 
 delighted, had walked on for full four miles 
 up the zigzag road, quite undisturbed by the 
 shouts and capers of his light-hearted compan- 
 ions. " Ah, Mr. Bentley/' he added, as the 
 boy whom he addressed slightly turned his 
 head. " It is much your custom, I perceive, 
 to make solitary yourself. Why for do you 
 not run to squirrels and berries as your young 
 friends?" 
 
 " I don't care for that sort of thing," replied 
 Bentley, without pausing in his walk. 
 
 " But it is not well for you so much to live 
 alone," said the teacher, walking on by his
 
 20 FRANK AUSTIN'S DIAMOND. 
 
 side. " Look at Seaton, merry-heart, 
 how he springs and laughs! He is too much 
 life, but you are too leetle. He give you 
 leetle of his joke, that be healthy for you; 
 you give him leetle of your sober, that be 
 very healthy for him. You say so? " 
 
 An expression of such intense pain crossed 
 the face into which he looked, that Mr. Grau 
 laid his hand upon the boy, saying gently, 
 " I pain you ? Forgive me. I say no more ; " 
 and trotted off on his short little legs, remorse- 
 ful and self-reproachful, to collect more speci- 
 mens. 
 
 He had been but a short time in the school, 
 or he would have known that Will Seaton, 
 once Arthur Bentley's sworn friend and de- 
 fender, was now his unrelenting foe; and 
 that Arthur, having lost this, his only friend, 
 by an act of wickedness and meanness which 
 high-minded Will could never forgive, was 
 left desolate and solitary in that great school 
 of three hundred boys. Poor fellow ! He
 
 THE PICNIC. 21 
 
 had committed a wicked, cruel deed, and his 
 punishment was terrible. It was not only 
 that he was forced to spend his life in a com- 
 munity of boys who hated and despised him 
 for what he had done ; but his lonely heart, 
 which had clung so closely to this one idol, 
 had been flung contemptuously aside as a 
 mean, worthless thing, unfit to be loved or 
 trusted. He deserved it, perhaps ; but if we 
 all had our deserts proportioned to our oppor- 
 tunities, there are many beside poor Arthur 
 Bentley who would go through the world 
 with aching hearts, and, perhaps, wrecked 
 lives. 
 
 " Now, young fellows, jump in ! " shouted 
 the voice of Farmer Sanford, the driver of the 
 first wagon and the captain of the expedition. 
 " The worst is over now, and if you go on 
 much longer at this rate you'll wear the legs 
 oft' you before we get to the lake. That 
 would be a pity too, for you'll need 'em bad 
 enough when we get there."
 
 22 FRANK AUSTIN'S DIAMOND. 
 
 As Mr. Grau took his seat in answer to 
 the order which all were ready to obey, his 
 eye happened to rest on Arthur Bentley, who 
 was slowly approaching the wagon in which 
 he sat. Arthur had already passed some three 
 or four wagons, but no one had moved to 
 make room for him, or seemed to notice his 
 presence in any way. With a face whose 
 dark expression seemed to gather gloom with 
 every step, the boy went on until Mr. Grau's 
 voice arrested him. 
 
 " Friend Bentley, will you sit side of me ? 
 I have to show you some rare plants I find in 
 dese woods." 
 
 The brisk little man moved to make room 
 for him with such suddenness and vigor that 
 Tom Morrison, one of Bentley's classmates, 
 who sat beside him, was almost pushed from 
 his seat. 
 
 " Oh, pardon, pardon ! a tousand times par- 
 don. I have you too much crowd. So. Now 
 we shall be what is dat word ? fix ? Yes,
 
 THE PICNIC. 23 
 
 now we shall be very well fix ; " and having 
 moved nearer to Bentley, the friendly Grau 
 turned first to one and then to the other of 
 his companions, beaming upon them with a 
 face of the utmost delight and enjoyment. 
 
 But Bentley, who had visibly brightened at 
 the kindness shown him, looked as moody as 
 ever as his eyes rested on Tom Morrison, and 
 Tom seemed scarcely better pleased. Mr. 
 Grau began to doubt the expediency of his 
 mano3uvre for drawing Arthur into closer 
 companionship with his school-mates ; but he 
 persevered in his attempt nevertheless. 
 
 Taking out some of the beautiful speci- 
 mens which he had gathered for his herba- 
 rium, he began to exhibit and describe them 
 in a manner which won the interest of both 
 boys ; and ere long, to his great satisfaction, 
 he had succeeded in provoking a discussion 
 between them in which they seemed to forget 
 the differences which had separated them. 
 Both were good botanists, and both loved the
 
 24 FRANK AUSTIN'S DIAMOND. 
 
 study enthusiastically; and they grew so 
 warm in their debate, that more than one on 
 the seats near them caught the tones of their 
 earnest dispute and began to join in it, taking 
 one side or other of the question, irrespective 
 of the fact that the hated Bentley was the head 
 of the opposition against Morrison ; while the 
 good hearted German sat by, throwing in a 
 word here and there to quicken the heat of 
 the argument, smiling complacently at the 
 success of his scheme. 
 
 Not until they came within sight of the 
 lake, and the wild exclamations of delight 
 from those in the forward wagons distracted 
 their attention, did the eager talkers begin to 
 recognize the fact that they had been holding 
 close companionship with the boy who for 
 months past had been ignored and set com- 
 pletely aside by the entire school. 
 
 But soon this ceased to be thought of, 
 as the slow but apparently tireless horses 
 brought them nearer and nearer to the lake ;
 
 THE PICNIC. 25 
 
 plodding on over its stony road, with its huge 
 wall of rock towering upon their right, and 
 on the left shelving suddenly down in a sharp 
 precipice which fell a hundred feet to a rocky 
 gorge below. Before them lay the silver lake, 
 in a basin formed on two sides by walls of 
 rock ; on the other by a high green bank which 
 rose perpendicularly from the water, without 
 the least slope or declivity, some thirty or 
 forty feet ; while on the side which lay tow- 
 ard them as they toiled up the road, the water 
 ran gently up to the land, the tiny waves lap- 
 ping softly against the grasses and overhang- 
 ing branches which drooped to meet them. 
 Clear as crystal, so transparent that every 
 pebble-stone and every little fish swimming 
 in its waters could be distinctly seen as you 
 looked down into its beautiful depths, so calm 
 and unruffled, it seemed more like some fairy 
 lake than any thing real or commonplace. 
 
 " Let's go rowing, right away," cried Will 
 Seaton, springing from his seat. "Come on,
 
 26 FRANK AUSTIN'S DIAMOND. 
 
 fellows ! " and he ran toward the water, eagerly 
 followed by a dozen of his companions. 
 
 " Stop, Seaton ! " called Dr. Drayton from 
 the first wagon. " We will have no boating 
 until after dinner. You may all wander 
 about here, within sound of the horn, until 
 we have dined ; then you shall go out on the 
 lake, or anywhere else you may please. But 
 dinner first, by all means." 
 
 The order was not an unwelcome one, 
 much as the boys would have enjoyed an 
 immediate trial of skill at the oars. The 
 next half-hour was spent in loitering about in 
 the vicinity of the lake ; and when the horn 
 called in the stragglers from their various 
 wanderings, they gave full proof that the 
 Doctor was not the only person in the assem- 
 blage who wanted his dinner. 
 
 Beef, chickens, bread, cake, crackers, sar- 
 dines, eggs, pies, tea, coffee, biscuits, pota- 
 toes, cheese, sandwiches, ham, tongue, apples, 
 pears, nuts, preserves, all melted away in
 
 THE PICNIC. 27 
 
 the most delightful manner before this array 
 of hungry boys; until Mary Churchill merry, 
 sunny, little Miss Mary fairly wore herself 
 out with laughing over the filling and refilling 
 of the rapidly emptied dishes and baskets.
 
 u. 
 
 MOUNTAIN LAKE. 
 
 T AURENCE," said Frank Austin, link- 
 "^^ ing his arm in that of Laurence Bron- 
 son, as various groups of boys began to scatter 
 in all directions in search of different objects 
 of interest, " what do you say to a climb up 
 to Dragon's Head ? " 
 
 " All right," said JBronson. " I'm ready. 
 I want to go out on the lake for a row ; but 
 some of us must wait, and we may as well be 
 among the last to take our turn." 
 
 "Anybody ready for a scramble ? " shouted 
 Frank, as they turned toward the steep and 
 narrow footpath which led up to the Dragon's 
 Head, a sharp peak on the summit of the 
 rocky cliff, which was supposed to resemble
 
 MOUNTAIN LAKE. 29 
 
 in its outlines the features of that fabulous 
 monster. 
 
 " Ay, ay ! " came back the answering call 
 from twenty different directions, echoed and 
 re-echoed by the reverberating rocks. 
 
 A large party, with Mr. Upton at its head, 
 soon joined the two boys ; and then began a 
 scramble such as the hearts of boys in all 
 ages and climes delight in. Springing over 
 huge stones, creeping around obstructions, 
 holding fast by a bending sapling or a shak- 
 ing branch, with the delightful sense that a 
 mis-step will end in a dangerous fall ; climb- 
 ing up sharp acclivities to surmount which, 
 hand and eye, as well as practised foot, must 
 be on the alert ; creeping through rock-crevices 
 on hands and knees; tearing their way through 
 tangled vines and bushes, oh ! was there 
 ever an exciting, exhilarating, adventurous 
 walk, more dear to the soul of an enter- 
 prising boy, than the walk from Mountain 
 Lake to Dragon's Head?
 
 30 FRANK AUSTIN'S DIAMOND. 
 
 " Here we are ! " cried Frank, the first to 
 reach the summit. " Three cheers for the 
 Dragon ! " 
 
 " Three cheers for the Dragon ! " shouted 
 Edward Churchill, who was but a step behind 
 him. 
 
 And then the whole mountain-side rang 
 again with the clear music, as nearly fifty 
 young voices shouted out a joyous huzza. 
 
 " Have you ever seen the lake in the cav- 
 ern?" asked Mr. Upton, as he stood on the 
 extremity of the peak with Laurence, Frank, 
 and Ned. 
 
 Ned had seen it many a time, but Frank 
 and Laurence had never visited the spot. 
 Mr. Upton directed them to it, saying that, as 
 there were only three teachers beside himself 
 with the party, he could not accompany them. 
 Ned offered to remain with him and help to 
 preserve order, and the favor was gratefully 
 accepted; for the task of keeping such a 
 large company of adventurous boys out of
 
 MOUNTAIN LAKE. 31 
 
 danger, in such a spot, was no easy 
 matter. 
 
 The cavern was soon found, it being but 
 a stone's throw from the peak. Entering by 
 a low and narrow aperture, the boys found 
 themselves within a cave whose massive 
 walls of stone rose all around them, forming 
 a beautiful arch, broken at its centre as if with 
 a blow from a huge hammer wielded by some 
 mammoth hand. Directly below this rift lay 
 a small sheet of water, a tiny lake, clear and 
 bright, rippling and shimmering in the light 
 of a dancing sunbeam, which, falling in 
 through the rift, struck across it from side to 
 side. Close beside it was a rough seat, formed 
 of stones which had fallen from the roof of 
 the cave ; and there the two boys threw them- 
 selves down to rest. 
 
 They were silent for awhile, for the quiet, 
 solemn beauty of the spot threw its charm 
 around them ; and nearly a quarter of an 
 hour had passed before Frank, who was the 
 first to break the stillness, said,
 
 32 FRANK AUSTIN'S DIAMOND. 
 
 " Bronson, I mean to start a prayer-meet- 
 ing down at Milward's Corner." 
 
 He spoke suddenly, with a fixed, determined 
 sort of manner, which showed very plainly 
 that he expected opposition, and intended to 
 carry out his scheme in spite of it. Laurence 
 looked at him as if he did not feel quite sure 
 that he was in his right mind. 
 
 " At Milward's Corner ! " he said at last. 
 " Why, Austin, you'll be mobbed. There 
 isn't such another black hole in these United 
 States." 
 
 " All the more reason why it should be 
 cleansed if that were so," replied Frank. 
 " But many a place as black as the Corner has 
 been whitened and purified by earnest men. 
 The truth is, Bronson, I must go to work. 
 For months past I have been calling myself a 
 soldier of Christ, I have been enrolled in His 
 army, I have been receiving His wages, but 
 I have not lifted my hand to do battle for 
 Him."
 
 MOUNTAIN LAKE. 33 
 
 " You have been living for Him," said Lau- 
 rence, gently, " and living as fair and true a 
 Christian life, Frank, as I have ever seen." 
 
 " I have tried to follow Him," and the boy's 
 face brightened as he spoke ; " but I must do 
 something worth while. I must have work, 
 Larry. I lie awake at night, and plan, and 
 think, and long, until it seems as if I never 
 should grow quiet again. The thought struck 
 me, one night last week, that I might do some- 
 thing at Milward's Corner. I jumped at it in 
 a moment ; but I don't want to be reckless, so I 
 determined to think it over for a week before 
 I spoke of it to any one. I have thought it 
 over earnestly ; and I have resolved to go into 
 that den, and try to work for our Master 
 there." 
 
 " Of course you will speak to the Doctor 
 first?" 
 
 " Certainly I shall. I am not afraid that he 
 will oppose it if I promise to be cautious. 
 Hark! What is that? Are they calling us ?"
 
 34 FRANK AUSTIN'S DIAMOND. 
 
 " Yes, that is Ned Churchill's shout," said 
 Laurence ; as a clear, loud " Hallo, boys ! " 
 re-echoed among the cliffs again. 
 
 "All right! We're coming," he answered; 
 and they stepped from the soft, gray twilight 
 within the cave into the bright sunshine with- 
 out. 
 
 " Down to the lake ! " came back to them, 
 in reply, from the party, who were already 
 some distance on their way ; and the two 
 boys hurried after their comrades. 
 
 Meanwhile the lake had been the scene of 
 an accident, which had threatened to turn the 
 day of pleasure into one of sore distress. 
 
 The boating parties had been made up into 
 three companies, each of which had claimed 
 one of the ladies ; and the two boats in which 
 Mrs. Dray ton and Mrs. Leonard had taken 
 their places had received their quota of pas- 
 sengers, and were lying out a little from the 
 shore, waiting for the third boat which lay at 
 the landing.
 
 MOUNTAIN LAKE. 35 
 
 " Now, Miss Mary, steady. The water is 
 very deep here," said Tom Morrison, holding 
 by one hand to the rock which, standing just 
 a little above water-mark, formed an excellent 
 landing spot, while he held out the other to 
 aid Miss Churchill in stepping into the boat. 
 
 " Let me help too," cried Cuthbert Gray, a 
 little fellow about ten years old, who had taken 
 a childish fancy to Mary, and had been her 
 devoted slave all through the day, springing 
 to his feet, as he spoke, with a sudden jump 
 which rocked the boat violently. 
 
 " Sit down, Cuthbert ! " exclaimed Morrison, 
 and half a dozen more ; but the mischief was 
 done. 
 
 At the very instant in which Mary stepped 
 from the rock, the boat swayed from its moor- 
 ings. Tom clung for dear life to the hand he 
 held, and to the rock from which his fingers 
 were fast slipping ; but the loaded boat was 
 too much for him ; it swung heavily outward, 
 and, with a little cry, Mary Churchill went
 
 36 FRANK AUSTIN'S DIAMOND. 
 
 down under the cold, calm water. But Tom 
 held her fast with a grip of steel, and a white, 
 set face, which told that all the strength of his 
 young frame was in the grasp of the hand 
 which held that small wrist beneath the water, 
 as he leaned over the side of the boat, kept 
 back by a pair of well-knit, sinewy arms which 
 clasped his waist tightly. 
 
 There had been a loud, wild cry, then an 
 instant's pause, then the leap of a lithe, 
 active, boyish figure into the stream. Three 
 or four bold, powerful strokes brought the 
 swimmer to the spot, and in another moment 
 Mary Churchill's face was lifted into the sun- 
 light again. 
 
 " Bravo ! Bravo ! Hurrah for Jem Dunn ! " 
 was shouted enthusiastically, as he bore her 
 back to the rock and lifted her into the arms 
 outstretched to receive her. 
 
 In the midst of the shouts, Mary Churchill 
 opened her eyes, with a little shudder and 
 groan ; but, looking up to see gentle, tender
 
 MOUNTAIN LAKE. 37 
 
 faces bending over her, smiled back at them, 
 and soon said, faintly enough at first, but still 
 in her own sweet voice, that she was not hurt, 
 only a little shaken and startled. And when 
 Dr. Drayton threw a cloak around her, and 
 lifting her in his arms told her she must be car- 
 ried to the house at once, she looked up at him 
 with all the old twinkle in her eyes, saying 
 merrily, 
 
 " You had better hang me out to dry first, 
 sir. I feel a little damp." 
 
 But for all that, he saw, as he bent to lift 
 her, that the bright eyes were full of tears, and 
 he did not speak to her again ; for, as he turned 
 from the crowd and walked swiftly toward the 
 house with his light burden, he noticed that 
 the face grew very grave, and as the eyes 
 looked far away to the westward, the lips 
 moved softly, though he heard no sound ; and 
 he knew that she was thanking the watchful 
 Master for the strong arm and the willing 
 heart which had been ready for her in her time 
 of need.
 
 38 FRANK AUSTIN'S DIAMOND. 
 
 Down at the lake, all was for awhile eager 
 excitement and congratulation. Tom Morri- 
 son and Jem Dunn, old Christy's grandson, 
 were overwhelmed with praise; arid even 
 Christy himself, standing there among the 
 crowd of excited boys, his weather-beaten face 
 all aglow with delight at the thought that his 
 boy had saved Miss Mary's life, received a 
 full share of hand-shaking and congratulation. 
 
 " Who was that fellow who held on to me 
 from behind?" asked Tom Morrison, suddenly 
 turning from the group who had closed round 
 him, as, having brought the boat in, he and 
 his companions stood upon the rock from 
 which Mary had fallen. " If it hadn't been for 
 him I'd have been overboard, and Miss Mary 
 would have gone to the bottom in spite of 
 me. He's got a grip, I tell you. Why ! " 
 
 He fell back a little as his eyes met those 
 of Arthur Bentley, who stood just beside him ; 
 for there came to him the recollection that 
 Bentley had been behind him in the boat.
 
 MOUNTAIN LAKE. 39 
 
 They stood and looked at one another for a 
 moment; then Tom's better nature triumphed, 
 and stepping quickly forward, risking, as he 
 knew, the jeers of the whole school, he held 
 out his hand, saying heartily, 
 
 " Shake hands on it, old fellow. You had 
 as much to do in saving Miss Mary as I." 
 
 " Don't say that anywhere but here," cried 
 Bentley, grasping the proffered hand. " I did 
 no more for her than I would have done for 
 any living thing. Promise me to say nothing 
 more about it, all of you," he added, turning 
 towards the little group. 
 
 The promise was easily given, and the 
 circumstance soon forgotten in the greater 
 interests of the day. But it served to give 
 Bentley another stepping-stone towards the 
 society and companionship from which he had 
 been for months debarred. 
 
 Never was country inn more devoid of the 
 necessaries for fitting out a short, plump, little 
 lady with a wardrobe than the house at Moun-
 
 40 FRANK AUSTIN'S DIAMOND. 
 
 tain Lake. The hostess was, so far as her 
 heart was concerned, more than ready to sup- 
 ply Miss Mary's needs ; but a short stuff-pet- 
 ticoat and a calico short-gown, set off by a pair 
 of coarse leather shoes, were all that she could 
 offer in the shape of a suit. Fortunately, Miss 
 Mary was very easily pleased ; and, replying 
 to all the old woman's apologies by many 
 thanks, she donned the quaint garments with 
 all speed, hoping to be out again before 
 Edward should reach the lake and hear of 
 her accident. 
 
 " Look ! " she said, gaily, turning to Mrs. 
 Leonard and Mrs. Drayton, who had been 
 assisting her in taking off her own water- 
 soaked clothing. "I think even Ned would 
 scarcely know me now." 
 
 " Who did you say, Miss ? " asked their 
 hostess, earnestly; but seeing that Miss 
 Churchill had spoken to the ladies instead 
 of to herself, as she had at first supposed, 
 she dropped a funny little curtsy, and with
 
 MOUNTAIN LAKE. 41 
 
 a sigh went back to the task of hanging Miss 
 Mary's garments to dry on a line she had put 
 around the stove, in which she had built a 
 fire when the young lady was carried up to 
 the house. 
 
 But quickly as she had turned away her 
 face, Miss Mary had caught its eager, ques- 
 tioning look ; and she had heard the heavy 
 sigh that whispered something of a grief to 
 which the worn, furrowed face had before 
 given her a clue. 
 
 " I was speaking of my brother, Mrs. Bai- 
 ley," she said. " He is out with this party 
 from Drayton Hall. He was up at the Drag- 
 on's Head when I fell into the lake, and I have 
 been trying to make myself comfortable before 
 he returned ; for, although he is many years 
 younger than I, he worries over me as if I 
 were a child. There he is, now ! " 
 
 The woman crossed the room, and stood 
 beside her, watching the boy as he came hur- 
 rying up the road toward the house.
 
