There was a famous preacher. He lived the simple life in a small house in Battersea, and consecrated all his energies to the service of the poor. Almost, by his unselfish zeal, he had persuaded Joan of the usefulness of the church. Mr. Airlie frequently visited him. They interested one another. What struck Mr. Airlie most was the self-sacrificing devotion with which the reverend gentleman’s wife and family surrounded him. It was beautiful to see. The calls upon his moderate purse, necessitated by his wide-spread and much paragraphed activities, left but a narrow margin for domestic expenses: with the result that often the only fire in the house blazed brightly in the study where Mr. Airlie and the reverend gentleman sat talking: while mother and children warmed themselves with sense of duty in the cheerless kitchen. And often, as Mr. Airlie, who was of an inquiring turn of mind, had convinced himself, the only evening meal that resources would permit was the satisfying supper for one brought by the youngest daughter to her father where he sat alone in the small dining-room. He had been staring through her rather than at her, so it had seemed to Joan. Suddenly their eyes met, and he broke into a smile.!

“Do you think you will go on doing it?” he asked, with a laugh. The woman made no attempt to deny. Something told her that Joan had learned her secret. She glanced towards the door. Joan had closed it.

“She’s the most beautiful body in all the world,” he said. “Though merely seeing her you mightn’t know it.” “You can face it,” she said: “the possibility of all your life’s work being wasted?” Joan laughed without raising her face. “Yes, ma’am, I know that,” she answered. “I’ll be good.”