hymns that he and little Nan had been learning during the summer in the Red Gravel Pit; and he smiled as he fancied that little Nan was perhaps singing them over as well by the cabin fire.  He did not know, poor boy, that at that moment Tim was creeping through the winding, blocked-up passages, so long untrodden, to the bottom of the old shaft; and that when he returned he would be bearing in his arms a sad, sad burden, upon which his tears would fall unavailingly.

Stephen’s comrades were all of a sudden very quiet, and their pickaxes no longer gave dull muffled thumps upon the seam of coal; but he was too busy to notice how idle and still they were.  It was only when Cole spoke to him, in a tone of extraordinary mildness, that the boy paused in his rough and toilsome employment.

‘My lad,’ said Cole, ’Miss Anne’s come down the pit, and she’s asking for thee.’

‘She promised she’d come some day,’ cried Stephen, with a thrill of pleasure and a quicker throbbing of his heart, as he darted along the narrow paths to the loftier and more open space near the bottom of the shaft, where Miss Anne was waiting for him.  The covered lamps gave too little light for him to see how pale and sorrow-stricken she looked; but the solemn tenderness of her voice sank deeply into his heart.

‘Stephen, my dear boy,’ she said, ’are you sure that I care for you, and would not let any trouble come upon you if I could help it?’

‘Yes, surely, Miss Anne,’ answered the boy wonderingly.

‘Your Father which is in heaven cares much more for you,’ she continued; ’but “whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom He receiveth.”  God is dealing with you as His son, Stephen.  Can you bear the sorrow which is sent by Him?’

‘If the Lord Jesus will help me,’ he murmured.

‘He will help you, my poor boy,’ said Miss Anne ’Oh, Stephen, Stephen, how can I tell you?  Our little Nan, our precious little child, has fallen down the old shaft.’

Stephen reeled giddily, and would have sunk to the ground, but Cole held him up in his strong arms, while his comrades gathered about him with tears and sobs, which prevented them uttering any words of consolation.  But he could not have listened to them.  He fancied he heard the pattering of Nan’s little feet, and saw her laughing face.  But no! he heard instead the dull and lingering footsteps of Tim, and saw a little lifeless form folded from sight in Tim’s jacket.

’The little lass ‘ud die very easy,’ whispered Cole, passing his arm tighter round Stephen; ’and she’s up in heaven among the angels by this time, I reckon.’

Stephen drew himself away from Cole’s arm, and staggered forward a step or two to meet Tim; when he took the sad burden from him, and sat down without a word, pressing it closely to his breast.  His perfect silence touched all about him.  Miss Anne hid her face in her hands, and some of the men groaned aloud.