 42 FRANK AUSTIN'S DIAMOND. 
 
 " Ay, but he's a likely lad," said Mrs. Bailey. 
 " Ned, that's the name you called him. I've 
 a lad called Ned too, dear heart ; but he's not 
 such a one as that. But I'll not disturb you 
 with him now," she added, as Mary looked at 
 her with eyes in which pity for her, and glad- 
 ness in her own Ned, struggled for the place. 
 " Go out to him, dear." 
 
 She threw open the window, and Mary 
 stepped out on a piazza. Ned was still at 
 some distance from her, and catching sight of 
 the little figure, in a short, blue petticoat and 
 dark calico jacket, with a mass of curling hair 
 falling all about its face, he ran forward, say- 
 ing eagerly, 
 
 " How is the lady ? Is she at all hurt ? " 
 
 " Not at all, sir," said the little girl, as he 
 had thought her, running down the steps to 
 meet him. 
 
 "Why, why, Mary Churchill!" and he 
 caught her and held her tightly, as if he were 
 afraid she might even yet slip from him, and
 
 MOUNTAIN LAKE. 43 
 
 sink down into the quiet waters of the 
 lake. 
 
 Mary grew grave as tne close, loving grasp 
 told her the thoughts that were in his heart. 
 
 " We must be very, very grateful, dear," she 
 said, clinging to his arm. " I have been res- 
 cued from awful peril to-day, and we must not 
 forget Him who saved me." 
 
 " No, indeed, the good fellow ! We'll make 
 it up to him, Mary. Jem's work this day 
 has richly repaid all we've ever done for him 
 or his grandfather. O Mary ! " and he held 
 her off from him and gazed at her, with a face 
 for the moment blanched of its rosy color, 
 " what would have become of me if they had 
 not saved you ? " 
 
 " We owe them all a world of love and 
 gratitude, Ned ; but when I spoke I was think- 
 ing of Him who gave them the power to save 
 me;" and she looked wistfully into Ned's eyes. 
 
 But they did not brighten now .as they had 
 done before.
 
 44 FRANK AUSTIN'S DIAMOND. 
 
 " Oh ! " he said, almost carelessly ; and then 
 running his hand through the soft curls which 
 fell down to her waist, he said, gaily : " Do 
 you know you look as pretty as a picture in 
 that queer dress, with your hair hung out to 
 dry ? ' Waving tresses, golden brown ! ' you'd 
 make a lovely little peasant girl, May." 
 
 " Would I ? Well, you shall paint my pict- 
 ure one of these days. Where are you going 
 next? Out on the lake ?" 
 
 " No, I shall stay here with you until you 
 want to go out. Wouldn't a brisk walk 
 warm you up ? " 
 
 " I dare say it would. But I can't walk in 
 these shoes. They are so large that I should 
 fall on these stony paths, and add to my woes 
 by spraining my ankle. So I will sit here in 
 the sun with Mrs. Bailey, and you must take 
 Mrs. Leonard and Mrs. Drayton out for a 
 row or a walk. They are losing all their day's 
 pleasure, shut up here with me." 
 
 Ned fell into the trap laid for him at once ;
 
 MOUNTAIN LAKE. 45 
 
 and Mary went into the house to ask the ladies, 
 who had insisted upon staying with her, if 
 they would not let Ned take them out. 
 
 " He will persist in remaining with me," 
 she said, " unless he thinks he can do some- 
 thing for you : and then I shall feel that I have 
 spoiled the day, not only for you, but for all 
 those who want you to share the good time 
 out of doors. Besides, I can see that this 
 lonely woman here is just aching for a talk 
 with somebody. You take Ned away, and 
 I'll lend the poor thing an ear to pour her 
 troubles into, in return for all her kindness to 
 me." 
 
 So, by dint of urging and coaxing she gained 
 her point ; and in a few moments she was sit- 
 ting on the steps of the piazza with Mrs. 
 Bailey beside her, the soft September sunlight 
 falling all around them, lighting up the story- 
 teller's sad, furrowed brow, and shining on the 
 lady's golden hair and sweet sympathizing 
 face, as the old woman told, and Miss Mary
 
 46 FRANK AUSTIN'S DIAMOND. 
 
 listened to, the tale of a mother's love, and a 
 son's waywardness and folly. 
 
 " Do you know where he is now ? " asked 
 Miss Churchill, as the woman ended the long, 
 mournful story of disobedience, cruelty and 
 final desertion. 
 
 " Yes, dear, I do indeed. You'll know Mil- 
 ward's Corner, perhaps ? Well, it's there he is, 
 and has been these two years. There's never 
 as wicked a place as it is in all the country 
 round ; and he's just in the thick of it all, body 
 and soul. And what can I do, ma'am, me 
 a lone widder woman ? " 
 
 It was a hard question to answer, and 
 Mary did not attempt at first to reply to it, 
 save by stroking the withered old hand, which 
 for the past half-hour had been lying in her 
 lap as confidingly as if she had been the friend 
 of a lifetime. And when she did answer it 
 in words, they were not her own ; but old, old 
 words, spoken hundreds of years ago to other 
 aching hearts by One who alone knew their
 
 MOUNTAIN LAKE. 47 
 
 bitterness. But old as the words were, they 
 had all their sweetness and beauty and fresh- 
 ness still ; and when, not long after, Ned came 
 to tell Mary that the Doctor had ordered the 
 wagons for the drive home, the weary, anxious 
 mother, not only with a lightened heart, but 
 with a quiet smile on her pale lips, left them 
 to go into the house and fold Miss Mary's 
 garments to be carried away. 
 
 Miss Churchill little thought as, an hour 
 after, she sat carefully bundled up in the 
 wagon, telling to her brother and Frank Aus- 
 tin who sat on either side of her the 
 story she had just heard, that she was giving 
 a young missionary a new motive for the 
 work which he intended to perform. 
 
 And in another voice, too, there came to 
 Frank, unconsciously to the speaker, strong, 
 helpful words of encouragement in his under- 
 taking. On the seat before them was Lau- 
 rence Bronson, talking with old Christy ; and 
 Austin, as he listened to Miss Mary, suddenly
 
 48 FRANK AUSTIN 1 8 DIAMOND. 
 
 caught the words spoken in the old fisherman's 
 tremulous but earnest voice, 
 
 " At Milward's Corner ? God bless his 
 brave young heart ! Ah, no ; don't you be 
 afeared for him, Master Bronson. The Lord 
 can look after his own." 
 
 But all serious thought was soon put to 
 flight by the rollicking fun of that ride down 
 the mountain. The shouts and laughter of 
 the joyous party seemed to infect the horses 
 with their own wild spirits ; and spite of the 
 heavy brakes attached to the wagons, they 
 went down the steep, stony road at a speed 
 which, to a stranger, would have seemed fear- 
 fully perilous. But, . thoroughly trained to 
 their work, and sure-footed as hinds, they 
 brought their precious load in safety to the 
 end of the apparently dangerous journey. 
 
 The moon rode high in the heavens, as, mak- 
 ing the air ring merrily with songs and choruses, 
 the noisy party rode into the grounds of Dray- 
 ton Hall, as tired, but as happy a company as 
 ever came home from a day's rambling.
 
 Ill 
 
 THE DIAMOND IN THE ROUGH. 
 
 - DRAYTON was sitting in Ms library 
 on the evening of the day following the 
 excursion to Mountain Lake, his head bent 
 low over his books, and his brow knit as if in 
 deep study, when a quick rap upon the door 
 changed the current of his thoughts. He lifted 
 his head, and the whole expression of his face 
 was altered as, in answer to his " Come," the 
 door opened, and Frank Austin entered. 
 
 Until very lately the two had met, when 
 circumstances brought them into close per- 
 sonal contact, as Dr. Drayton had always met 
 with his pupils, with a feeling of respectful 
 deference on the one hand, and of care and 
 interest on the other ; but now they met as 
 friend with friend; the lighting of the two 
 4
 
 50 FRANK AUSTIN'S DIAMOND. 
 
 faces, the grasp of the hands, the steady look 
 into each other's eyes, would have told that 
 truth to the most careless observer. 
 
 But a few months ago, Frank had gone 
 into that study in the first flush and gladness 
 of a new love to which his heart had hereto- 
 fore been a stranger; and Dr. Drayton had 
 received him with a sympathy and tenderness 
 so unexpected and so full, that the boy's whole 
 heart had gone out to him in affectionate con- 
 fidence and trust. The teacher took the pre- 
 cious gift of that fresh young heart with a 
 feeling of grateful joy which would have 
 astonished even those who supposed that they 
 knew him best; for Dr. Drayton had not the 
 talent of winning love. Reserved, quiet, stern, 
 and apparently cold, his boys, and almost 
 every one with whom he had to do, looked 
 up to .him, honored him, and trusted him; 
 but he knew and knew it to his grief, too 
 that there were very few who loved him ; 
 among his scholars scarcely one.
 
 THE DIAMOND IN THE ROUGH. 51 
 
 And so it was little wonder that when this 
 bright, glowing face showed itself at his door, 
 and his hand was held fast in a close, loving 
 grasp, that he should have laid his other hand 
 upon the boy's head and stroked it fondly, as, 
 having risen from his seat to meet him, he 
 stood looking down into Austin's face. If 
 those usually cold gray eyes had oftener rested 
 on his scholars with that tender, yearning 
 look, Dr. Drayton would not have had so 
 great cause to mourn that he could not gain 
 the love and confidence of the young hearts 
 committed to his care. 
 
 " Have you a few minutes to spare to me, 
 'or will I interrupt you if I come in ? " asked 
 Frank, with an ease and freedom which 
 showed that the Doctor's study was no new- 
 place of resort for him. 
 
 " As many minutes as you need," was the 
 reply. " Corne to the sofa, and we will talk 
 it over; for I see that there is some subject 
 coming up for discussion. What plan is
 
 52 FRANK AUSTIN'S DIAMOND. 
 
 afoot now ? Another advance into the ene- 
 my's country ? " and he shook his head very 
 decidedly. 
 
 "Yes, sir; an advance into the enemy's 
 country ; but not in the way you mean. We 
 would hardly have the coolness to ask for 
 another holiday yet awhile. But I want to 
 attack a real enemy, and I need your advice 
 as to how I had best move against him. You 
 know, Doctor," and he laid his hand on Dr. 
 Drayton's knee, " you know that I have done 
 nothing yet for my Captain, and I want to 
 work for Him." 
 
 "Well, my boy, what more? You have 
 gone farther than that." 
 
 " Yes, sir," said Austin, looking up, with a 
 smile ; " I have gone a little farther ; I have 
 determined to set up the standard at Mil- 
 ward's Corner, and see if I can do any thing 
 there ; " and he watched the master's face 
 anxiously as he spoke. 
 
 He could gain nothing from it at first, for
 
 THE DIAMOND IN THE ROUGH. 53 
 
 it was simply looking back at him with an 
 unmoved, set expression, which Frank would 
 once have taken as a sign of utter lack of 
 interest and appreciation. But he knew bet- 
 ter than that now. So he sat and waited 
 patiently for the moment when the calm, 
 absorbed face should turn towards him, and 
 the deep eyes should be lifted to his again. 
 The moment came before long ; and the first 
 words that Dr. Drayton spoke proved that his 
 apparent abstraction was only the result of 
 the close thought he had given to Austin's 
 new scheme. 
 
 " It might be done," he said, at length, in 
 his slow, measured tones. " Yes, I think it 
 might be done. But, Austin, that would be 
 a very hard field, and you are young and 
 quite new to the work. How do you propose 
 to begin ? " 
 
 " I have been down there reconnoitering a 
 little," said Frank, " and I find that there is a 
 shanty next to Milward's liquor-shop, where
 
 54 FRANK AUSTIN'S DIAMOND. 
 
 I can hire a room for a few shillings a month. 
 My idea is to hold a meeting there on Sab- 
 bath afternoons, a sort of prayer-meeting." 
 
 " Who would assist you ? Any one among 
 the boys ? " 
 
 " I think Bronson would help me regularly ; 
 and some of the older fellows beside would 
 drop in once in a while, I dare say. But for 
 constant assistance, help which could be 
 depended on, I doubt if I would have any 
 aid but Bronson's." 
 
 " And you two are ready to undertake it 
 alone ? " 
 
 " I have not spoken to him yet about shar- 
 ing in the plan ; I simply told him that I 
 intended to try to do something there. There 
 is very little doubt he will help me; but if he 
 does not see his way clear to do so, I will try 
 it alone." 
 
 " This is a very grave work, Austin, and 
 one which, once undertaken, must be carried 
 out, spite of all discouragements or hardships
 
 THE DIAMOND IN THE ROUGH. 55 
 
 or annoyances. You cannot let it drop after 
 it is once started." 
 
 " I have thought of all that, sir. I do not 
 mean to let it drop, whatever the trials con- 
 nected with it may be. But it won't be all 
 hard labor, Doctor," added the boy, his face 
 lighting up as he spoke. " There'll be a great 
 deal of joy and pleasure in it. There'll be 
 such a deal of happiness in the very work 
 itself, you know, that the trouble will be paid 
 for as we go along." 
 
 " You must not expect too much, my son," 
 said the doctor, smiling rather sadly at the 
 boy's enthusiasm. "I am afraid that you 
 will not be very well ' paid,' as you say. 
 That corner is a terrible- place. I think that 
 you will not make much headway there. 
 You will be disappointed if you count on a 
 large reward." 
 
 " Oh, I meant that the task would pay for 
 itself," said Frank, eagerly. " T don't know," 
 he added, more quietly, " whether our Lord
 
 56 FRANK AUSTIN'S DIAMOND. 
 
 will let us see even one soul brought back to 
 Him as the reward of our own personal labor ; 
 but I should think perhaps He might. Even 
 if He does not we will still be working for 
 Him. It does seem to me, doctor, that if I 
 could only feel that I was doing some real, 
 earnest work for Christ, I should be perfectly 
 content. It seems as if I were just hungry 
 for it." 
 
 " Then you will be satisfied, my son," said 
 Dr. Drayton, gently. " There was One who 
 said, ' My meat is to do the will of Him that 
 sent me ; ' and those ' that hunger and thirst 
 after righteousness shall be filled.' If you are 
 hungering for a holy life, and to 'work the 
 works ' of God, you shall ' have meat to eat 
 that others know not of.' I will not discour- 
 age you, Austin. Only be very cautious and 
 wise. If I were in your place I would have 
 a talk with old Christy about this thing before 
 attempting to start it. He knows more of 
 those people than we do, and will be better
 
 THE DIAMOND IN THE ROUGH. 57 
 
 able to advise you as to the best method of 
 commencing operations than I. Good-night, 
 my boy." 
 
 " Good-night, sir, and thank you for all the 
 time you have given me." 
 
 Dr. Drayton did not answer ; but as Frank 
 looked up at him, noticing his silence, he laid 
 both his hands upon his head. The boy bent 
 forward, and with a tremble in his voice, the 
 master said tenderly, " The Lord bless thee 
 and keep thee ; the Lord make his face to 
 shine upon thee and be gracious unto thee ; 
 the Lord lift up his countenance upon thee 
 and give thee peace." 
 
 Christopher Dunn's old clock had just rung 
 out six loud, honest strokes, as Frank Aus- 
 tin gave a rap on the cabin-door the next 
 morning. 
 
 " This is an early visit, isn't it, Christy ? " 
 he asked, as the old man came to meet him, 
 with a look of some surprise on his face. " I 
 wanted to have a talk with you, and I did
 
 58 FRANK AUSTIN'S DIAMOND. 
 
 not know of any time in the day but this 
 when we could be sure that none of the other 
 fellows would come in upon us. So I stole 
 out of bed without waking any one, and ran 
 down here. Where are the boys ? " 
 
 " Gone a-fishin', sir. They goes out for a 
 bit every mornin', to get their hands in like, 
 afore they starts off on the peddlin' with the 
 wagon. But isn't Jem a proud fellow, Mr. 
 Austin ? He's been on the watch ever since 
 he came to me to do a good turn for Miss 
 Mary or Mr. Edward ; not to say to pay them 
 back for all they've done for him, but just to 
 show his heart like. And he's that glad that 
 he was chose as the one to save her, that he 
 scarce knows how to explain himself. He's 
 a strong and active swimmer, is Jem. 'Twas 
 only a short while back that he saved another 
 woman from drownin'." 
 
 " He is a great blessing to you, isn't he, 
 Christy ? " said Frank, as the old face glowed 
 and sparkled with infinite delight.
 
 THE DIAMOND IN THE ROUGH. 59 
 
 " That he is, sir ; that he is. And 1 thank 
 the Lord for sending him to me. But what 
 was it you came to say, Mr. Austin ? I 
 mustn't keep you yarnin' about my boy, when 
 you've taken all this trouble to have a talk 
 with me. What is it, sir ? Nothing bad, I 
 know by the look of you." 
 
 " No, nothing bad, Christy ; but I want to 
 ask your advice. Suppose I wanted to do 
 something for our Master ; could I find a bet- 
 ter field to work in than Milward's Corner ? " 
 
 " There's no place where there's more to 
 do, Mr. Austin ; but then again there's no 
 place where the doin' of it would be more 
 hard. It's a terrible bad spot, sir." 
 
 "I know it. But isn't that only another 
 reason why I should try to make a little 
 change in it ? We mustn't pass by the dark 
 spots, Christy, and work only in the sunshine." 
 
 " No, Mr. Frank, that we must not ; and if 
 it's your will to try what you can do for the 
 Lord in the very midst of Satan's camp, it's
 
 FRANK AUSTIN'S DIAMOND. 
 
 not old Christy as will go agiri' you. But 
 you will need to be wise as a sarpent, sir, and 
 harmless as a dove." 
 
 " That is just why I came to talk to you 
 about it. I want you to tell me how to begin 
 there. I thought of hiring a room, and hold- 
 ing a sociable little prayer-meeting on Sunday 
 afternoons. Not a stiff, poky affair, you know ; 
 but a real, live, friendly meeting. Don't you 
 think we could get it up ? " 
 
 " Yes, sir ; you could get it up ; but another 
 pint is, whether you could keep it up. You'd 
 not have much help, I'm thinkin'." 
 
 " I'd keep it up if no one helped me but my 
 Master," said the boy, stoutly. 
 
 " Then here's my hand upon it, sir ; and all 
 the aid Christy can give, you shall surely 
 have," said the old man, heartily. " We'll do 
 our best, Mr. Frank, and if that fails, at least 
 our own hearts will be the warmer and the 
 stronger for it;" and he caught Frank's hand 
 and held it fast. " As to a place for the meet-
 
 THE DIAMOND IN THE ROUGH. 61 
 
 in', you might get the Widow Tracy's room, 
 only she's very nigh hand the tavern." 
 
 " That's the very place I thought of, Christy. 
 The fact of its being so close to the tavern is 
 only another reason for choosing it, for some 
 of the loungers there may stroll in once in a 
 while." 
 
 " And you don't think they'll make you 
 trouble, sir ? " 
 
 " I should not wonder if they did try to dis- 
 turb us; but our Master is stronger than 
 theirs, and perhaps those who come in to 
 annoy us may be won over to our side. Don't 
 you think so ? " 
 
 " I think the Lord is with you, boy, in this 
 thing," said the old man solemnly, " and not 
 another word will Christy say agin' it. There 
 comes Jem now. He'll be ready with a help- 
 in' hand for you." 
 
 Jem sat listening with a very attentive, 
 interested face, while Frank unfolded his new 
 plan to him ; and when the earnest voice asked,
 
 62 FRANK AUSTIN'S DIAMOND. 
 
 in conclusion " Do you believe I can make it 
 work, Jem ? " he sat for some moments, with 
 his chin resting on his hands, thoughtfully 
 studying a knot-hole in a plank in the flooring, 
 before he answered the question. 
 
 " If we only could get hold of that Ed 
 Bailey," he said at length, " we might do 
 something. He's the leader of that gang, and 
 I never saw so young a chap so good at mak- 
 ing folks do accordin' to his likin'. If we got 
 him over, we'd have no trouble at all, for he'd 
 make the other fellows behave themselves. 
 But he's such a regular rowdy that I'm afraid 
 he'll do all he can agin' us ; and if he does, 
 the rest will follow in his track." 
 
 "Ed Bailey, did you say ? " asked Frank. 
 " Is that the son of the landlady at Mountain 
 Lake?" 
 
 " Yes, sir. He left his home entirely a year 
 ago, because, as he said, he couldn't do as he 
 pleased with the old woman around. He's 
 done as he pleased since, and no mistake ; for
 
 THE DIAMOND IN THE ROUGH. 63 
 
 he's gone to the bad as fast as his feet could 
 carry him. There isn't a worse fellow at the 
 Corner (and that's sayin' a good deal) than 
 Ed Bailey." 
 
