and in the midst, reaching from shoulder-blade to shoulder-blade, a bright
blue tree with a cross above, and beneath it, the figures of Adam and Eve.

As she drew back, Mr. Benny, on the far side of the office, raised his
eyes from a table over which he bent to dip a needle in a saucer of Indian
ink; and at the same moment the young man under the lamp, suddenly aware
of a visitor, faced about with a shy laugh. It was Tom Trevarthen.
Hester, with a short cry of dismay, backed into the darkness, shutting the
door as she retreated. When Mr. Benny returned to supper he forbore from
alluding to the incident until Hester--her trouble still unconfided--shook
hands with him for the night.

"I've heard," he said, "folks laugh at sailors for tattooing themselves.
But 'tis done in case they're drowned, that their bodies may be known;
and, if you look at that, 'tis a sacrament surely."

That night Hester awoke from a terrifying dream; and still, as she dreamed
again, she saw a lash descending on a child's naked back, leaving at each
stroke the mark of a cross interwoven with a strange and delicate pattern;
and at each stroke heard a girl's voice which screamed, "It is a
sacrament!"

CHAPTER XXI.

MR. BENNY GETS PROMOTION.

Early next morning, having bound Mr. Benny to secrecy, she told him the
whole story. At first his face merely expressed horror; but by and by his
forehead lost its puckers. When she had done, his first comment took her
fairly aback.

"Ay," said he, "I'd half guessed it a'ready. The poor creature's
afflicted. It don't stand in nature for a man to deal around cruelty as
he's been doing unless his brain is touched."

"Afflicted is he?" Hester answered indignantly. "I'm afraid I keep all my
pity for those he afflicts."

"Then you do wrong," replied Mr. Benny, with much gravity. "That man
wants help if ever a man did."

"He will get none from me, then," she said, and flushed, remembering the
proposal in her pocket. "I won't endure the sight of him, after
yesterday's work. I have written a letter resigning my teachership."

"That isn't like you, somehow." Mr. Benny stood musing.

"Of course," she went on hastily, "I don't give my real reasons.
The letter is addressed to you as Clerk, and you will have to read it to
the Board. I am ready to fill the post until another teacher can be
found."

"It seemed to me, some while ago, that Mr. Samuel had a fancy for you.
Maybe I'm wrong, my de