‘Yes, I will send for her,’ said Janet.  ’But I would rather not go to my mother’s yet, because my husband is sure to think I am there, and he might come and fetch me.  I can’t go back to him ... at least, not yet.  Ought I to go back to him?’

’No, certainly not, at present.  Something should be done to secure you from violence.  Your mother, I think, should consult some confidential friend, some man of character and experience, who might mediate between you and your husband.’

’Yes, I will send for my mother directly.  But I will stay here, with Mrs. Pettifer, till something has been done.  I want no one to know where I am, except you.  You will come again, will you not? you will not leave me to myself?’

’You will not be left to yourself.  God is with you.  If I have been able to give you any comfort, it is because His power and love have been present with us.  But I am very thankful that He has chosen to work through me.  I shall see you again tomorrow—­not before evening, for it will be Sunday, you know; but after the evening lecture I shall be at liberty.  You will be in my prayers till then.  In the meantime, dear Mrs. Dempster, open your heart as much as you can to your mother and Mrs. Pettifer.  Cast away from you the pride that makes us shrink from acknowledging our weakness to our friends.  Ask them to help you in guarding yourself from the least approach of the sin you most dread.  Deprive yourself as far as possible of the very means and opportunity of committing it.  Every effort of that kind made in humility and dependence is a prayer.  Promise me you will do this.’

’Yes, I promise you.  I know I have always been too proud; I could never bear to speak to any one about myself.  I have been proud towards my mother, even; it has always made me angry when she has seemed to take notice of my faults.’

’Ah, dear Mrs. Dempster, you will never say again that life is blank, and that there is nothing to live for, will you?  See what work there is to be done in life, both in our own souls and for others.  Surely it matters little whether we have more or less of this world’s comfort in these short years, when God is training us for the eternal enjoyment of his love.  Keep that great end of life before you, and your troubles here will seem only the small hardships of a journey.  Now I must go.’

Mr. Tryan rose and held out his hand.  Janet took it and said, ’God has been very good to me in sending you to me.  I will trust in Him.  I will try to do everything you tell me.’

Blessed influence of one true loving human soul on another!  Not calculable by algebra, not deducible by logic, but mysterious, effectual, mighty as the hidden process by which the tiny seed is quickened, and bursts forth into tall stem and broad leaf, and glowing tasseled flower.  Ideas are often poor ghosts; our sun-filled eyes cannot discern them; they pass athwart us in thin vapour, and cannot make themselves