 " Perhaps he isn't as bad as he's painted," 
 said Frank. 
 
 " He's pretty bad, sir, accordin' to my own 
 knowledge of him," replied Jem. " I've only 
 been here for a few months, and of course it's 
 only for that time I've known him ; but I 
 can see he's run a long ways down hill even 
 in this time. He was quite a decent-lookin' 
 young fellow when I first seen him, but now 
 he looks worse nor any fellow of his age that 
 I ever see. There don't seem to be a good 
 spot in him." 
 
 " Oh, yes, there is," said Frank, cheerily. 
 " There is a good spot in every one some- 
 where, and Ed Bailey must have his. Per- 
 haps no one has tried to find it out." 
 
 " Perhaps not, Mr. Austin. Certain sure, 
 no one ever speaks a good word for him now ;
 
 64 FRANK AUSTIN'S DIAMOND. 
 
 and if he did take a turn for the better, I sup- 
 pose he's got none to help him. Everybody 
 is down on him." 
 
 " Then suppose you and I take him in hand, 
 Jem, and see if we can do any thing with him. 
 Don't say a word yet of our intentions, but 
 just make friends with him if you can. I will 
 speak to him if I see him. Perhaps I can 
 make him like me. Shall we try for it ? " 
 
 " Yes, sir ; for sure we will," said Jem, 
 quickly. " I'll be proud to be workin' with 
 you, and I'll do my part right hearty and 
 willin." 
 
 " Perhaps we shall find him a diamond in 
 the rough," and Frank laughed a musical, 
 happy laugh. 
 
 " I don't know about the diamond, sir ; 
 but as to the rough, you'll find plenty of that. 
 But we'll see if we can't rub him down a 
 ,bit." 
 
 " All right. Now I must be off, or I shall 
 not be at the Hall in time for prayers. I'll
 
 THE DIAMOND IN THE ROUGH. 65 
 
 see you again, Christy, before I do any thing 
 very definite. Good-by." 
 
 " Good-by, and God bless you, laddie ! for 
 if ever there was a brave young soul bent on 
 doin' His work, 'tis yourself, Mr. Austin. Go 
 on, boy, go on, and the dear Lord Himself go 
 with you." 
 
 Circumstances seemed to favor Frank's 
 plans ; for, before he had walked a quarter of a 
 mile toward the Hall, he caught sight of the 
 figure of a man sauntering slowly up the road 
 before him, and as he came nearer he recog- 
 nized Ed Bailey. There was certainly noth- 
 ing very prepossessing in the appearance of 
 the young man. A short, thick-set figure, with 
 broad shoulders, surmounted by a head cov- 
 ered with a thick crop of dark hair, which 
 clustered in close curls over the low forehead, 
 beneath whose heavy brows a pair of small, 
 keen, black eyes looked sharply out upon 
 what to judge by the sullen, dogged expres- 
 5
 
 66 FRANK AUSTIN'S DIAMOND. 
 
 sion of his face must have been a very dis- 
 agreeable world. 
 
 " A pleasant day for a walk," said Frank, 
 as he passed him with a friendly nod. 
 
 The man looked up, and fixed his eyes on 
 the speaker in a long, rude stare. This was 
 by no means the first time he had been spoken 
 to by a Hall-boy, for the wilder spirits of the 
 school had been often led into serious mischief 
 by Ed Bailey and his comrades ; but this was 
 one of the " Snobs," as the loungers at 
 Milward's Corner had nicknamed those of 
 the school-boys who held themselves above 
 such low companionship, and the " Snobs " 
 never deigned even a look to him and his 
 friends. 
 
 " I feel as if I could almost walk up to 
 your beautiful home at Mountain Lake, Bai- 
 ley," Frank went on, returning his stare with 
 a smile. " This cool, fresh air braces one up 
 so." 
 
 The man gave him a quick, sharp look as
 
 THE DIAMOND IN THE ROUGH. 67 
 
 if to ask whether there were any motive 
 for those words other than appeared on the 
 surface; but Austin met his glance frankly, 
 and forced, as it seemed, it spite of himself 
 to make some reply, Bailey answered, gruff- 
 
 iy>- 
 
 " It's good enough, I suppose." 
 
 " We were up there a day or two since," 
 said Frank, unabashed by his disagreeable 
 manner. " The country was looking splen- 
 didly, and the lake was as clear as crystal. 
 We were fortunate in finding it so perfectly 
 clear, for I believe the water is sometimes 
 a little muddied, isn't it?" 
 
 " Summat so," was all the answer he re- 
 ceived. 
 
 But no matter, Frank had something to do, 
 and he meant to do it. 
 
 " One of our ladies fell into the lake. She 
 wasn't hurt at all ; and your mother gave her 
 dry clothes, and made her as comfortable as 
 possible. If Mrs. Bailey had been her own
 
 68 FRANK AUSTIN'S DIAMOND. 
 
 mother, she couldn't have been more kind and 
 attentive to her. She's a very nice old lady. 
 We all liked her so much." 
 
 The keen, black eyes had fixed themselves 
 on Frank's face at the first mention of the 
 mother. Frank knew that very well, but he 
 had not lifted his to meet them. Now, look- 
 ing up suddenly, he caught their expression, 
 a softened look which Edward Bailey would 
 never willingly have permitted him to see. 
 It changed in an instant to the old sullen, 
 moody expression ; but the boy had seen it, 
 and it was all he needed to confirm him in 
 his purpose. 
 
 Wisely thinking that his first effort had 
 been carried far enough, he turned into a foot- 
 path, which led across the fields up to the 
 Hall, saying, as he left his strange com- 
 panion, 
 
 " I must hurry, or I shall be late. Good- 
 morning." 
 
 "Mornin'," was the roughly spoken re- 
 sponse.
 
 THE DIAMOND IN THE ROUGH. 69 
 
 But the next moment, with a quick spring, 
 the man had gained Frank's side once 
 more. 
 
 " I say," he said, without looking toward 
 Austin, but keeping close beside him, " the 
 old woman didn't happen to say nothin' to 
 you about me, did she now ? " 
 
 " No, not to me," replied Frank. " But she 
 told one of the ladies that she had a son in 
 Graydon who had not visited her in a long 
 while, and that she wanted very much indeed 
 to see him." 
 
 The words were scarcely spoken before his 
 listener was gone, and Frank walked rapidly 
 on toward the Hall. 
 
 Had he found the soft spot in that hard 
 heart ? Had he seen the glow of a diamond 
 hidden deep, deep down beneath a crushing 
 weight of sin and folly and ignorance ? 
 
 It was a morning in the middle of Sep- 
 tember, and the mellow autumn light was 
 beginning to fall softly over hill and vajley,
 
 70 FRANK AUSTIN'S DIAMOND. 
 
 tinting the already rich landscape with even 
 brighter hues. The varied bits of color caught 
 Austin's eye, and he stood for a moment 
 watching the changes in the beautiful picture 
 with keen delight. 
 
 In the valley at his feet lay a smooth 
 meadow of bright green, stretching away 
 toward the hills, until it was met by a field of 
 red buckwheat lying cosily nestled between 
 two fields of corn that stood proudly tossing 
 its long tassels in the sunlight, even while it 
 bent beneath the weight of its golden ears. 
 Here and there over the meadows the maples 
 waved their branches in the breeze, some 
 tipped with yellow or crimson leaves, or 
 touched in the very heart with scarlet hues, 
 while the outer branches still wore their early 
 dress of green. Away up on the mountain 
 side there shone a gleam of purest white, 
 a late field, which the sun, lingering in the val- 
 ley, coquetting with waving corn and sweet 
 blossoms there, had neglected to care for. It
 
 THE DIAMOND IN THE ROUGH. 71 
 
 would scarcely ripen now, yet it added 
 another shade to the picture. Father down 
 the hillside a broad, brown expanse, bringing 
 out the brighter colors in stronger relief, told 
 that the ploughman had been busy there. 
 Barren enough it looked as his eye first fell 
 on it ; but the next moment, the sunlight 
 touching it from behind a passing cloud, 
 clothed it with a new beauty, bringing into 
 view a faint shade of softest green, the first 
 tender up-springing of the winter grain which 
 needed that one burst of sunshine to tell 
 that it was there. 
 
 So it is oftentimes with poor human souls. 
 We pass them by, for they seem to us utterly 
 barren, rough, and dark. But let the sun- 
 shine of a gentle word, a generous act, or 
 even a kindly smile but fall upon them, and 
 we shall catch in a moment the answering 
 gleam, the quick up-springing of a new life. 
 It may be but a germ, so slight and faint 
 that we shall lose it as the shadow falls
 
 72 FRANK AUSTIN'S DIAMOND. 
 
 again ; yet, if it is tended and cared for, it 
 will, in God's good time, bear fruit which we 
 shall gather into His treasure-house, singing 
 our Harvest- Home with glad thanksgiving.
 
 IV 
 
 MILWARD'S CORNER. 
 
 '"THHE Sabbath morning rose bright and 
 and fair after two days of heavy rain ; 
 and as Frank Austin sat in the little Graydon 
 Church, by a window which looked out upon 
 a brook whose waters had been swollen into 
 quite a sturdy stream by the storm, the glo- 
 rious sunlight which bathed the whole scene 
 in gold seemed to him a promise of success 
 in the work which he intended to begin that 
 afternoon. The sun-lit water came gurgling 
 and splashing over the stones which lay in its 
 path until, striking a sharp ledge of rock, it 
 dashed over its edge in a miniature waterfall, 
 which fell foaming into a deep pool that lay 
 dark and silent beneath the rock.
 
 74 FRANK AUSTIN'S DIAMOND. 
 
 "Watching the glistening water as it fell, 
 the boy's thoughts wandered far out of the 
 reach of Mr. Leonard's voice. The dark, 
 deep pool was Milward's Corner; the spark- 
 ling, flashing stream which threw itself into 
 it, fearless of stain from contact with its black- 
 ness, was the feeble band who had under- 
 taken to labor for the Master there. 
 
 But what was this lying just beyond the 
 spot where the bright water struck the dark ? 
 
 A tiny leaf, lifted by some playful breeze 
 from an autumn-tinted maple-bough, lay 
 burning on the black water; now floating out 
 toward a broad land of sunlight which lay 
 warmly across the brook not half a dozen feet 
 from it ; now drawn back by the current of 
 the pool; now thrown forward again by the 
 onward force of the little cataract. That tiny 
 leaf grew to a sign to the boy ; it took upon it 
 a strange importance, an individuality, it be- 
 came his " rough diamond." Would the 
 deep pool draw it down, down to its dark
 
 .MIL WARD'S CORNER. 75 
 
 depths, or would the pure, sweet stream 
 move it on little by little to the bright sun- 
 light beyond ? 
 
 He sat and watched and watched it with a 
 curious, almost painful earnestness. Back 
 and forth, back and forth, first subject to one 
 force, then to the other ; but with all its turn- 
 ings and waverings, Frank could see that it 
 was slowly floating toward the light. A trifle 
 nearer, another trifle, and then a slight breeze 
 ruffled the stream, and wafted the glowing 
 leaf, the bearer of so many hopes and longings, 
 into the glorious, shining band of gold which 
 spanned the stream. 
 
 Fr.ank lifted his head with a great sigh of 
 relief. A half-smile crossed his face as he 
 became conscious of the depth and intensity 
 of feeling with which he had followed the fate 
 of a little maple-leaf; and, looking up with 
 the smile yet on his lips, he caught Mr. Leon- 
 ard's eyes fixed full upon his face, with some- 
 thing so like an answering gleam in their
 
 76 FRANK AUSTIN'S DIAMOND. 
 
 quiet depths, that the boy asked himself if it 
 could be that he too had seen the pretty, tri- 
 fling thing, and had invested it with any such 
 importance as that which he had attached to 
 it. But that could not be ; for, from his posi- 
 tion, Mr. Leonard could by no possibility 
 have looked out upon the little picture. For 
 a moment, Frank wondered what that glance 
 had meant ; then something in the sermon 
 caught his wandering thoughts, and the cir- 
 cumstance passed from his mind. 
 
 He was standing in the vestibule of the 
 church after service, talking with Christy, who 
 had stopped him on his way out, to ask him 
 some question with reference to the meeting 
 at the Corner, when Mr. Leonard came down 
 the aisle, and pausing beside them, said : 
 
 " Well, Frank, are you ready to open the 
 battle this afternoon ? " 
 
 " Yes, sir, I believe so. Christy and I were 
 just discussing the matter a little. I've one 
 good helper, at any rate."
 
 MIL WARD 1 S CORNER. 77 
 
 " Yes ; and you would have more if I did 
 not think it wisest at least for the present 
 to leave the field entirely in your hands. 
 All my own efforts have been so resolutely 
 and bitterly withstood, that I have been almost 
 in despair of any good being done at the Cor- 
 ner while Milward kept up his tavern there ; 
 the very word "minister" or" church" seems 
 to be sufficient to excite the opposition of 
 those poor creatures ; but since you boys 
 have undertaken the work, I have some hope 
 in it. There will be the novelty of the thing, 
 in the first place, to attract them, and the more 
 hardened of them will not think it worth their 
 while to interfere with what they will prob- 
 ably consider mere child's play. They will 
 laugh at you, mock you, and annoy you, 
 doubtless, in every way possible to their inge- 
 nuity ; but they will scarcely oppose you with 
 any thing like violence ; and they will soon 
 tire of their system of annoyance, I think, and 
 leave you to go on your way unmolested.
 
 78 FRANK AUSTIN'S DIAMOND. 
 
 You have undertaken a noble work, my son. 
 God bless you in it! " 
 
 Christy left them at the church -door, prom- 
 ising to be in his place at the appointed time; 
 and Mr. Leonard and Frank were slowly 
 walking homeward, when the minister asked, 
 suddenly, 
 
 " What was your text this morning, Frank ? " 
 
 " The text, sir ? " and Frank colored slightly, 
 for, for the moment, it had escaped him. " Oh ! 
 I have it now. ' I am the good shepherd and 
 know my sheep, and am known of mine.' ' : 
 
 " That was my text : I asked you for yours. 
 You heard but little of my sermon this morn- 
 ing; but if I am not much mistaken you 
 heard a greater preacher than I. Was not 
 that so ? " 
 
 The boy looked up, with a quick, compre- 
 hending glance. 
 
 " I know what you mean," he said, " and 1 
 know, too, why it was that you looked as if 
 you saw the picture which had drawn my
 
 MIL WARD'S CORNER. 79 
 
 attention from your sermon. Did you see it, 
 Mr. Leonard ? " 
 
 " I saw a face in which watchfulness and 
 anxiety, hope, uncertainty, and strong desire 
 were strangely mixed and blended ; then I 
 saw the watchful anxiety subside into almost 
 certain hope, then into fulfilled desire, and I 
 knew that my young soldier had been armed 
 anew, and that his Captain had strengthened 
 him for the battle. You need not have 
 blushed to find that you were not at once 
 able to give me my text when you supposed 
 that I had asked for it, for I think you have 
 been listening to Him who preached to the 
 fishermen of Galilee. Can you tell me His 
 text ? " 
 
 " A little maple-leaf, tossed to and fro, but 
 lifted at last into the sunny, quiet water," 
 said Frank, smiling. " That was the text, and 
 the sermon has made me strong for my work. 
 But I had not thought of it so before. You 
 always have such a nice way of putting
 
 80 FRANK AUSTIN'S DIAMOND. 
 
 things, Mr. Leonard;" and he drew closer 
 to the minister's side, and looked lovingly up 
 in his face. 
 
 " Have I, my boy ? " he answered, gravely. 
 " I arn glad if I have helped you in any 
 degree. Since Allan Haywood, your friend 
 and my son (as dear to me as my very own, 
 though he called another man father) went 
 home, the young friends he left behind him, 
 especially those who love and serve the Mas- 
 ter whom he so delighted to honor, stand next 
 to him in my love ; and I would fain do for 
 them what, if God had spared his life, I might 
 have done for him. Remember, Frank, that 
 if at any time you want my aid, I am always 
 more than ready, both with hand and heart." 
 
 " I know that, sir, and I shall never forget 
 it," said Frank ; and their paths diverging 
 here, they parted with a hearty grasp of each 
 other's hands, and another wish from Mr. 
 Leonard that the boy might prosper in his 
 new enterprise.
 
 MIL WARD'S CORNER. 81 
 
 Mrs. Tracy's apartment was a small corner 
 room, on the second floor of a dilapidated 
 wooden building which stood close beside 
 the tavern, where, for years, Joe Milward had 
 doled out disease and death, at three cents a 
 glass, to scores and hundreds of poor souls 
 who flocked day by day to his den of misery. 
 Young men and old, women, and even chil- 
 dren, might be seen at any hour of the day, 
 idling about the ill-kept, tumble-down tavern, 
 hanging around the door in groups, or issuing 
 from the bar, staggering stupidly under the 
 influence of the poison they had taken ; or, 
 maddened by its heat, raving like lunatics, 
 until, worn out by their own violence, they 
 fell down, a helpless heap of rags and wretch- 
 edness, into heavy, senseless sleep. 
 
 A few benches had been placed in rows 
 along one side of the room, fronting an old 
 school-desk which Dr. Drayton had given to 
 be used as a rostrum ; the broken boards of 
 the bare floor had been covered here and there 
 6
 
 82 FRANK AUSTINS DIAMOND. 
 
 by patches of bright carpet obtained from 
 Mrs. Morton, the housekeeper ; and the two 
 small windows had been neatly curtained 
 with coarse white muslin. Altogether it was 
 by no means an uninviting looking spot ; and 
 as Frank, with half a dozen of his school- 
 fellows, entered it that sunny September after- 
 noon, he thought it, in his glad, hopeful 
 enthusiasm, the very place for a prayer-meet- 
 ing such as he designed to hold. 
 
 " Surely they will come in," he said to 
 himself, as he glanced around the room ; " it 
 looks so neat and cosy they will like it." 
 
 And they did come in. First of all save 
 Christy and his two boys, who were waiting 
 at the door when Frank reached the Corner 
 came two or three children; then a group 
 of boys about his own age ; ten or twelve of 
 these, rough, ill-looking young fellows ; then 
 an old woman ; then a girl, with a baby in 
 her arms ; and then, sauntering slowly in, as 
 if half undecided whether to enter the room 
 or not, Ed Bailey.
 
 M1LWAR&S CORNER. 83 
 
 Frank had just risen, to open the service, 
 when the last comer loitered lazily through 
 the open door. Austin paused a moment, 
 with the eyes of all the little crowd upon him, 
 until Bailey was fairly in the room ; then said, 
 quietly, 
 
 "Will you please to close that door, and 
 we will begin our service." 
 
 The young man stood still for a moment, 
 eyeing him sharply ; then, as if suddenly 
 changing his mind, turned and shut the door, 
 seating himself close beside it. 
 
 It was a moment of intense interest to 
 every one within the walls of that poor room. 
 Whatever motive had brought them there, 
 however carelessly or with whatever evil 
 intent they had come, every faculty of every 
 soul there was now engrossed by that young 
 face behind the desk. Idle curiosity had 
 drawn the two women, the rumor of some 
 kind of a meeting to be held in the Widow 
 Tracy's room. At the tavern it had been
 
 84 FRANK AUSTIN'S DIAMOND. 
 
 talked of, too ; in the bar-room some one had 
 said that the " Snobs were goin' to get up a 
 meetin'." The announcement had been sim- 
 ply laughed at save by Milward, who had 
 declared with a curse that, " if the young ras- 
 cals " interfered with him, they would make 
 trouble for themselves. The love of some- 
 thing new, and the hope of making some fun, 
 had drawn a number of the frequenters of the 
 bar from their usual Sunday afternoon recre- 
 ations to the little room ; but there was not 
 one stranger there who had come to worship 
 God. Nevertheless, the room was solemnly 
 still, and every eye was fixed on Frank, as he 
 faced the small company who sat before him, 
 wondering how much he had courage to do 
 and say. 
 
 They had not long to wait. He was very 
 pale, but his voice came full and clear and 
 strong when, after a moment's pause, it broke 
 the silence : 
 
 " We are very glad, more glad than we
 
 MIL WARD'S CORNER. 85 
 
 can tell you, to see so many here, especially So 
 many young fellows of about our own age. 
 We boys thought it would be a good idea, 
 as long as there was no church in this part 
 of the village, to hold a meeting here, a 
 sociable, friendly kind of an affair. Sunday 
 is such a long, dull day when we have noth- 
 ing at all to do and don't go to church, that 
 any thing that breaks into it, and gives us 
 something to think of and talk about, is a 
 very good thing for us. So we thought we 
 would start this meeting, and those that liked 
 it could come, and those that did not need 
 not be at all annoyed by it, as we are quite 
 out of the way. It is a real satisfaction to 
 us to see so many here. We scarcely ex- 
 pected it, and it is a great encouragement. 
 We will begin, by singing the hymn on the 
 sixth page of those little books which you 
 will see on the benches." 
 
 Two or three hands were stretched out for 
 the books ; and three voices, one that of the
 
 86 FRANK AUSTIN'S DIAMOND. 
 
 girl with the baby on her knees, joined in, as 
 Will Seaton, who had come down " to see 
 the fun " as he expressed it, but in reality to 
 help Frank out of his difficulty with regard to 
 a chorister, struck up the old familiar tune 
 of " America," to the hyrnn, 
 
 " Come, thou Almighty King." 
 
 Frank had but little ear for music, and 
 could not have carried a tune if his life de- 
 pended on it; but he listened with infinite 
 delight to^the hymn, nor did it disturb his 
 happiness when he noticed that one of the 
 two strangers, who lent their voices to the 
 chorus, was singing the words as well as 
 the tune of " America." The man had not 
 opened a book, but sat with his hands in his 
 pocke't, and his head thrown back, singing 
 away most lustily, in a voice by no means 
 unmelodious, bringing his feet down with a 
 smart rap upon the floor at the close of every 
 line, not apparently with any idea of making
 
 MILWARD'S CORNER. 87 
 
 a disturbance, but simply in his full content 
 and enjoyment. 
 
 Little by little others began to sing, until at 
 last there was scarcely one in the room who 
 sat silent and seemingly uninterested except 
 Edward Bailey. Since he had seated him- 
 self beside the door he had not raised his head, 
 nor taken any notice of any one around him, 
 except to push aside with a gruff refusal a 
 hymn-book which Laurence Bronson had 
 offered him. 
 
 The notes of the hymn died down into 
 silence ; there was a moment's pause, and 
 then Frank rose in his place again. 
 
 " We have asked God to help us to sing," 
 he said, looking round as he spoke on the 
 group about him, with a face that showed he 
 felt some doubt as to the spirit in which his 
 words would be received, but speaking in a 
 firm, decided tone ; " Let us ask Him to bless 
 us with His love." 
 
 " No ! no ! none of that, youngster," said
 
 88 FRANK AUSTIN'S DIAMOND. 
 
 a voice from the farther side of the room. 
 " Sing as much as you like ; but we ain't a 
 goin' to have no prayin' here." 
 
 "No, not a bit of it!" shouted another 
 voice ; and cries of, " No ! no ! " " No prayin' 
 here ! " " No preachin' in these parts ! " and 
 so forth, were shouted in a tumultuous chorus, 
 which effectually prevented any efforts on 
 Frank's part to make himself heard. 
 
 He did not attempt to speak, but stood in 
 his place, very pale; looking from one to 
 another of the more violent of his opposers, 
 until his very stillness silenced them. The 
 uproar died into a murmur of discontent, 
 then ceased entirely, every one watching to 
 see what the next move would be. No sooner 
 had the room become quite still than Austin 
 spoke. 
 
 " I should be sorry," he said quietly, " to do 
 any thing which would annoy any one here ; 
 but all, who have come into this room, came 
 probably with the full knowledge that the
 
 MILWARD'S CORNER. 89 
 
 meeting in which they intended to take part 
 was to be held for the service of God. It 
 must be remembered that this room is, for the 
 time being, my house. I am very glad to 
 welcome you all to it, but those of us who are 
 here to serve our Lord and Master must not 
 be disturbed. If any wish to leave before 
 prayer is offered, they may do so at once." 
 
 There was a moment's pause, but no one 
 moved. 
 
 " Look a here, Snobby ! " said the man who 
 had first interrupted the service, a rough, burly 
 fellow, who had come in for the express pur- 
 pose of defeating the object of the meeting, 
 " if you think you're a goin' to settle down in 
 this place and play missionary, you're just 
 mistaken, and the sooner you stop this, the 
 better for you ; " and rising from his seat, he 
 stood with his hands in his pockets, eying 
 Frank with an impudent stare. 
 
 Go it, Bill ! " Two to one on big Bill ! " 
 " No, I'll bet on Snobby ; he's got the real
 
 90 FRANK AUSTIN'S DIAMOND. 
 
 grit ! " and so forth, were some of the cries 
 which rang through the room ; while the 
 smaller boys clapped their hands, whistled, 
 and shouted their approval of the turn affairs 
 were taking. 
 
 Frank did not speak, but his steady eye 
 
 never moved from the face of the man who 
 I 
 
 defied him, until the din and noise subsided 
 again ; then he said, 
 
 " I must have quiet here. No one has 
 a right to interfere with us in our own 
 room." 
 
 " No more they haven't," exclaimed the 
 man who had sung so heartily, starting sud- 
 denly to his feet. " Sit down, Bill Simpson, 
 and give the young 'un fair play. He's on his 
 own floor ; and if he's a likin' for prayin', 
 'tain't none of our consarns. Them's as don't 
 like it here can go where they're better suited. 
 Come now, fellers, sit down, and let him go 
 ahead. The sooner he gits through, the 
 sooner we'll git to singin' agin, and I'm just
 
 MIL WARD'S CORNER. 91 
 
 full of sing. Go ahead, young Snobby ! I'll 
 see you git fair play." 
 
 But the opposition was not to be so soon 
 silenced ; and the tumult, especially among the 
 smaller boys, was fast rising again, when from 
 the door-way there came another voice to the 
 rescue, a voice by no means as persuasive 
 as that of Frank's first friend, but far more 
 potent in its effect. 
 
 " Sit down, and stay down, every mother's 
 son of you, or I'll know the reason why ! " it 
 said fiercely ; and the boys sat down with a 
 celerity that astonished the speaker himself. 
 
 The burly man in the corner still main- 
 tained his ground, looking round defiantly, 
 but said nothing further. Frank glanced 
 round to see who his new champion might 
 be, and great was his surprise to find that it 
 was Edward Bailey. 
 
 The room was as still now as if there were 
 no living soul within it but himself; all were 
 watching to see whether he would dare to
 
 92 FRANK AUSTIN'S DIAMOND. 
 
 begin his prayer. There was an instant's 
 silence ; then a low, quiet voice broke it so 
 gently, that all had to listen intently if they 
 wished to know for what it plead. 
 
 And it did plead. It asked for very little : 
 only for the light of God's love to cheer and 
 comfort each heart there ; for daily health and 
 strength to win what the daily needs of each 
 required ; for peace and joy and rest to be 
 given to each ; for very little, counting by 
 words and by the minutes during which the 
 low, earnest voice held the rough crowd silent ; 
 but for good which was beyond all measure 
 if one judged by those tones of longing 
 entreaty. 
 
 Not one head was bent save those of his 
 own friends ; but when Austin lifted his face 
 again and turned to his little audience, he 
 found every eye fixed upon him, not in mal- 
 ice or mischief, but in interest and admira- 
 tion. Not that his prayer, simple and earnest 
 though it was, had reached those poor, hard-
 
 MIL WARD'S CORNER. 93 
 
 ened souls ; but boys, even the worst of them, 
 have always a spot in their hearts which any 
 exhibition of true courage will touch ; and 
 they had seen in this boy, no older than many 
 of themselves, a moral fortitude and bravery 
 which had kindled into light every spark of 
 honor which yet smouldered in their breasts. 
 Not a disturbing sound was heard, as Frank 
 again spoke. 
 
 " I see some one with us," he said, looking 
 over toward the corner from which Christy 
 and his two sons had been anxiously watch- 
 ing the progress of affairs, " from whom we 
 would all be glad to hear ; for he is the friend, 
 I suppose, of every man, woman, and child 
 here. We will sing another hymn, and then 
 we will ask Mr. Dunn to talk to us a little." 
 
 The hymn was sung; and then the old man 
 left his seat, and coming forward stepped be- 
 hind the desk, Frank having motioned to him 
 to take his place. 
 
 " I've just a bit of a story to tell you," he
 
 94 FRANK AUSTIN'S DIAMOND. 
 
 said, as he leaned forward on the desk, " of a 
 poor young fellow that got into sore mishaps. 
 His father was a rich man and a good man 
 too ; and he'd a great love for this boy and for 
 another son he had, an older one. The older 
 one was a good lad, but this younger boy was 
 of a restless, rovin' mind, and he got into 
 evil ways, and fell from bad to worse, till at 
 last he wouldn't even live in the house with 
 his father and the rest of the family ; for he 
 felt uneasy in his conscience, and, I suppose, 
 couldn't bear to see the odds betwixt himself 
 and them, they being good and honest folks, 
 and he bein' of a very different turn of mind. 
 So he takes his share of what fortune the old 
 man had to give, and off he goes to furrin' 
 parts. Just think of the meanness of it, boys, 
 to take the money that the poor old man had 
 been layin' up for years, and instead of helpin' 
 along in the family, to go off with it as if he'd 
 earned it all himself. 
 
 " Well, for years they didn't see him, only
 
 MILWAR&S CORNER. 95 
 
 heard of him from time to time, and every 
 time a worse tale. The old father's heart was 
 a'most broke with shame and grief; for his 
 honest name was dragged in the dirt, his 
 money squandered, and his boy lost to him. 
 
 " By and by, one day, as his weary eyes 
 was a lookin' out upon the road, he sees a 
 figure, all rags and misery, bent and broken- 
 like, a comin' up the road. He looks at it, 
 and as he looks he gets all of a tremble. He 
 thinks he knows it. Poor and ragged and 
 forlorn as it is, he thinks it is his son. He 
 looks again, his breath comes thick and fast, 
 and he moves not to the door to enter in 
 and lock it fast against his wicked son. No, 
 my boys, no : it is to run and meet him, to 
 take him in his old arms, to kiss his poor, 
 wan face, old before its time ; and as the son, 
 penitent and heart-broken, sobs out so hum- 
 ble-like, ' Father, I have sinned ! ' the father 
 but holds him closer, and cries out so joyful 
 that all run to see what has cheered his sad
 
 96 FRANK AUSTIN'S DIAMOND. 
 
 heart so greatly. Never a word of anger falls 
 from his lips ; the son had but to say he was 
 sorry, and the father forgave it all and took 
 him to his home and his heart again. So 
 God, our Father, will take us in tender, 
 loving forgiveness, so soon as we turn back 
 from our sinful ways, and do but whisper, 
 ' Father, I have sinned! ' " 
 
 " Please dismiss them, Christy," whispered 
 Frank, as the old man left the desk. 
 
 He did not return to his place ; but from 
 where he stood, lifting his wrinkled hands, he 
 said simply, 
 
 "Dear Father! win us back to Thee from 
 all our wanderings and sin. Lead us now 
 from this place, guiding us to our homes 
 with the light of Thy blessing." 
 
 The little assemblage broke up quietly ; 
 and so ended Frank's first effort at Milward's 
 Corner.
 
 V. 
 
 MARY ALLEN. 
 
 tk ~\\ 7"ELL, Austin, what do you think of 
 
 " that?" asked Will Seaton, as the 
 school-boys set off together toward the Hall 
 after the meeting had broken up. 
 
 " I think that was pretty well for a begin- 
 ning," replied Frank ; " did you imagine they 
 would let us go to work so peaceably ? I fully 
 expected a disturbance." 
 
 u A disturbance ! Well, I'd like to know 
 what you call that small interruption by the 
 gentleman in the red shirt, if it wasn't a dis- 
 turbance. What did you expect ? A can- 
 nonade of doubtful eggs and fish-tails ? " 
 
 " I shouldn't have been a bit surprised if 
 we had been saluted in some such way," 
 7
 
 98 FRANK AUSTINS DIAMOND. 
 
 said Frank, seriously. " You don't suppose, 
 Will, that those people are going to let us 
 do all we can to spoil their trade without try- 
 ing to stop us, do you ? I'm very thankful 
 that we've had such a quiet time to-day ; but 
 I don't believe we've seen the worst of our 
 experience yet, even if we did have to fight 
 pretty hard for a hearing. They won't let 
 us draw away their custom without a battle." 
 
 " Then you still have some hopes on the 
 rotten eggs and so forth question, have you ?" 
 and Seaton laughed merrily. " Wouldn't you 
 have looked jolly if one had struck you square 
 on the forehead, or in the mouth, just as you 
 began to speak ! Wouldn't I have roared ! " 
 
 " No, you wouldn't," said Frank, smiling. 
 " You would have looked as grave and seri- 
 ous as you did all through the service this 
 afternoon. I must thank all you fellows for 
 standing by me as you did ; you were just 
 splendid to keep your seats and hold your 
 tongues all through that uproar. As for you,
 
 MARY ALLEN. 99 
 
 Will, I surely expected you would pitch in. 
 I didn't think you could sit so still in a scrim- 
 mage." 
 
 " I didn't know it myself. In fact, I thought 
 every minute I'd be out of my seat when that 
 big fellow was blowing away so, and those 
 little rascals were larking it on the back seats. 
 Didn't I want to jump over the benches and 
 settle those youngsters, though ? But you 
 looked so well able to look after your own 
 pie, that I thought I'd better not put my fin- 
 gers in it. Besides, I had a small dose of cau- 
 tion before I left the Hall. Prof, called me 
 into the lecture-room after we came home 
 from church, and told me he'd heard you 
 depended on me to attend to the musical part 
 of the affair ; that, in fact, I was to be the 
 star of the occasion, and he hoped I'd shine." 
 
 " O Will, what a whopper ! " 
 
 "'Tisn't a whopper, either. He said just 
 that, not in those very words, of course ; you 
 know Prof, and I never do express ourselves
 
 100 * FRANK AUSTIN'S DIAMOND. 
 
 in exactly the same terms. For instance, if I 
 were describing you, I'd say you were up to 
 snuff and pretty spicy; rather high in the in- 
 step, perhaps, but, after all, just as jolly a good 
 fellow as I know, and pretty good-looking to 
 boot. But if Prof, had you in hand, he'd 
 introduce you as ' Mr. Francis Austin, gen- 
 tlemen : a young person who is entirely con- 
 versant with the leading events of the times, 
 of keen perceptions and decided action ; 
 rather inclined to a proud and dignified bear- 
 ing, perhaps ; but, after all, a young gentleman 
 of pleasant social qualities, and of the highest 
 culture ; adding to these mental endowments 
 the attractions of a well-proportioned and 
 manly form, and a face of refined and intel- 
 lectual beauty.' How's that ? " and he 
 glanced mischievously round at his compan- 
 ions. 
 
 " First rate! Prof, to a T! " said Laurence 
 Bronson, as the whole group burst into a 
 hearty laugh at the close of Will's description.
 
 MARY ALLEN. 101 
 
 " Take care, boys," said Frank. " We 
 ought not to make such a noise in the road. 
 That wasn't bad, Will ; but we mustn't for- 
 get it's Sunday." 
 
 " But what did he really say to you, Sea- 
 ton ? " asked Charlie Grant, one of the young- 
 er boys of the school, a timid little fellow, who 
 stood in such awe of Dr. Drayton that he 
 scarcely dared to laugh at fun made at his 
 expense, even when at the distance of nearly 
 two miles from the Hall. " I shouldn't have 
 thought he'd let you come at all," he added, 
 innocently. 
 
 " Holloa ! small boy, what do you mean by 
 that ? Do you want a shaking ? " and, seiz- 
 ing the child as if he meant to make good his 
 threat, Seaton tossed him up on his shoulder, 
 and pursued his way up the hill as if the 
 extra sixty-five or seventy pounds' weight he 
 carried were rather a help than otherwise in 
 his upward journey. 
 
 " What did he say ? " he repeated, when
 
 102 FRANK AUSTIN'S DIAMOND. 
 
 the child was safely perched on his throne, 
 " really, I can't tell you. Ask him yourself 
 when we get to the Hall. He's always ready 
 to inform the inquiring mind on any subject. 
 Shall I tell him that you'd like to see him ? " 
 
 " No, I thank you," said Charlie, laughing, 
 and giving Will's tawny locks a sly pull. " I'll 
 wait a while before I ask the doctor, I think." 
 
 Will's answer, " I can't tell you," needed 
 to be taken in the sense rather of " I will not " 
 than " I cannot," for not one word of the doc- 
 tor's caution had he forgotten. To tell the 
 truth, Dr. Drayton had been very much in- 
 clined to say at once, when Austin told him 
 he had accepted Seaton's good-humored offer 
 to lead the singing for him, that he could not 
 consent to any such arrangement. But when 
 he said as much to Frank, he had seemed so 
 confident that Seaton's goodness of heart 
 would control his love of fun, and that he 
 would be hurt and mortified by a refusal of 
 his services, that the doctor had contented
 
 MARY ALLEN. 103 
 
 himself with giving him a warning, not only 
 to be quiet and decorous, but also with regard 
 to interfering impetuously in any difficulty 
 \vhich might arise between Austin and the 
 Milward's Corner division of the company. 
 
 " Bronson will be there," he had said, " and 
 old Christy, to lend Austin whatever aid he 
 may require. They can conduct an argu- 
 ment with calmness ; but if trouble arises 
 and you attempt to interfere, it will be sim- 
 ply impossible for you to do so with coolness 
 and moderation. You will only harm him; 
 and that, I am sure, you would be very sorry 
 to do." 
 
 " I would so," said Seaton, bluntly. " I 
 wouldn't do that for the world ; for I tell you, 
 Dr. Drayton, it takes a pretty plucky chap to 
 undertake such a business as this. I'd be as 
 sorry as anybody if things should go against 
 him." 
 
 " I know that, Seaton," said the doctor. 
 " I am glad and thankful that you feel inclined
 
 104 FRANK AUSTIN'S DIAMOND. 
 
 to lend Austin your countenance and encour- 
 agement in this matter ; it will do him good ; 
 it has done him good already ; but I sincerely 
 hope that you will content yourself with sim- 
 ply giving him the aid of your voice. Let 
 that be raised in all its sweetness and beauty 
 when he asks for it, for God has blessed you 
 with a noble gift which He has denied to 
 Frank ; but let it be raised only when he asks 
 for it. It is the sweetest, clearest voice I 
 know," he added, looking kindly at the boy, 
 " when it is used in song ; but it is too strong 
 and impetuous, too hot and fiery in discus- 
 sion, to be a safe voice to plead Austin's cause; 
 as I know that it will long to do if there is 
 any difficulty with those people. Promise 
 me, Seaton, that you will not allow yourself 
 to be led into argument." 
 
 " Very well, sir," said Will, looking half- 
 pleased and half-amused. " But if they do 
 get into a muss, I'll have to walk out. I 
 couldn't stand by and see those fellows pitch-
 
 MARY ALLEN. 105 
 
 ing into Frank without giving them the ben- 
 efit of my views ; so I'll just have to come 
 away. But I guess we'll get along all right." 
 
 " I hope so," said the doctor, with his queer, 
 grim smile. 
 
 Then Seaton had left him, saying to him- 
 self as he closed the study-door, " I declare ! 
 the old Prof, would be quite a brick if one 
 could only get a little of the starch out of him. 
 I do believe he really loves Austin. And that 
 wasn't bad he said about my voice, either. 
 Well, well ; it's a good thing, Will, my boy, 
 that he sees one thing in you that's sweet, for he 
 thinks that on most points you're sour enough 
 to make a fellow's eyes jump out of his head." 
 
 But in spite of all his folly, the boy had been 
 touched and pleased by the master's kindly 
 words and look, although he would not have 
 confessed it for a kingdom. 
 
 Meanwhile, at the Corner, the little prayer- 
 meeting was discussed with no less anima- 
 tion and interest. As the loungers sauntered
 
 106 FRANK AUSTIN'S DIAMOND. 
 
 into the bar-room, or hung about the door of 
 the tavern, each had some mocking, sneering 
 question to ask of those who had spent the 
 last hour in Mrs. Tracy's room. 
 
 " There wasn't half as much fun as we 
 thought there'd be," said one of the boys who 
 had attempted to bear Simpson out in his 
 opposition. " The fellers let Snobby brow- 
 beat 'em. And then Ed Bailey, he went over 
 to their side when we tried to make a muss. 
 Are you a goin' to be a Methody, Ed ? " he 
 added, turning toward Bailey, who was lean- 
 ing against the door. 
 
 " No : I ain't goin' to do nothin' of the sort," 
 answered Bailey, gruffly ; " but I like fair 
 play, and I'll see it, too, even on the side of 
 the Snobs. We ain't got no business to go 
 into his room and get up a row. If we don't 
 like his doin's we can stay out. He's got a 
 right to his own premises." 
 
 " I guess he thinks so," said another young 
 fellow who stood near. " He looked like he
 
 MARY ALLEN. 107 
 
 did when he stood behind that ere desk, eyin' 
 of us all when we was hallooin' and whistlin'. 
 He's a pretty lively kind of a chap, too ; he 
 ain't none of your snivelling oantin* sort, but 
 he'll do what he sets out to, if it costs him all 
 he's got. You'd better look out for him, Mil- 
 ward." 
 
 " He'd better look out for himself," returned 
 the bar-keeper, whose temper had been ex- 
 ceedingly disturbed by the fact of Bailey's 
 having taken part with the new-comers against 
 his friends and supporters. " If he meddles 
 with me or my business it'll be the worse for 
 him. He'd better try it." 
 
 " And you'd better let him alone if you 
 know what's good for yourself," replied Bailey, 
 sullenly. " The place is his own, and if he's 
 meddled with his people are ready to look 
 after him, I guess ; and it'll be about as good 
 for us not to have 'em peerin' too close into 
 our affairs, Milward. Give me a glass o' 
 Jamaica."
 
 108 FRANK AUSTJN'S DIAMOND. 
 
 He tossed some money down on the coun- 
 ter as he spoke, and Milward bustled about 
 to prepare what he had asked for. Bailey 
 was too influential a person among his cus- 
 tomers for him to offend him lightly ; and it 
 was in quite an altered tone that he answered, 
 as he set the glass down before him, 
 
 " No offence, Ed ; but a feller don't like to be 
 interfered with. I don't mean no harm to the 
 chap, 'specially if you've taken a likin' to him." 
 
 " I ain't taken no likin' to him," returned 
 Bailey, fiercely, quite unmollified by his 
 friend's suavity. " What's he to me, I'd like 
 to know ? But I won't see nobody nor noth- 
 in', not even a dog, run down unfair. What's 
 the Snobs to us, anyhow? Let them go 
 their gait, and we'll go our own. Come on, 
 boys, I'll treat all round." 
 
 Whatever ailed Bailey that afternoon, it 
 did not seem to be any leaning toward the 
 change of feeling with which one of his com- 
 panions had charged him. Not a man of all
 
 MARY ALLEN. 109 
 
 the company was more loud and boisterous 
 than he ; none drank deeper, nor played more 
 desperately. 
 
 " Look a here, Milward," said one of his 
 customers, as the tavern-keeper, late in the 
 evening, returned to the bar from which he 
 had been absent a short time, " Ed don't look 
 very Methody just now." 
 
 " Oh ! I guess he's all right," answered the 
 man, with a coarse laugh, as he glanced at 
 Bailey's prostrate form stretched upon the 
 floor in a heavy stupor. " I ain't much afraid 
 they'll catch him. He always had ridikerlous 
 kind of notions about stickin' up for the weak 
 side of a fight, that's all. Them pious folks'll 
 never come it over him. He's safe to lie here 
 this way every night that he's got money in 
 his pocket." 
 
 As the man spoke, a figure rose from a 
 chair at the farther side of the room, and 
 came slowly forward. It was the girl with 
 the baby. She held it still ; it lay asleep in
 
 110 FRANK AUSTIN'S DIAMOND. 
 
 her arms as she walked slowly across the 
 floor, passing among the miserable forms 
 which lay upon the dirty boards, or sat sunk 
 in a heap upon the chairs around the table in 
 the centre of the room, with a look of aversion 
 and repugnance on her thin face. 
 
 " Why, Mollie, is that you ? " said Milward, 
 as she came near him. " I didn't know you 
 was back there." 
 
 " I was chill, and came in to get warm, 
 me and baby." 
 
 The words were spoken in a dull, heavy 
 tone ; but the listless voice took an accent of 
 tenderness as those two little syllables left her 
 lips, arid the weary eyes looked lovingly down 
 at the small bundle in her arms. 
 
 " What's the matter, girl? You're down 
 to-night." 
 
 " Not down so far as that," she said, touch- 
 ing Bailey's motionless figure with her foot. 
 
 " No," answered the. man, with a laugh. 
 " But you're pale and cold, Mollie. Come
 
 MARY ALLEN. Ill 
 
 along, and I'll give you a glass to warm you 
 up. What makes you look so ? You're 
 enough to frighten the little chap, if he wakes 
 and looks at you." 
 
 " It's just him as makes me look so," 
 returned the girl, fixing her eyes on Milward's 
 face. " I'm thinking that that's the way he'll 
 lie maybe, one of these days, if you live long 
 enough to tempt him. That is, if he has 
 money in his pocket," she added, with a sneer. 
 
 The man looked at her in silent amazement 
 for a moment; then he said, almost timidly, 
 " Why, Mollie girl, what's come to you ? " 
 
 " I don't know," she answered. " I don't 
 know at all what's come to me ; but I know 
 I hate this place, and I hate you, Joe Milward, 
 and I hate this low, wicked life worse than 
 either. And I know one thing more ; and that 
 is, that my little child (and that sweet thrill 
 rang through her voice again), my little child 
 shall be saved from it if his mother can save 
 him. You took away my husband and his
 
 112 FRANK AUSTIN'S DIAMOND. 
 
 father from me; but you shall not take his 
 mother from him too, for I will never set my 
 foot in this wretched den again ; " and passing 
 him with a quick step she went out into the 
 night, leaving Milward standing looking after 
 her, too much astonished to answer. 
 
 " Well," he said at last, " if it don't beat all. 
 She's taken a pretty sudden turn." 
 
 It was not to be wondered at that the man 
 could scarcely believe his own senses. Three 
 years before, Mary Allen's parents, both in 
 Milward's employ, and both the victims of his 
 miserable traffic, had died, leaving her in his 
 house friendless and alone ; and he had 
 allowed her to remain there in return for such 
 services as she could render. 
 
 Two years ago this Sabbath night, she had 
 married a young man whom Milward had just 
 engaged as bar-tender. Scarcely a month had 
 passed, when she found that her young husband 
 was falling under the influence of the landlord 
 and his friends ; and eighteen months after-
 
 MARY ALLEN. 113 
 
 wards, he was killed in a drunken quarrel in 
 the tavern. Only eighteen years of age, with 
 a little baby a few weeks old to be cared for, 
 the poor girl knew no other home to which to 
 turn ; and she had lived on in the wretched 
 place ever since, a miserable, hopeless life, but 
 a life from which she seemed to have no energy 
 nor even a desire to escape. It was no mar- 
 vel that Milward, accustomed to seeing her 
 pass listlessly to and fro, apparently unmoved 
 by any of the scenes which were daily enacted 
 before her, should be utterly surprised and con- 
 founded by her sudden attack upon him. 
 
 Mollie had walked rapidly up the main 
 street of the village for some distance, and 
 then turning sharply from it into a narrower 
 road, had begun to ascend the long hill toward 
 Drayton Hall. She had gone on for part of 
 the way, when, suddenly pausing, she began 
 to look about her as if not quite certain where 
 she was going. 
 
 " Why, what am I about ? " she said, at 
 8
 
 114 FRANK AUSTIN'S DIAMOND. 
 
 length, putting her hand to her head as if she 
 were dazed. " I'm on the Hall road ; " and 
 turning, she began slowly to retrace her steps. 
 
 " Where shall I go ? " she said to herself, 
 when she had walked back some distance 
 toward the village again. " He mustn't be 
 out here much longer. It's growing so cold 
 and sharp ; " and taking off the thin shawl 
 which covered her shoulders, she wrapped it 
 about the child who still slept peacefully in 
 her arms. 
 
 By and by she passed a deserted barn. She 
 paused a moment, as if half inclined to enter ; 
 but changing her mind, went on again, walk- 
 ing very fast to keep herself warm, for she 
 was only half-clad, and the night was damp 
 and chilly. 
 
 But after a while her steps began to lag ; 
 she was growing very weary, and there was 
 no place of shelter anywhere within sight. 
 
 " I must have come round by some wrong 
 path," she said to herself. " Where am I, I
 
 MART ALLEN. 115 
 
 wonder ? Oh, deary me ! I'm on the moun- 
 tain road, and there's never a house nor a barn 
 anywhere near this. I'll have to go back." 
 
 With a sigh, she turned again on her steps. 
 The baby stirred with a fretful cry. She 
 rocked him gently to and fro, whispering 
 softly, 
 
 " Don't cry, sweet, don't. Mother can't 
 bear it just now. We'll find a roof to cover 
 us soon. But I can't go back to that hole. 
 Never, never!" 
 
 When he was quiet again she went on, and 
 after a while reached the old barn which she 
 had passed before. She did not hesitate now, 
 but going directly in, was about to seat her- 
 self on a dark object near the shattered door- 
 way, when the thing moved ; and starting up 
 with a cry, she found that what she had taken 
 in the darkness for the trunk of a tree, was a 
 cow. The animal rose, and walked slowly 
 out. 
 
 " She must have left a warm spot there,
 
 116 FRANK AUSTIN'S DIAMOND. 
 
 baby dear," whispered the young mother. 
 " We'll lie down where she lay." 
 
 It was a hard bed, with not even a billet of 
 wood for a pillow ; but the girl was exhausted 
 with her long walk, and scarcely had her head 
 touched the floor before she fell asleep. A 
 troubled sleep at first, broken by dreams of 
 Milward, who seemed to be dragging her 
 baby from her ; then of Austin and old 
 Christy ; but by and by she lay quiet and still, 
 the baby clasped close to her breast.
 
 VI. 
 
 IN THE OLD BARN. 
 
 TT was long after sunrise on the morning of 
 the next day, when Mary Allen, disturbed 
 by the fretful wailing of her baby, woke from 
 the heavy sleep into which she had fallen. 
 An indistinct consciousness that the child had 
 been crying for a long while was floating 
 dimly through her mind, but she did not seem 
 able to exert herself to tend it. She lay, with 
 her eyes half-closed, listening to its moans 
 with a vague idea that it needed something, 
 and that she ought to rouse herself; yet with 
 such an utter lack of energy both of body and 
 mind, that the mere effort to turn her head to 
 look at her child was greater than she seemed 
 able to make.
 
 118 FRANK AUSTIN'S DIAMOND. 
 
 But after a while the fretful wail changed 
 to a sharper cry ; and, with a startled, fright- 
 ened sort of feeling, the girl tried to raise her- 
 self. Tried in vain at first, sinking weakly 
 back upon the floor when she had scarcely 
 more than lifted her head from the hard 
 boards. 
 
 " Given out at last," she said. " I won- 
 dered how soon it would come. I suppose 
 I'll never get up." 
 
 The words were spoken in a dull, listless 
 tone, as if it mattered nothing to her whether 
 she ever rose or not ; and she lay quiet once 
 more until the baby's sharp cry roused her 
 again. She opened her eyes, and looked at 
 him for a moment, almost stupidly ; and then, 
 suddenly, as if the conviction had just flashed 
 npon her, she said, 
 
 " Can he be hungry ? Oh, yes, it's morning. 
 He must be hungry." 
 
 She tried again to rise; but failing, and 
 finding the baby in her weakness too great a
 
 IN THE OLD BARN. 119 
 
 burden for her, laid him down upon the floor ; 
 and then, struggling up upon her hands and 
 knees, crept across the boards to an old hay- 
 rick, and, holding fast to it, at length managed 
 to stand upon her feet. Her head swam 
 dizzily with the effort, and she staggered back 
 feebly against the uncertain support. Her 
 mouth was dry, and burning with fever ; and 
 feeling as if she must have water, she picked 
 up a rusty tin cup which lay on the floor near 
 her, and clinging to the wall crept to the door- 
 way. "She looked out, hoping to see some 
 little spring of water, or even a puddle by the 
 roadside, where she might cool her parched 
 lips ; but it was all as dry as the boards be- 
 neath her feet. She was turning back, when 
 the cow which she had disturbed the night 
 before came slowly round from the other side 
 of the barn. 
 
 " I wonder if I could milk her," said the 
 girl. " Only I'm feared to let go the door, 
 lest I fall. So, bossy, so !" and she looked en-
 
 120 FRANK AUSTIN'S DIAMOND. 
 
 treatingly at the creature as she drew nearer, 
 as if she could comprehend her words, and 
 help her in her great need. " You've been 
 milked already, poor thing ; but baby is starv- 
 ing, and I'll die of thirst." 
 
 The animal stood still as if she had under- 
 stood every word she said. Perhaps she was 
 won by the low, pitiful voice. At any rate 
 she paused close beside the door-way; and 
 sinking down , upon the sill, Mary tried to fill 
 the old cup. At first, her weak fingers refused 
 to aid her; but after a little they seemed to 
 gain some strength, and by and by the cup 
 was filled with rich, foaming milk. She put it 
 to her lips; and refreshed and strengthened, at 
 least for the moment, crept back to the spot 
 where her baby lay, still wailing feebly, for his 
 louder cry had been but momentary. 
 
 She took him in her lap ; he was not much 
 to hold, poor little thing. He had always 
 looked as if a fresh breeze might waft him 
 away some sunny morning ; now, as he lay
 
 IN THE OLD BARN. 121 
 
 with closed eyes upon her knees, quieted for 
 a moment by the touch of her tender hands, 
 the tiny, colorless face was absolutely lifeless 
 in its expression. And, after all, he would 
 take but little of the hardly earned breakfast. 
 What he did take, however, served to still his 
 cries, and he fell asleep on his mother's lap. 
 Mary sat looking down at him for a while ; 
 and then her own eyelids began to droop, 
 and resting her child on her arm she lay 
 back upon the floor. 
 
 But she did not sleep. Her mind wan- 
 dered back to the past day; not to its last 
 miserable occurrences in Milward's bar-room, 
 but to that little service in Mrs. Tracy's room. 
 All its scenes passed before her as if they were 
 actually enacted again. She heard the rich, 
 sweet voice lifting the words of the gladsome 
 hymn, joined after the first moment by others, 
 voices which she had never known to speak 
 a holy word before. She heard the pleasant 
 words of welcome ; then she saw a pale, reso-
 
 122 FRANK AUSTIN'S DIAMOND. 
 
 lute face, glowing with earnest desire, as, the 
 short conflict over, the young leader sought 
 help and comfort and strength for the needy 
 hearts around him ; and then that other face, 
 with its crown of silver hair, looking so ten- 
 derly round upon them all, while the old, 
 faded lips told the story of the sorrowful, pen- 
 itent child's loving reception at his father's 
 home. She smiled as it came up before her, 
 and the smile deepened and brightened as 
 that picture floated by to give place to an- 
 other, the face of the boy behind the desk 
 who had seemed to know so well what she 
 wanted, and how tried and troubled she had 
 been, and to be so ready and so anxious to ask 
 God to help her. And then the words of the 
 second hymn came softly through the air : 
 
 " Just as I am, without one plea, 
 But that thy blood was shed for me, 
 And that Thou bids't me come to Thee, 
 O Lamb of God ! I come.
 
 IN THE OLD BARN 128 
 
 " Just as I am, and waiting not 
 To rid my soul of one dark blot, 
 To Thee whose blood can cleanse each spot, 
 O Lamb of God ! I come." 
 
 Slips of paper, with that hymn printed on 
 them, had been scattered on the benches. 
 She had taken one with her when she left 
 the room, and had read and re-read it so 
 often, that the night before she could have re- 
 peated it all word for word. But this morn- 
 ing her head was in a whirl. Even the few 
 first lines bewildered and confused her ; and 
 when at last she had succeeded in recalling 
 two verses, the rest seemed like a medley in 
 her mind, and when she attempted to speak 
 them, passed away from her like a mist. She 
 felt blinded and lost, and put out her hand 
 with a faint, troubled cry. Then there came 
 to her the last words spoken in the old room. 
 She wanted to repeat them, but they floated 
 from her too. 
 
 " Dear Father lead us with light.
 
 124 FRANK AUSTIN'S DIAMOND. 
 
 Dear Father win us from sin," she fal- 
 tered ; not in prayer, but in a vain effort to 
 recollect Christy's petitions. But the repeti- 
 tion of the words served to calm her; and 
 when she had so far recalled them as to say 
 connectedly " Dear Father, lead us with 
 the light of thy blessing," her fac^ grew calm 
 and composed, and her lips ceased their con- 
 stant restless motion. 
 
 For hours she lay there, not sleeping, but 
 in a heavy stupor, so heavy that she did not 
 waken even when the child upon her arm be- 
 gan to move his hands and limbs with a 
 strange twitching of the muscles which would 
 have agonized the heart of any mother whose 
 loving eyes had watched him ; nor even when 
 the tiny form writhed itself out of her grasp 
 in a terrible convulsion. The little figure 
 grew still : the blue eyes stared jap through 
 .the broken roof, looking perhaps for a Home 
 where it might rest, and for the Elder Brother 
 who had said, " Suffer the little children to
 
 72V THE OLD BARN. 125 
 
 come unto me ; " and the long-drawn breath 
 labored up painfully through the small chest; 
 but the mother knew nothing of it all. 
 
 About three o'clock that afternoon, when 
 the sun was beginning to cast long slant 
 shadows through the trees along the moun- 
 tain road, Edward Bailey came sauntering up 
 the road, with his hands thrust deep down into 
 his pockets, and his head dropped forward on 
 his breast, as if his whole mind were engaged 
 in studying the stones and earth beneath 
 his feet. If any one had asked him if he 
 were going up the mountain to visit his 
 mother, he would have said " No," in as 
 decided a tone as it was possible for a man 
 to use; nevertheless this was the third time 
 that day that he had found himself (almost 
 in spite of himself) taking the way towards 
 his home. But whatever his first desires and 
 inclinations had been, it was now too late to 
 undertake the journey. Yet he went on in 
 an uncertain, objectless manner, farther and
 
 126 FRANK AUSTIN'S DIAMOND. 
 
 farther, until he had passed quite beyond the 
 turning point of his two earlier walks. 
 
 He had paused, to look up at the sun and 
 see how far on in the day it might be, when a 
 sound like a moan of pain struck his ear. He 
 glanced about him, and, seeing no living creat- 
 ure near but a few head of cattle grazing not 
 far away, supposed that some noise which 
 they had made had misled him ; and was 
 about to turn back toward the village when 
 the sound came again. There was no mis- 
 taking it. It was the groan of some one, a 
 woman, he thought, in great distress. The 
 tumble-down barn, which for years had stood 
 as a sort of landmark in the road, was just 
 before him ; and he hurried toward it, won- 
 dering if some starving tramp had crept in 
 there to die. 
 
 There was in this hard, coarse, wicked man 
 one purer vein. Deep down in his heart 
 there lay a little well of sympathy for any 
 thing that was weak or helpless. The waters
 
 IN THE OLD BARN. 127 
 
 of that well had been tossing and swelling 
 ever since Frank Austin had spoken to him 
 of the lonely old mother who longed so sorely 
 to see her only child ; the sight of the brave 
 young fellow standing up firmly against so 
 many strong and unscrupulous opposers had 
 troubled its waters again ; and now the pic- 
 ture which met his eyes, as he stepped into 
 the old barn, touched its very depths. 
 
 " Mollie ! Why, Mollie Allen ! is this you ? " 
 he said, hastening to the side of the girl, who, 
 her face flushed with fever, was rolling her 
 head painfully from side to side on the hard 
 floor. " How came you here, Mollie ? " 
 
 She opened her eyes and looked at him, 
 wildly at first, failing to recognize him, 
 although his face had been familiar to her 
 from her earliest childhood. Then a gleam 
 of intelligence awoke in her eyes, and catch- 
 ing at his hand, she cried eagerly, 
 
 " O Ed ! you'll bring him, won't you ? You 
 was always good to me, never mind how bad
 
 128 FRANK AUSTIN'S DIAMOND. 
 
 you was to other folks, 'cause 1 was so lone- 
 some. O Ed, bring him, bring him, quick!" 
 
 " Bring who, the doctor ? 'Course I will ; " 
 and he sprang to his feet, for he had knelt 
 down beside her. 
 
 " No ! no ! Not the doctor. I'm dying, 
 Ed, and no doctor can stop me. I'm dying 
 with my sins all on my head ; and there's no- 
 body to help me ! I want him. O Ed, go, 
 go ! " and she pushed him from her with 
 trembling, burning hands. 
 
 " I'll go," he 'said, soothingly, putting back 
 the hair from her hot face with his big, coarse 
 fingers. " I'll go if you can tell me who you 
 want. Who is it, Mollie ? " 
 
 " The boy, the Hall boy ; him with the holy 
 face," and the great eyes looked beseechingly 
 up into those of the man who bent over her. 
 
 " You mean him as was the boss of the 
 meetin' yesterday ? " 
 
 " Yes, yes. Oh, dear Ed, good Ed ! go and 
 fetch him," she cried, imploringly.
 
 IN THE OLD BARN. 129 
 
 " Yes, I'll go. Be quiet, girl ; do, or you'll 
 kill yourself. And I'll just stop and fetch the 
 doctor too, for you're awful bad, Mollie." 
 
 " Awful bad ! Aye, I am awful bad ; but 
 it ain't the doctor as can help me. But may- 
 be the boy can. Bring him right away. If 
 you wait to go round by the village, it will 
 be too late. Promise me you'll go straight 
 to the Hall." 
 
 She was sitting up now, stretching out her 
 hands in the agony of her entreaty. Bailey 
 laid her back gently, having taken off his coat 
 and folded it for a pillow for her head. 
 
 " Lie down," he said, " and I'll be right off. 
 I won't go to the doctor's till I find the other 
 feller and fetch him over. Will you lie still 
 while I'm gone ? " 
 
 " Yes," she said, more calmly, " only go." 
 
 He was leaving her, when his eye fell on the 
 baby lying at some little distance from her. 
 He paused an instant, attracted by the 
 strange, unnatural look on the tiny face. 
 9
 
 130 FRANK AUSTIN S DIAMOND. 
 
 " He's fast asleep, poor little man," said 
 Mary, feebly. " Lay him close to me." 
 
 He lifted the child, bending his ear cau- 
 tiously to its lips, to see if it were breathing, 
 for the waxen face looked more like death 
 than life, but he could hear the workings of 
 its laboring chest, and its little limbs hung 
 limp, not stiff and cold ; and so he laid it 
 down beside the mother, saying nothing, but 
 wondering in his mind, as he went away, 
 whether either woman or child would be liv- 
 ing when he returned. 
 
 " Austin," said Charlie Grant, running up 
 to Frank, as he stood on the play-ground, bat 
 in hand, arranging some of the preliminaries 
 of a game of base ball, "there's a man here 
 that want's to see you. Ed Bailey, he says 
 his name is." 
 
 " Oh, yes," said Austin, " I know ; " and the 
 color rose in his face somewhat. 
 
 " I knew him, too, as soon as I saw him. 
 He's that fellow that made the boys sit down
 
 IN THE OLD BARN. 131 
 
 and behave themselves, when they were mak- 
 ing such a noise yesterday. I wonder if he's 
 come to apologize for them?" 
 
 " Not much, I guess, Charlie," replied 
 Austin, laughing. " Here, Tom, I'm wanted ; 
 take my place, will you ? " and he tossed his 
 bat to Tom Morrison, who stood near him. 
 " Go on without me." 
 
 Bailey was waiting at some distance from 
 the players ; and as Frank walked rapidly 
 toward him, wondering what his errand might 
 be, he came quickly forward to meet him. 
 
 " Can you go along of me, right off? " he 
 said abruptly, as soon as Austin was wittiin 
 hearing. " There's a woman very sick down 
 here, and she wants yer." 
 
 " You have made some mistake," said Aus- 
 tin, looking much perplexed. " It cannot be 
 me you want." 
 
 " Yes, it is, too," replied the man, roughly. 
 " She said as 'twas the one what was boss of 
 that 'ere meetin' down to the Widder Tracy's.
 
 132 FRANK AUSTIN'S DIAMOND. 
 
 Come on, now," he added, anxiously. " If 
 you wait to stand fussin' about it, she'll die 
 afore you get there. She's awful sick. I 
 know it's you she wants for she said so," he 
 went on, seeing that Frank still looked very 
 doubtful. " She was at the meetin' yesterday, 
 and she seen you there. Maybe you seen her 
 there ; she had a bit of a baby with her." 
 
 " Oh, yes," said Frank, " I remember her. 
 I noticed she looked very badly yesterday." 
 
 " She's been kind of ailin' this long while 
 back, but she must have been took pretty sud- 
 den at the last. But come along, I'll tell you 
 as we go on ; there ain't no time to lose, I'm 
 afeared." 
 
 " One moment, Bailey," said Austin, anx- 
 iously. " I am more than ready to do any 
 thing for the poor woman ; but I'm nothing 
 but a boy. If she is so ill, she ought to have 
 a doctor and a minister, not a young fellow 
 like me. I wouldn't know what to do for 
 her."
 
 IN THE OLD BARN. 133 
 
 " Yes, you would too," replied Bailey, speak- 
 ing even more roughly than usual in his in- 
 tense eagerness. " It's just a boy she wants. 
 She called you ' boy,' all the while she was a 
 screechin' and beggin' for you. Come, come ! 
 I tell you, you shall come ! " and he advanced 
 a step nearer and grasped Frank's arm angrily, 
 as he saw that he still hesitated. 
 
 " Why, Austin, what is all this about ? " 
 
 Never had Frank been more glad to hear Dr. 
 Drayton's voice. His perplexity and bewilder- 
 ment were set at rest almost immediately ; for 
 no sooner had the Doctor heard the story than, 
 at once comprehending the situation, he ad- 
 vised him by all means to go with Bailey. 
 
 " Mrs. Morton can go with you with such 
 things as the woman needs," he said, " and I 
 will drive to the parsonage and let Mr. Leon- 
 ard know the state of affairs. I was going 
 'down to Graydon this afternoon, at any rate. 
 Perhaps Dr. Buford could drive over to the 
 barn, if I stop there and tell him of this sad
 
 134 FRANK AUSTIN'S DIAMOND. 
 
 case. I will go to the house at once, and let 
 Mrs. Morton prepare whatever is necessary. 
 She will not detain you more than fifteen 
 minutes." 
 
 " Fifteen minutes ! " said Bailey, harshly. 
 " Do you suppose that woman will care what 
 you bring her, if she's -got to pay for it by 
 waitin' fifteen minutes ? Didn't you hear 
 me tell yer she was dyin' ; and do yer think 
 Death's a goin' to stand waitin' for fifteen 
 minutes, while you stuff a basket with goodies 
 as she's too far gone to touch ? Come, boy," 
 and he turned from the Doctor to Austin, 
 "if you've got a spark of that mercy you 
 was a talkin' about yesterday, come to the 
 poor creetur, for I bet she's screamin' for yer 
 like mad long afore this." 
 
 " Go, Austin," said the doctor, as Frank 
 looked at him for an answer to this appeal. 
 " Mrs. Morton and I will follow you as soon 
 as practicable." 
 
 The words had scarcely left his lips when
 
 IN THE OLD BARN. 135 
 
 Bailey, catching Austin by the sleeve, hurried 
 him away ; and in another moment the two 
 were out of sight. On their way to Mary's 
 place of shelter, Bailey told Frank all he knew; 
 but that was but little, except so far as the 
 girl's every-day life was concerned ; and it was 
 with the sensation of accepting and under- 
 taking a work for which he was totally unpre- 
 pared and incompetent, and to which he was 
 entirely new, that the boy entered the dilapi- 
 dated old barn. 
 
 They had heard her voice talking wildly 
 and despairingly as they neared the spot, and 
 when they entered, she lay with her face cov- 
 ered with her hands. She did not remove 
 her hands, nor notice them in any way, until 
 Bailey, going close to her, said, in a tone more 
 gentle than Frank had supposed him capable 
 of using, 
 
 " Mollie, here's the chap you wanted to 
 see." 
 
 She opened her eyes and looked at him ;
 
 136 FRANK AUSTIN'S DIAMOND. 
 
 then stretched out both her hands, crying im- 
 ploringly, 
 
 " Come and tell me ! Oh, come and tell me ! 
 The old man said God would take us back ; 
 but you keep saying 'Just as I am just 
 as I am ! ' You ring it in my ears all the 
 while, and I can't go back just as I am. I've 
 sinned and sinned, more than such as you 
 know ; and how can I go just as I am ? Tell 
 me. You're brave and good. I saw it in 
 your face yesterday, and I see it now, though 
 you look so pitiful at rne. I'm dying, boy; 
 remember that, and tell me what I'm to do. 
 Oh, hear how they sing it over and over 
 again ' Just as I am ' " 
 
 " ' poor, wretched, blind, 
 Sight, riches, healing of the mind, 
 Yea, all I need in Thee to find, 
 
 O Lamb of God ! I come.' " 
 
 She ceased her tossing to and fro, and the 
 fierce pushing aside of the imaginary enemies 
 who seemed to be repeating the refrain for
 
 IN THE OLD BARN. 137 
 
 her torment, to look into Frank's face, as his 
 calm, steady voice spoke the sweet words 
 clearly and distinctly : 
 
 " ' Just as I am, thou wilt receive, 
 Wilt pardon, comfort, cleanse, relieve ; 
 Because thy promise I believe, 
 
 Lamb of God ! I come.' " 
 
 Her face was growing less and less wild. 
 She lay looking up at him for a few moments 
 without speaking ; then she said feebly, 
 
 " Sins, sins as black as night. My soul is 
 covered with them." 
 
 " Yes, I know," said Frank, gently ; " but if 
 you are sorry for them Jesus will wash them 
 all away. Ask Him to make your soul white 
 and pure. Go to Him now, and ask Him. 
 This very moment. You need not even 
 move ; ask Him as you lie here." 
 
 "Just as I am?" she asked, finding the 
 words suited to her need, and Frank an- 
 swered,
 
 138 FRANK AUSTIN'S DIAMOND. 
 
 " ' Just as T am, and waiting not 
 To rid my soul of one dark blot, 
 To Thee whose blood can cleanse each spot, 
 Lamb of God ! I come.' " 
 
 Again she lay and looked at him, at first 
 with a little brightness in her face ; but soon 
 it clouded again, her lips trembled and quiv- 
 ered, and she said with a despairing sob in 
 her voice, 
 
 " I would, I want to ; but I'm afraid." 
 " I dare say you are afraid," said Frank, 
 tenderly, taking one of the hot hands, and 
 stroking it with his cool fingers. " Jesus' 
 love is so great that we cannot understand it, 
 and are almost afraid at first to believe in it. 
 But it is all true. He died to save us. He 
 died that He might wash us in His blood and 
 cleanse us from our sins. There are two 
 verses more in our hymn. Let us say them 
 to Jesus like a little prayer : 
 
 " ' Just as I am, though tossed about 
 With many a conflict, many a doubt, 
 Fightings within and fears without, 
 Lamb of God ! I come.
 
 IN THE OLD BARN. 139 
 
 "'Just as I am, Thy love unknown 
 Has broken every barrier down, 
 Now to be Thine, yea, Thine alone, 
 Lamb of God ! I come.' " 
 
 Her eyes were closed when the last words 
 left his lips; and, thinking that she might be 
 sinking into a doze, he did not move. Some 
 one, Bailey, he supposed, made a slight 
 noise at the door-way, and he raised his hand to 
 silence him ; but did not turn for fear that he 
 might disturb her. After a while she stirred 
 a little, her lips moved, and bending his head 
 he heard the one word, " Wonderful ! " whis- 
 pered as if to herself. Just then Dr. Buford 
 came softly in, looked at her, and went out. 
 She moved again. 
 
 " Where's baby ? " she asked, quietly. 
 
 Glancing downward, she saw the little face 
 resting against her arm. She watched it for 
 a moment, then she looked at Frank. 
 
 " Did you know ? " she whispered. 
 
 He did not answer at once, for he was uncer- 
 tain whether her mind was wandering or not.
 
 140 FRANK AUSTIN'S DIAMOND. 
 
 " He has gone before his mother," she said 
 quietly, without even a tremor in her voice. 
 Dear little baby. Mother's little blessing." 
 
 The dark lashes fell again on the sunken 
 cheeks. Dr. Buford stole in, hearing her 
 voice, and Frank motioned him toward the 
 baby. He leaned down and looked into the 
 small face, shook his head, and as the mother 
 stirred, moved back out of sight. It might 
 trouble her to see him, and his skill was use- 
 less here. 
 
 But she did not open her eyes. Her baby's 
 face was the last she saw on earth ; for when, 
 an hour after, the blue-veined lids were slowly 
 raised, the dark eyes were looking up toward 
 the sky which shone down upon her through 
 the broken roofing. A moment she lay gaz- 
 ing upward, a bright smile playing softly on 
 her lips, her hand still clasping Austin's fin- 
 gers. 
 
 " Just as I am Love unknown Thine 
 alone."
 
 IN THE OLD BARN. 141 
 
 The sweet smile faded, the hand loosened 
 its clasp ; and Frank rose very quietly, and 
 went out to the little group in the door- 
 way.
 
 VII. 
 
 JOE MILWARD'S VISIT. 
 
 a week or two it seemed as if the 
 prayer-meeting in Mrs. Tracy's room 
 were likely to prove a great success. The 
 school-boys were interested in it ; partly be- 
 cause it was something new, and partly 
 because they had all been much touched by 
 the story of Mary Allen. With the people at 
 the Corner the interest was very much of the 
 same order ; and for three or four Sabbaths 
 the room was so well filled, that Frank was 
 delighted with the result of his effort. 
 
 But little by little the number decreased. 
 The boys began to tire of it. After all, it 
 was very like other prayer-meetings ; and the 
 morning and evening services in the church
 
 JOE MIL WARD'S VISIT. 143 
 
 were about enough, they thought, without a 
 third meeting in the afternoon. Will Seaton 
 persevered for about a month in his attend- 
 ance, and then came to Frank one afternoon 
 with the announcement that he didn't feel 
 very " full of sing," and he guessed he 
 wouldn't go down to Milward's that day. 
 
 That defection was one of some impor- 
 tance, for there was not a voice in the school 
 to equal Will's ; but Frank made no objection, 
 and managed as best he could with regard to 
 a chorister, asking assistance from one and 
 another from Sabbath to Sabbath, for Will 
 did not volunteer his services again. The 
 little company dwindled and dwindled, un- 
 til at last there were at times none present 
 except Frank, Laurence Bronson, Christy and 
 his boys, and the old woman who had come 
 in on that first Sabbath, and had been a reg- 
 ular attendant ever since. 
 
 Edward Bailey had never made his appear- 
 ance there since Mary Allen's death. Frank
 
 144 FRANK AUSTIN'S DIAMOND. 
 
 had hoped much from the feeling he had 
 manifested for her ; but apparently his hopes 
 were groundless, for the report of his misdo- 
 ings rather grew than lessened, and he avoided 
 all intercourse with Austin with studied per- 
 tinacity. More than once Frank had at- 
 tempted on meeting him to draw him into 
 conversation ; but all his efforts were repelled 
 with contemptuous indifference. Perhaps, if 
 the boy had known that Bailey invariably 
 took up his position on Sabbath afternoons 
 outside the tavern, where he could hear every 
 word of the hymns as they floated out through 
 the open windows, and could often catch 
 whole sentences of the short addresses and 
 the Scripture which was read, he would have 
 felt less disheartened with regard to him. 
 Somehow he had taken a special interest in 
 this young man. He was not a little disap- 
 pointed when he found him so utterly unap- 
 proachable ; and there was so little to en- 
 courage him that the disappointment affected
 
 JOE MIL WARD'S VISIT. 145 
 
 him more seriously than it might otherwise 
 have done. 
 
 " You're not losing heart, are you, Frank ? " 
 asked Laurence, as they walked down toward 
 the Corner one beautiful afternoon. 
 
 Frank had scarcely spoken since they left 
 the Hall ; and was tramping silently along the 
 road, with a face whose gravity betokened very 
 serious thought. 
 
 " No, scarcely that," he answered. " Things 
 don't look very hopeful just now, we must 
 confess ; but they must look a good deal worse 
 than this before I give up the ship. I was 
 thinking, when you spoke, what a grand 
 help Allan Haywood would have been if he 
 had been with us. Dear old boy ! He was 
 such a quiet fellow and yet such a regular 
 go-ahead in any thing like this." 
 
 " Yes, and it isn't only in this sort of thing 
 
 that we miss him," replied Laurence, gravely. 
 
 " The Hall misses him, Frank. He gave our. 
 
 set a tone which made it felt all through the 
 
 10
 
 146 FRANK AUSTIN'S DIAMOND. 
 
 school. We are not what we used to be 
 when Allan Haywood influenced with his 
 will or against it every boy in our class. 
 That fellow's high standard of right and 
 wrong, and steadfast adherence to that stand- 
 ard, did more for us than he knew, or than we 
 knew, either." 
 
 They walked on in silence for some time, 
 thinking of the boy of whom they had been 
 speaking. He had been the close friend of 
 both six months ago ; but he was called 
 Home to his Father's House above, when, 
 as it seemed, his work on earth was but 
 just begun. 
 
 There was a tender feeling pervading the 
 whole school with regard to Allan, for he had 
 been, very shortly before his death, the victim 
 of a cruel fraud which had brought him un- 
 der deep disgrace ; and it was only a few days 
 before he was taken away, that the author of 
 the mischief, Arthur Bentley, was discovered, 
 and Allan reinstated in the love and conn-
 
 JOE MILWAR&S VISIT. 147 
 
 dence of his teachers and school-mates. It 
 was this which had made Arthur such a 
 Pariah in the Hall. Neither he nor his 
 brother, Professor Bentley, had ever been fa- 
 vorites among the boys ; but since the day on 
 which Arthur's crime had been made known, 
 his companions, in their utter contempt for 
 his sin, and fierce anger at having been de- 
 ceived by him to the injury of Haywood, had 
 almost ignored his existence among them. 
 Will Seaton, once his best friend, had never 
 spoken to him since the occurrence ; and the 
 boy walked among his fellows as entirely 
 alone, perhaps more so, than if he had been 
 upon a desert island in the midst of an un- 
 known sea. Mr. Grau's efforts, on the day 
 of the picnic, and the aid he had given Tom 
 Morrison in saving Miss Churchill from her 
 great peril on the same day, had done some- 
 thing towards giving him a less trying position 
 in the school ; but even now the place he 
 held was far from being an enviable post.
 
 148 FRANK AUSTIN'S DIAMOND. 
 
 When the boys entered their room that 
 afternoon, they saw at once that affairs had 
 taken a new turn either for the better or the 
 worse. At the first glance, they noticed 
 among the unusually large number collected 
 within the old walls an air of expectancy and 
 interest; and, looking round to discover if 
 possible the cause of the suppressed excite- 
 ment, Austin saw, seated in a corner, a wiry 
 little man, between whom and himself the at- 
 tention of the company seemed to be divided. 
 He knew the man at once ; he was Joe Mil- 
 ward, the proprietor of the tavern next door. 
 What was he here for? Certainly for no 
 good, if one were to judge from the expression 
 of his small eyes, and thick, heavy lips. 
 
 The truth was, that Milward had deter- 
 mined by some means or other to put a stop 
 to these meetings. If Frank were dismayed 
 by Bailey's conduct, he was no less so. For 
 the past two weeks, Edward had absented 
 himself very frequently from the evening ca-
 
 JOE MlLWARiyS VISIT. 149 
 
 rousals at the tavern, and on this Sabbath 
 and the preceding one had not entered its 
 doors at all. Going out to seek him, Mil- 
 ward had found him on the afternoon of each 
 Sabbath beneath the windows of Mrs. Tracy's 
 room ; and although a knot of young fellows 
 were standing around him, making all man- 
 ner of fun of the services going on above 
 them, the tavern-keeper was sharp enough to 
 see that Bailey joined with but little spirit in 
 the mockery. 
 
 Besides this, he had refused more than once 
 on some frivolous pretext, within the last few 
 days, to lend his aid in the petty robberies of 
 hen-roosts and the like, by which the loungers 
 about Milward's were in the habit of supply- 
 ing their wants ; and all these " notions," as 
 he termed them, of Bailey's were ascribed by 
 the wily tavern-keeper to Austin's influence. 
 To be sure, Edward laughed at the efforts of 
 the Hall boys quite as sneeringly as any of 
 his companions ; but that did not blind Mil-
 
 150 FRANK AUSTIN'S DIAMOND. 
 
 ward to the fact that the young man had 
 been restless and uneasy in his mind ever 
 since the day of the first meeting. He could 
 not well afford to lose Bailey's influence, nor 
 his presence from his bar-room ; and he had 
 fully determined to make an end of these 
 troublesome gatherings in Mrs. Tracy's room, 
 if opposition and threats could accomplish 
 his purpose. 
 
 Looking at him as he sat in his corner, his 
 dark face sharply outlined against the white- 
 washed wall, Frank felt sure that he had 
 come with some evil intention, and fully 
 expected that the meeting would be rudely 
 interrupted, perhaps noisily broken up. But 
 he was mistaken. The services went on as 
 usual, disturbed from time to time by laugh- 
 ing and talking among the boys, but entirely 
 unmolested by Milward and the three or four 
 coarse-looking men who sat near him. The 
 tavern-keeper wanted to know what it was 
 that had spoiled Edward Bailey's thorough
 
 JOE MIL WARD'S VISIT. 151 
 
 enjoyment of wickedness for wickedness' sake, 
 and so he sat quietly attentive until the meet- 
 ing was drawing to its close. Then he rose, 
 in the moment's pause between the last hymn 
 and the dismission of the little company by 
 Christy, and, turning towards Austin, said in 
 a manner as impertinent as contemptuous 
 tone, sneering lip, and defiant brow could 
 make it, 
 
 " You said, young man, a while back, that 
 this meetin,' or whatever you call it, was open 
 for any remarks. I've got one remark to 
 make. If yon know when you're well off 
 you'll attend to that, and then I'll have no more 
 to say ; but if you don't take heed to it, you'll 
 hear a few words more from Joe Milward 
 that you may like still less. My remark is 
 just this : You've got to put a stop to all 
 this cant and fuss. I won't put up with it." 
 
 If Frank Austin's natural pride and haugh- 
 tiness had not been already brought under 
 strong control, he must then and there have
 
 152 FRANK AUSTIN'S DIAMOND. 
 
 forfeited what little influence he had gained 
 in his unfruitful field by a sudden outburst of 
 angry retort; for the man's insulting look, 
 words, and manner, were insufferable. Even 
 
 9 
 
 calm, composed old Christy turned sharply 
 toward him, his wrinkled face flushing and 
 trembling with indignant feeling. 
 
 But the very manner of his being led into 
 the kingdom of his Lord had struck a heavy 
 blow at Austin's self-reliance and self-esteem, 
 and for months past he had been fighting with 
 this proud spirit; and, though often worsted 
 for the time, had gained upon it slowly but 
 surely. Not one word of anger passed his 
 firmly set lips, as he stood for a moment look- 
 ing at Milward. When at length he did 
 speak, it was in a constrained, unnatural 
 voice, and his words were very few. 
 
 " You must allow me my right," he said, 
 " to worship God as I see fit under my own 
 roof. The meeting will now be dismissed." 
 
 His calmness infuriated Milward; but he
 
 JOE MILWARD' B VISIT. 153 
 
 saw plainly enough that it was forced; and 
 hoping to destroy it, and thereby create a dis- 
 turbance which would for ever end all Austin's 
 efforts in the neighborhood, he motioned 
 Christy, who had already stepped forward, to 
 one side, and speaking, if possible, more inso- 
 lently than before, said, 
 
 " Your right ! I'd like to know who has 
 any rights at this corner but Joe Milward! 
 Ain't it been called ' Milward's Corner ' these 
 five years ? Now look-a-here, youngster ! you 
 may stand up there, and defy me with that 
 proud face of yourn all day ; but I tell you if 
 you show it here next Sunday you'll get it 
 washed in mud, and then ducked in yonder 
 mill-pond, so sure as my name's Joe Milward. 
 That's the other remark I spoke of. Now 
 look out for yourself! " and, with a snap of 
 his fingers almost in Frank's face, the man 
 walked out of the room. 
 
 He had seen that he could not urge him to 
 a quarrel, and keen enough to know that in
 
 154 FRANK AUSTIN'S DIAMOND. 
 
 a war of words he would be worsted before 
 his own allies, he left the field. He was 
 instantly followed by his friends, and Frank 
 and Laurence, with Christy, were left in un- 
 disturbed possession, for the present at least. 
 
 " Will he do what he says, Christy ? " 
 asked Laurence, anxiously, as Frank, turning 
 his face from them, stood looking out of the 
 window. 
 
 " He will, sir, unless force is used to pre- 
 vent him. I think, sir, that we've done all we 
 can here. One soul has been brought into 
 light and joy through these little gatherin's. 
 Let us thank the Lord for that. He may 
 open the way for us some time to bring the 
 blessin' of His Gospel to more. But, Mr. 
 Austin, dear lad," and he laid his hand ten- 
 derly on Frank's shoulder, " I'm thinkin' He 
 isn't ready just yet. It has been dangersome 
 from the first ; and now we'll need to give it 
 up, and just wait a bit. Milward will keep 
 his word, but so keep it as the law can't
 
 JOE MIL WARD'S VISIT. 155 
 
 touch him, he's that cute and knowin'. He's 
 a terrible, dangerous man, sir, is Milward. 
 It's really not safe for you to try it again. I 
 thanked the Lord indeed, I thanked Him 
 hearty when I saw Joe safe out of the room 
 this afternoon, and you unhurt, Mr. Frank." 
 
 " I thanked Him, too," said Austin, turning 
 toward him with a smile. 
 
 " And you will run no risks, sir ? " pleaded 
 the old man. " Or at least you will tell the 
 Doctor all about this? " he added, feeling very 
 sure that Dr. Dray ton would keep the boy 
 from venturing too far in his enthusiasm. 
 
 " Certainly, I shall. He always asks me 
 the result of each service here, and he shall 
 know every thing. I think with you, Christy, 
 that we'll need to pause and consider a little ; 
 but I don't believe that God is closing this 
 door against us. We had better go down 
 now, and consult as to our future plans at 
 some other time." 
 
 No one spoke to or molested them as they
 
 156 FRANK AUSTIN'S DIAMOND. 
 
 left the house, although there was quite a 
 company gathered on the piazza of the tav- 
 ern, who watched them curiously as they 
 walked up the road.
 
 VIII. 
 
 A FLASH OF THE DIAMOND. 
 
 . DRAYTON had listened very gravely 
 to the account of the events of the after- 
 noon ; and when it was concluded, he sat for 
 some moments without speaking, drumming 
 with one hand upon the table beside which 
 he happened to be sitting, with a look on his 
 face which Austin felt boded no good to the 
 continuance of his enterprise. 
 
 " This is rather a serious business," he said, 
 at length. 
 
 " Yes, sir," replied Frank, eagerly, " it does 
 look a little serious ; but you don't think that 
 we'll have to give it up, do you ? I don't feel 
 as if I possibly could." 
 
 The doctor smiled that little, grave half-
 
 158 FRANK AUSTINS DIAMOND. 
 
 srnile of his that Frank had learned to love, 
 as he said : 
 
 " It will.be a great disappointment to you, 
 I know, Austin ; but I am afraid that it will 
 have to be so. I would confide in Christo- 
 pher Dunn's judgment far more than in my 
 own, as regards the feeling and the probable 
 action of these people ; and according to your 
 own testimony it is his opinion that Milward 
 will execute his threats. No one would be 
 more glad than I to see a reformation effected 
 in that lawless place, but your father would 
 never pardon me if any evil should befall you 
 there." 
 
 Yes, Austin knew that, perhaps even bet- 
 ter than Dr. Drayton. His father, a bitter 
 scoffer at all that was holy and good, had so 
 far, since his son had avowed himself a soldier 
 in Christ's army, contented himself with light 
 jestings and banter on the subject, thinking 
 this new idea a mere boyish fancy, out of 
 which he might with ease be ridiculed. But
 
 A FLASH OF THE DIAMOND. 159 
 
 the boy knew that he would look upon his 
 new purpose in life with very different eyes 
 if it brought him into any difficulty or danger, 
 and would hold Dr. Drayton sharply respon- 
 sible if any trouble arose at the Corner. He 
 had not concealed his plan from his parents, 
 but Mr. and Mrs. Austin knew little of " Mil- 
 ward's," save that it was a poorly kept and 
 shabby tavern ; and when Frank had written 
 that he intended to establish a Sabbath-after- 
 noon service there, the announcement had 
 been received by his father with shouts of 
 laughter, and by hi.s mother with a protest 
 against his association with such a class of 
 people. 
 
 " He will be sure to catch some horrid fever, 
 or something of that sort," she had exclaimed, 
 when her husband, telling her that he had a 
 grand joke for her, read the letter aloud. 
 
 " Not at all," said Mr. Austin ; " there is 
 no danger of that. For my part, I am de- 
 lighted. Like all young converts, as they call
 
 160 FRANK AUSTIN'S DIAMOND. 
 
 them, he is running the thing into the ground, 
 and he'll sicken of the whole business in a 
 month's time." 
 
 The mocking letter he had received in re- 
 ply had shown Frank that his intention, as it 
 then stood, was a matter of perfect indiffer- 
 ence, or at the most only one of amusement, 
 to his father ; but he knew very well that if 
 Mr. Austin suspected the present state of 
 affairs, he would at once forbid the further 
 continuance of the meetings, and would more- 
 over severely blame Dr. Drayton if he permit- 
 ted his son to carry them on. 
 
 " I am sorry," said the Doctor, as the boy 
 sat, with drooping head, and anxious, dis- 
 couraged face before him, attempting no an- 
 swer to his last remark. " I am more sorry 
 than I can tell you that this mission has failed 
 so soon. And yet, Austin, you have realized 
 a rich reward. That poor girl's tossed and 
 troubled soul might have been lost in the 
 dark waters, if it had not been for those little
 
 A FLASH OF THE DIAMOND. 161 
 
 gatherings. You told me, my son," and he 
 laid his hand kindly on Austin's bowed head, 
 " when you first thought of establishing these 
 meetings, that you were 'just hungry' to do 
 something for Christ. Your Master knew the 
 longing, the hunger of your soul ; and I think 
 that He has fed you with the finest of the 
 wheat. It seems as if He were for the pres- 
 ent taking the work out of your hands ; let 
 Him see that while you are ready, and more 
 than ready, to give your strength to Him, you 
 are also prepared, if it be His will, to wait on 
 the Lord. Now it is time for us to go down 
 to church. I heard the procession filing 
 through the hall a few moments since, and I 
 presume they are waiting for us." 
 
 They left the room together, Frank taking 
 his place among the boys in the lower hall, 
 as they fell into line ready to march down to 
 the Graydon Church ; and the Doctor saw no 
 more of him until, happening to turn his head 
 during the sermon, he caught a glimpse of 
 11
 
 162 FRANK AUSTIN'S DIAMOND. 
 
 the boy's face as he sat in the pew adjoining 
 his own. 
 
 Evidently he was thinking but little of the 
 sermon, if one were to judge from his anx- 
 ious, troubled expression. From the bottom 
 of his heart, Dr. Drayton pitied him ; for he 
 knew well with what an enthusiasm of devo- 
 tion, and of enjoyment too, the boy had 
 undertaken his work, the whole fabric of 
 which now seemed to be lying in ruin at his 
 feet. He felt sorry that he had been forced to 
 dissuade him from persevering in it ; sorry also 
 that their interview had closed so abruptly 
 and unsatisfactorily. The longer he watched 
 his flurried, flushed face, the more he wanted 
 to do something to console and cheer him. 
 
 The service was concluded, and Frank was 
 turning v to leave the seat, when Mrs. Dray- 
 ton, who sat at the head of the master's pew, 
 touched his arm and whispered. 
 
 " The Doctor wants you to wait for him at 
 the gate."
 
 A FLASH OF THE DIAMOND. 163 
 
 " I have to see Dr. Buford to-night," said 
 Dr. Drayton, as he reached the entrance to the 
 church-grounds, where Frank was waiting for 
 him, " and I thought that we might walk down 
 there together, and finish the conversation 
 which the church-bell interrupted. You look 
 as if the air might rest and invigorate you." 
 
 " I should like it very much, sir," said 
 Frank, gratefully. 
 
 Turning away from the gate, they walked 
 slowly down to the road towards Dr. Buford's 
 house, which stood on the outskirts of the vil- 
 lage, talking earnestly as they went ; the boy, 
 in his ardor and enthusiasm, using every 
 argument he could employ to urge his plea ; 
 the man, kindly, but resistlessly, putting them 
 all down one by one ; trying to throw in little 
 crumbs of comfort and encouragement by the 
 way, but steadily discountenancing the pur- 
 suance of his desire. Poor Frank ! He was 
 in no mood, when they reached the end of 
 their journey, to go in and sit down for a long
 
 164 - FRANK AUSTIN'S DIAMOND. 
 
 conversation with chatty Mrs. Buford. He 
 opened the gate for Dr. Drayton, but did not 
 pass through himself. 
 
 " Would there be any objection to my wait- 
 ing for you out here, sir ? " he asked, as the 
 Doctor looked inquiringly at him. " I had 
 rather not go in." 
 
 " Certainly not. Meet me at the cross-road 
 below at half-past nine. It is now nine," he 
 added, as he pulled out his watch and held it 
 toward Frank, in order that he might compare 
 it with his own. 
 
 " I will be on hand, sir ; " and the boy strolled 
 away toward a piece of woods which lay on 
 the opposite side of the road. 
 
 The moon was shining brightly, and the 
 woods were almost as light as if it were day. 
 It looked cairn and peaceful and quiet beneath 
 the trees, and Frank turned in among their 
 leafy branches with the hope that his own 
 restlessness and anxiety would be calmed by 
 a walk through the cool, soft shadows.
 
 A FLASH OF THE DIAMOND. 165 
 
 But scarcely had he stepped off the main 
 road when he was suddenly seized from behind, 
 while two rough, coarse hands crossed his 
 face, one blinding his eyes, the other closing 
 his rnouth. For an instant he struggled to 
 free himself; but the next he was borne heavily 
 down to the ground, with those hard 'hands 
 still pressing close upon his lips and eyes. 
 
 Evidently there were at least three in the 
 party which had attacked him ; powerful fel- 
 lows too, if he judged from their handling. 
 He was not hurt, and he lay quite still trying 
 to think what was best for him to do, whether 
 to lie quiet, or to attempt to throw them from 
 him and make his escape ; wondering too 
 how it was that they had stolen upon him so 
 unobserved, for they had come from the road, 
 not from the wood-land. Then he remem- 
 bered that as he had stood with Dr. Drayton 
 at the gate of Dr. Buford's place, five men 
 had passed them, rough-looking fellows, 
 bound, as he had supposed, for the tavern at
 
 166 FRANK AUSTIN'S DIAMOND. 
 
 the other extremity of the village. If he had 
 recollected that they were so near, he might 
 not have thought it safe to leave the road ; but 
 he had quite forgotten the fact of their having 
 passed him ; and besides, the woods were not 
 thick, but light, well cleared of under-brush, 
 and used constantly as a road from Graydon 
 to Milton, a little settlement four miles 
 farther up the turnpike. 
 
 While Frank and the Doctor were talking 
 earnestly of the occurrences of the afternoon 
 in the library at Drayton Hall, the affair had 
 been discussed with no less animation in 
 the bar-room of the tavern. The result of his 
 attack upon the young leader of the new 
 enterprise had been a great disappointment 
 to Joseph Milward ; and the more he thought 
 of it, the more plainly he saw that he had 
 been worsted in the encounter, and the hotter 
 grew his wrath against this interference with 
 his so-called " rights." Besides all this, Edward 
 Bailey was again absent from the bar, and
 
 A FLASH OF THE DIAMOND. 167 
 
 had led away with him two or three of Mil- 
 ward's most constant customers. Altogether 
 the list of Austin's offences was growing 
 longer and longer every moment. No words 
 were too fierce and rough to be applied to 
 him, no curses too deep to be muttered 
 against him, until finally the man had worked 
 himself up to a perfect fury of hatred and 
 anger against the " usurper," as he chose to 
 call him. 
 
 His abuse and invectives had excited the 
 half-tipsy crowd of men and boys who filled 
 the room to almost as great a pitch of passion 
 as that to which he had brought himself; and 
 when, he declared that Edward Bailey was 
 fast going over to the enemy, and that in a 
 short time, he, the quickest-witted and most 
 successful rogue among them, would be lost 
 to them, the room fairly rang again with loud 
 threats and denunciations. Angry declara- 
 tions that the thing should be stopped at 
 once ; that they would not even wait until the
 
 168 FRANK AUSTIN'S DIAMOND. 
 
 next Sabbath, to see whether the interlopers 
 had been daunted by the experience of that 
 afternoon ; that the first time they caught the 
 instigator of all this mischief, they would duck 
 him in the mill-pond as Milward had threat- 
 ened, and so forth, filled the air ; until the host, 
 satisfied that the work would be done without 
 his personal aid, began to choose his words 
 with a little more care, lest, if serious evil 
 came to his rivals, he should be held respon- 
 sible. 
 
 After a time the tumult had somewhat sub- 
 sided ; and William Simpson, the man who at 
 the first meeting in Mrs. Tracy's room had so 
 violently opposed the offering of prayer, had, 
 together with three or four younger men, 
 strolled down the village street for a little 
 walk ; intending, howeve'r, to return to the 
 tavern to spend the hours of the night in 
 their customary manner. 
 
 The little party, all half-intoxicated, had 
 passed Dr. Buford's house just as Frank
 
 A FLASH OF THE DIAMOND. 169 
 
 declined going in with the Doctor; and no 
 sooner had they parted, than Simpson, whose 
 dislike to Austin was almost as bitter as that 
 which Milward entertained towards him, pro- 
 posed to his companions that they should 
 then and there execute their purpose, and so 
 prevent at once all further annoyance from 
 him. The plan was instantly agreed to, half 
 in earnest, half in joke ; and Simpson had led 
 them into the woods before they had time to 
 repent of their decision. The capture had 
 been made easily enough, the boy being 
 totally unsuspecting and unprepared ; and 
 Simpson hurried them on, anxious lest they 
 should be discovered before their purpose was 
 accomplished. 
 
 " Bring him along to the pond," he said 
 roughly, as the others having aided him in 
 throwing Frank to the ground, stood laughing 
 heartily at the success of their plan. " If you 
 don't look out he'll give us the slip, or some 
 one will come by, and we'll have to run for
 
 170 FRANK AUSTIN'S DIAMOND. 
 
 it. Lend a hand here, and lift him up. 
 We'll cut through the woods to the old mill. 
 There'll be nobody there to meddle with us, 
 and if he don't get such a sousin' as '11 wash 
 the stiffness out of him, it won't be my fault." 
 
 It was of no use to struggle. Simpson's 
 hands were across his face, his heavy knee 
 pressing, not painfully, but still resistlessly, 
 upon his chest. After the first effort to spring 
 up, which had been met by the instant seizure 
 of four pairs of strong hands, and a muttered, 
 "If you don't want to be hurt, youngster, 
 you'd best lie still," Frank submitted to the 
 force of circumstances, his blood boiling at the 
 insult, but his judgment convincing him that 
 opposition was worse than useless. In another 
 moment he was raised from the ground, and 
 with smothered laughter and coarse jests, 
 borne rapidly through the woods. 
 
 The journey was not a long one. The 
 pond, a stagnant, muddy piece of water, lying 
 under the shadow of a long-disused mill,
 
 A FLASH OF THE DIAMOND. 171 
 
 almost touched the borders of the wood a 
 quarter of a mile away on the opposite side, 
 and his bearers were not long in reaching it. 
 
 " Now for it," exclaimed Simpson. " I'll 
 keep his eyes covered. Pitch him clear into 
 the middle, and then run for it before he 
 rises." 
 
 " Wait a bit," said one of the group, his 
 heart failing him at the last moment. rt Give 
 him one chance. Maybe he'll engage never 
 to come nigh us again, if we let him off this 
 time. Will you, Snobby, on yer honor, prom- 
 ise never to hold no more o' them meetin's ? 
 If not, here you go. Will you promise ? " 
 
 Simpson lifted his hand from the boy's lips, 
 and the answer he had expected came firm 
 and clear, 
 
 " No, never ! " 
 
 " In with him, then. One, two, three ! 
 Over he goes ! " 
 
 " Not if my name's Ed Bailey ! " 
 
 The whole party stumbled and staggered
 
 172 FRANK AUSTIN'S DIAMOND. 
 
 backward, almost dropping their burden ; for 
 two powerful hands caught the helpless figure 
 as they swung it forward, seizing it with such 
 strength that the sudden recoil almost brought 
 them all to the ground. 
 
 Startled and confounded, the men slightly 
 loosened their grasp. Frank made a spring, 
 but they were too quick for him. Their hold 
 upon him tightened again ; and, with an oath, 
 Simpson exclaimed, 
 
 " Stand away, Bailey ! It's none of your 
 business." 
 
 " It is my business, too. Put him down, 
 you mean scamps, fightin' five to one. I 
 wouldn't give an old shoe to buy the hull 
 crowd of yer. Put him down, I say." 
 
 " Hold on to him, boys," said Simpson, 
 seeing that his allies looked rather hesitating ; 
 " we'll duck him yet. He's got this feller 
 right under his thumb, you see. Now for it ! " 
 
 Frank felt himself swung forward again. 
 He struggled furiously to free himself; Bail-
 
 A FLASH OF THE DIAMOND. 173 
 
 ey's hands still held him fast, and between 
 the two, the attempt was for the second time 
 defeated. 
 
 Austin heard a low, muttered curse ; a 
 scuffle, a heavy fall. Then he was suddenly 
 lifted into the air, flung forward, and the next 
 instant he felt the green, slimy waters of the 
 pond close above his head. 
 
 In another moment he had risen to the sur- 
 face, and was striking out for the shore. To 
 his surprise, no opposition was offered to his 
 landing ; and, scrambling up to the bank, he 
 sat down to wipe from his face the drops of 
 thick, muddy water which blinded his eyes. 
 
 It was very still, and turning around to 
 look about him as soon as his eyes were suf- 
 ficiently cleared to see, he found that he was 
 alone. At least he thought himself so on the 
 first glance ; but rising to his feet, he saw a 
 motionless figure stretched upon the grass. 
 It was but the work of a moment to spring 
 forward, bend over the prostrate form, and
 
 174 FRANK AUSTIN'S DIAMOND. 
 
 -cvC- f^H.O^3f>- 
 
 lift the heavy head from the sharp stone upon 
 which it lay. 
 
 " Bailey ! Ed ! " whispered the boy, striv- 
 ing to stanch with his water-soaked handker- 
 chief the stream of blood which was flowing 
 from a deep cut on the man's head. " Can 
 you speak ? " 
 
 There was no answer : the head lay like a 
 lump of lead upon his knees ; and the great, 
 powerful hands hung limp and helpless when 
 he lifted them. For a moment Frank sat 
 watching him ; then he tied his handkerchief 
 tightly around the wounded head, and laying 
 it gently down upon the grass, ran swiftly 
 back through the road over which he had just 
 been carried, toward the village ; and a loud, 
 sharp peal at the door-bell soon called Dr. 
 Buford to his assistance.
 
 IX. 
 
 HIDDEN MANNA. 
 
 TT 7HY, Frank Austin ! " cried the aston- 
 ished doctor, as the drenched, pale 
 figure in the doorway met his sight. " What 
 has happened to you?" 
 
 " Jump into the carriage, quick ! " gasped 
 Frank, having seen to his great joy, as he 
 rushed up the private road, that the doctor's 
 carriage was just turning from the house to 
 the stable. " He's hurt. I'm afraid he's 
 dying." 
 
 "Who? Dr. Drayton?" and the physi- 
 cian whistled with a sharp, peculiar intona- 
 tion which his coachman understood, as he 
 snatched his hat from the rack, and hurried 
 out upon the piazza.
 
 176 FKANK AUSTINS DIAMOND. 
 
 " What is it, Frank ? There's the carriage. 
 Jump in, and tell me as we go." 
 
 " No, no, not there ; the other way ! " and 
 Frank grasped the reins as Dr. Buford turned 
 his horse's head toward Drayton Hall. " Drive 
 toward Milton. It's Edward Bailey ; he is 
 almost killed." 
 
 " But what is this all about ? " asked the 
 physician, as his horse trotted rapidly down 
 the road. " I thought that you were to meet 
 Dr. Drayton two hours ago at the cross-roads. 
 He certainly told me so. And yet here you 
 are, drenched to the skin, come for help for 
 this Bailey. I am completely befogged, boy. 
 What does it all mean ? " 
 
 " I hardly know myself," replied Frank. 
 " But I had scarcely more than parted from 
 Dr. Drayton at your door, when I was seized 
 by a party of those roughs from around Mil- 
 ward's, and carried off to the old mill-pond, to 
 be ducked, it seems. The rascals had rne, 
 for there were five of them, big fellows, too,
 
 HIDDEN MANNA. 177 
 
 they must have been ; and there's no knowing 
 what might have been the end of it if it hadn't 
 been for Bailey. He dashed in on the scene 
 very unexpectedly, so far as I could gather, 
 just as they had lifted me up to throw me, 
 and caught me back. They had covered my 
 eyes so that I should not identify them, I 
 suppose, so I cannot tell exactly what went 
 on ; but I heard a violent quarrel between 
 them, then the sound of a scuffle and a fall, 
 and I was pitched overboard in less time than 
 it takes to tell it. I wasn't hurt, though ; and 
 as soon as I could make my way out of the 
 mess with which I was covered, I scrambled 
 up the bank, to find to my astonishment and 
 dismay that there was at least one fellow who 
 had not escaped so easily. Poor Bailey must 
 have been thrown in the fight, and have struck 
 full upon the edge of that sharp ledge of rock 
 which crops out above the pond. You remem- 
 ber it, J suppose, sir?" 
 "Yes. Is he badly cut?" 
 12
 
 178 FRANK AUSTIN'S DIAMOND. 
 
 " Very badly, I'm afraid. He was senseless 
 when I left him." 
 
 So he was still, when they reached him. 
 He lay just as Frank had placed him, his face 
 turned up toward the sky, his hands stretched 
 out on either side, helpless and still. 
 
 " Who did this ? " asked the doctor, as he 
 bent over him. 
 
 " I don't know, sir. The voice fiercest in 
 the quarrel sounded like that of a man who 
 was very violent at one of our little meetings 
 when they were first started ; but they kept 
 my eyes covered, as I said, and when I 
 reached the bank again after they had thrown 
 me into the water, there was not a living soul 
 here but this poor fellow. They must have 
 run when they saw what they had done. He 
 is not dead, is he, doctor?" and Frank bent 
 anxiously over his would-be protector, with a 
 feeling almost of love swelling up in his 
 heart. 
 
 " No, not dead, but as near it as a man
 
 HIDDEN MANNA. 179 
 
 need to be. His head is frightfully injured. 
 I have some ugly work to do here. Have you 
 nerve enough to help me ? It ought to be 
 done before he is moved ; and the night is so 
 bright that I shall have no difficulty, if you 
 can give me a little assistance." 
 
 " I can do all you wish, I think, sir," replied 
 Austin. 
 
 " Ugly work " it was to watch, as the sharp 
 instruments did their cruel-looking duty ; but 
 Frank stood it very well, and felt richly re- 
 paid when, having bound up the man's head, 
 and washed the blood from his face, the 
 doctor said in a tone of great satisfaction : 
 
 " There, the worst is over and he has not 
 felt it. He might have died on the road if 
 we had not been able to stanch that stream. 
 You have done something towards repaying 
 him, Austin." 
 
 Lifting Bailey into the carriage, they drove 
 slowly toward the village. The movement 
 seemed to rouse him a little. He opened his
 
 180 FRANK AUSTIN'S DIAMOND. 
 
 eyes after a. moment, tried to lift his hand, 
 and muttered thickly, 
 
 " No, no. Five against one." 
 
 Then the heavy eyelids closed again, and 
 he lay quiet until they reached Graydon. 
 
 "Where can we take him?" had been 
 Frank's question when Bailey had been placed 
 in the carriage; and the doctor had told him 
 of a woman who owned a cottage near his 
 own house, who, he thought, would be glad 
 to take care of the man for a slight remuner- 
 ation until such time as his mother could 
 reach him, and would board both mother and 
 son if that arrangement proved desirable. 
 
 Passing his own home, Dr. Buford turned 
 up a cross-road, and stopped at the door of a 
 trim-looking little house, standing in the midst 
 of a pretty garden. It was now past mid- 
 night ; but in answer to the physician's loud 
 rap on the door, a head was thrust out of the 
 window, and a somewhat startled voice 
 asked,
 
 HIDDEN MANNA. 181 
 
 Who's there ? " 
 
 " Dr. Buford, Mrs. Marsh. Can you take in 
 a poor fellow who has been hurt." 
 
 " Yes, sir ; " and the head disappeared from 
 the window, to reappear after a very short in- 
 terval at the open door. 
 
 It was no easy matter to lift that heavy, 
 helpless figure into the house, and the doctor 
 no less than Frank was glad that Mrs. 
 Marsh's spare-room opened from the hall, al- 
 most touching the front door. 
 
 " We'll put him here, poor fellow," said the 
 kind-hearted woman, " because it's bright and 
 sunny of a morning; and I doubt, doctor," 
 with a glance at Bailey as he lay motionless 
 on the bed where they had placed him, " 1 
 doubt he'll not leave it this many a day." 
 
 " No ; it will be a long and hard pull for him, 
 if he gets through at all," said the doctor. 
 " Now let us have him undressed and comfort- 
 ably in bed. He will probably wake in delirium, 
 and he may rouse up at any moment."
 
 182 FRANK AUSTIN'S DIAMOND. 
 
 -CNt-_9if> <-3>^r- 
 
 Austin would- fain have remained to assist 
 as far as possible, but the doctor would not 
 allow it. Reminding him that Dr. Drayton 
 must be almost frantic with anxiety on his 
 account, he advised him to go at once to the 
 Hall, only pausing to leave word at his own 
 house that he had brought the wounded man 
 to Mrs. Marsh, and that he wanted his coach- 
 man to come to him there immediately. 
 
 The fact was that Dr. Buford looked for- 
 ward to a night of horror with poor Bailey. 
 Fully aware of his habits, he saw that there 
 was every reason to expect a delirium of the 
 wildest kind when he awoke from the stupor 
 in which he now lay ; and he knew that 
 Frank had had quite excitement enough for 
 one evening. So, much against his will, 
 Austin left the house to go up to the Hall. 
 
 At the physician's gate he met Dr. Drayton, 
 just starting for the old mill. He had stopped 
 as by appointment at the cross-roads ; and at 
 half-past nine, Frank not having appeared to
 
 HIDDEN MANNA. 183 
 
 keep his part of the engagement, had gone on 
 with his usual unswerving adherence to his 
 purpose, supposing that Austin would over- 
 take him. But when he had reached the 
 Hall, and had waited half an hour in his study, 
 he grew very uneasy, and started out again, 
 expecting to meet him on the road. Reach- 
 ing Dr. Buford's house, his anxiety increasing 
 every moment, he went in, in the hope that 
 Austin, misunderstanding him, might have 
 stopped there ; and, finding him gone, lingered 
 longer than he was aware of in the physician's 
 pleasant parlor. It was a forlorn hope, for it 
 was now very late in the evening, but it was 
 the only one he could find to cling to. There, 
 to his great relief, he found Mrs. Buford, who 
 told him as much as she had been able to 
 gather from Frank's incoherent story; and 
 when the boy met him at the gate, he was on 
 his way to the mill, to see if he could render 
 them any aid. Thankful enough he was to see 
 him unhurt, especially when he had heard the
 
 184 FRANK AUSTIN'S DIAMOND. 
 
 story Frank had to tell ; and when he bade 
 him " Good night," having given his consent 
 to Mrs. Buford's plea that he might remain 
 with her until the morning, the common, 
 every-day words were spoken with such ear- 
 nestness, that Frank felt that they meant 
 more than they had ever meant to him be- 
 fore. 
 
 " Good night, sir," he said, and wrung the 
 doctor's hand with a force, which showed that 
 he had appreciated the strong feeling which 
 betrayed itself in the utterance of those two 
 little words. 
 
 Dr. Buford's fears with regard to Bailey 
 proved only too true. He lay for an hour or 
 two after Frank had left the house in the stu- 
 por in which the boy had seen him ; then he 
 roused, first with incoherent murmurs, which 
 grew louder and more intelligible, until at last 
 his frenzy became so fierce and wild, that it 
 required the united strength of his three 
 attendants to restrain him from springing
 
 HIDDEN MANNA. 185 
 
 from the bed. His shouts and cries were ter- 
 rible to hear ; and his strength so great, that 
 when morning dawned Dr. Buford had to 
 send for assistance, it being impossible for 
 himself and his man to control him. 
 
 For three weeks he lay in that pleasant, 
 sunny room in Mrs. Marsh's cottage, rav- 
 ing in delirium, or lying for hours breathing 
 heavily, with half-closed eyes which noticed 
 nothing that passed around him. Gentle 
 hands ministered to all his needs ; a mother's 
 loving eyes dropped tears of pity on the fore- 
 head drawn and wrinkled with pain; low voi- 
 ces whispered at the door kind inquiries for 
 him ; merry, boyish faces grew grave and ten- 
 der as the oft-repeated answer came back, 
 " The doctor thinks he cannot live ; " and 
 the usually noisy, trampling feet crept away 
 softly lest the sick man should be disturbed. 
 
 Day by day the strong, stout frame dwin- 
 dled and shrunk away, consumed by burning 
 fever ; the hard hands grew pale and soft ; the
 
 186 FRANK AUSTIN'S DIAMOND. 
 
 dark, coarse face lengthened and whitened ; 
 until, one bright morning, as his mother sat 
 beside him, thinking how strangely unlike he 
 was to his old self, the closed eyes, grown 
 wonderfully large and deep, were suddenly 
 lifted and fixed on her face. 
 
 Startled by his sudden rousing from a sleep 
 which the doctor had said would prove the 
 turning point for life or death, she bent her 
 face down to his, but did not speak. He lay 
 for a moment looking at her; then a faint 
 srnile touched his white lips, and he whis- 
 pered, " Dear Mother!" as he had used to 
 whisper it when, a little, weary child, he had 
 crept into her arms to rest. 
 
 He was quiet for a long while after that, 
 glancing up now and then with an uncertain, 
 wondering look around the unfamiliar room. 
 But after a while his face grew troubled and 
 distressed, and he began to move his head 
 restlessly on the pillow. 
 
 " What is it, Ned dear, do you want some-
 
 187 
 
 thing ? " asked his mother, bending anxiously 
 over him. 
 
 The boy ? " he whispered faintly. The 
 young feller from the Hall ? " 
 
 " You mean you want him, dear ? " 
 
 "Did they did they hurt him very 
 bad ? " he faltered feebly. 
 
 " No, they never hurt him a bit. He's been 
 here every day since you've been sick, as 
 watchful and kind as if you'd been his 
 brother. But you mustn't talk, Ned dear, 
 for you've been very sick. Take a little sleep 
 now." 
 
 He closed his eyes obediently, and the 
 happy old mother sat beside him, refusing all 
 Mrs. Marsh's entreaties that she would take 
 some rest, with the reply that it rested her to 
 look at him sleeping so softly. And she was 
 right ; nothing could have been a sweeter rest 
 to that heart, worn and weary with terrible 
 fear and dread, than to watch the calm face 
 upon the pillow, the face which for three
 
 188 FRANK AUSTIN'S DIAMOND. 
 
 -v-c _9XfLXX>- 
 
 long weeks she had seen wild, and tortured 
 with pain. 
 
 Then followed days and days of such in- 
 fantile weakness as the man, never having 
 within his recollection been ill before, could 
 not comprehend. Days when he could not 
 turn his head, nor lift his hand without aid ; 
 days when a child's voice in the street, or the 
 creeping of a fly over the white counterpane, 
 annoyed and distressed him. 
 
 But little by little strength came again ; and 
 one afternoon, as Dr. Buford sat beside his 
 bed, with his fingers on his wrist, he said, 
 
 " You are coming on finely, Bailey. I 
 don't know but that I'll let you see a visitor 
 to-day. Would you like it ? " 
 
 " Is it Mr. Austin ? " asked Bailey, eagerly. 
 " I've been a wantin' to see him the worst 
 kind." 
 
 " Well, he is waiting in the garden now. 
 I will bring him in." 
 
 " Don't stay more than five minutes," said
 
 HIDDEN MANNA. 189 
 
 the doctor, as having called Austin into the 
 house he opened the door of Edward's room 
 to let him pass in, " and be very cautious." 
 
 " Well, Bailey," said Prank cheerfully, 
 coming to the bedside and taking one of 
 Edward's hands in. both his own, " you 
 don't look quite as strong as you once 
 did." 
 
 " No, not quite, but I'm a gainin'. I 'spose 
 I never looked just like this afore ; " and he 
 glanced with a sort of compassionate smile at 
 the thin, pale hand which lay in Frank's. 
 
 " A pretty white hand for a man, isn't it ? " 
 said Austin, giving it a little pat, " and not 
 quite able to-day to hold a great fellow like 
 me back from a crowd of enemies. But 
 never mind, it will strengthen every day; 
 strengthen too, I hope, for service in a better 
 cause than mine. Let it grow strong, Bailey, 
 but keep it white." 
 
 The man looked up, his sunken eyes scan- 
 ning the boy's face wonderingly at first ; then
 
 190 FRANK AUSTIN'S DIAMOND 
 
 with a quick, intelligent look flashing from 
 them, he said, 
 
 " Ay, I know what you mean ; know the 
 need of it too better than you do, perhaps. 
 It ain't easy work, boy." 
 
 " I know it is not," replied Frank, gravely. 
 " But we have a Master to whom all things 
 are easy," he added, with a smile, " and He 
 will help us. What lovely flowers these are! 
 Who sent them to you? " x 
 
 " The little lady up to the Manor-House," 
 said Bailey; as Frank, afraid of exciting him 
 too much, bent over a beautiful basket of 
 flowers which stood on a table beside the 
 bed. " Folks is so good to me I don't scarcely 
 know myself." 
 
 " They want to help me to thank you," said 
 Austin. " I must go away now, or the doctor 
 will not let me come again; but I cannot go 
 without trying to tell you that from my heart 
 I pray God to bless you for risking your life 
 for me. You have suffered greatly on my
 
 HIDDEN MANNA. 191 
 
 account, Bailey ; and if the time ever comes 
 when I can repay the debt, you will find that 
 my gratitude is full and true. Good-by." 
 
 " Good-by. Will you be down around 
 these parts any time soon ? " 
 
 " Oh, yes ; I shall want to know every day 
 how you are." 
 
 " Well, come in, if you don't mind, and sit 
 a bit." 
 
 He lay looking after the boy as he went 
 out, and turned "his head on the pillow to 
 watch him pass up the village street ; then he 
 lifted the wasted hand which had been so 
 kindly noticed, held it up to the light, and 
 turned it about as if studying it. 
 
 " Keep it white," he said thoughtfully. 
 " Little he knows how black it has been. 
 Little he knows either what it'll be to 
 keep it white. And yet I do believe 
 wouldn't the old woman be glad though?" 
 
 " The old woman " coming in at that 
 moment, rather anxious lest his first interview
 
 192 FRANK AUSTIN'S DIAMOND 
 
 with Frank might have proved too much for 
 his strength, had her fears calmed at the first 
 glance. 
 
 " Why, how nice you look ! " she exclaimed, 
 stroking the hair back from his forehead. 
 " The young gentleman's done you good, I'm 
 thinkin'. He's as fine a young man as ever 
 I see, Ned." 
 
 " Yes, he's pretty fair. I'm tired, mother ; " 
 and seeing that he did not want to talk, she 
 smoothed his pillows, and taking up her sew- 
 ing sat down in the window. 
 
 Meantime Frank's adventure had caused 
 no small stir in the village. The constables 
 had come to him for intelligence with regard 
 to the assaults upon himself and Bailey ; but 
 the only clue he could give them was the 
 information that the voice of the man whose 
 hand had covered his eyes was like that of 
 William Simpson, and his belief that it was 
 he who had attacked Bailey ; but as some one 
 else had taken Simpson's place, blindfolding
 
 HIDDEN MANNA. 193 
 
 him just as the latter had done, he could give 
 no certain intelligence. 
 
 When Bailey was well enough to be ques- . 
 tioned, he could furnish them with no more 
 reliable testimony. He remembered the main 
 facts of the occurrences of the evening, but 
 could give no definite account of the partici- 
 pants in them, confusing the scene at the 
 mill-pond with that at the tavern, in a man- 
 ner which rendered investigation utterly hope- 
 less. 
 
 But one point was gained that Frank had 
 not hoped for. The officers, annoyed and 
 somewhat chagrined to find that the origina- 
 tors of such a disturbance should escape with- 
 out detection, gave Austin their word that he 
 should be troubled with no farther interference 
 in his plans. And more than that, their word 
 was faithfully kept. 
 
 Dr. Dray ton, on hearing that a constable 
 would be stationed in the entry, just outside 
 the door of Frank's room, every Sabbath after- 
 13
 
 194 FRANK AUSTIN'S DIAMOND 
 
 noon, gave his consent to the continuance of 
 the meetings ; and the very circumstance of 
 the strong opposition he had encountered, the 
 news of which had of course spread all through 
 the village, brought such a company into that 
 little room as it had never held before. For 
 the first few Sabbaths it was crowded to over- 
 flowing, benches having to be placed in the 
 hall outside; and even after the excitement 
 died away, the attendance was larger than it 
 had ever been before. 
 
 One afternoon as Frank sat among the 
 audience, it being Laurence Bronson's turn to 
 conduct the services, he heard a little move- 
 ment at the door ; and looking up, saw Edward 
 Bailey coming in with his mother, who looked 
 as if her cup of happiness were filled to over- 
 flowing. After the meeting was dismissed, 
 seeing that Bailey seemed waiting for him, 
 Frank crossed the room to speak to him. As 
 he grasped his hand, congratulating him on 
 being with them once more, Edward said,
 
 HIDDEN MANNA. 195 
 
 with an awkward twisting of his shoulders, 
 but with the light of an honest purpose in his 
 eyes, 
 
 " I thought as how I'd like to come once 
 agen. I'm a goin' up to the lake with the old 
 woman to-morrow to help along there. She 
 wants me pretty bad, and and well, I 
 guess my hands'll be more like to keep whiter 
 if I'm out o' this here." 
 
 Little by little, as month after month passed 
 on, the meetings in Mrs. Tracy's room began 
 to tell on the tavern at the Corner. A consta- 
 ble, close at hand every Sabbath afternoon, 
 made a very considerable difference in the pro- 
 ceedings outside the walls of the house ; and 
 within, one after another began to be missed. 
 Simpson had disappeared, not having been 
 seen since the night of the attack upon Aus- 
 tin. Bailey was gone ; and Bailey's defection 
 had carried off two or three more of the habit- 
 ual loungers. 
 
 For three or four years the tavern still stood
 
 196 FRANK AUSTIN'S DIAMOND. 
 
 there, and Milward still sold his poison to all 
 who would buy, of whom there were only too 
 many left ; but after that autumn and winter 
 the Corner was a different place ; and five 
 years later, coming back to Graydon on a visit, 
 Frank Austin sat down one Sabbath morning 
 in a church built on the site of the little house 
 in which he had first lifted his voice in his 
 Master's service, and heard one of his old 
 school-mates preach a sermon from that Mas- 
 ter's own promise : 
 
 " Blessed are they which do hunger and 
 thirst after righteousness: for they shall be 
 filled." 
 
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 PZ6 Mathews - 
 Mlj2l|f Frank Austin's 
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