un stronger nor me set me at it.
Happen it coom out o' settin here wi' th' choild. An'--well, queer enow,
I coom reet on summat about childer,--that little un as he tuk and
set i' th' midst o' them, an' then that theer when he said 'Suffer th'
little childer to coom unto me.' Do yo' say aw that's true? I nivver
thowt on it afore,--but somehow I should na loike to think it wur na.
Nay, I should na!" Then, after a moment's pause--"I nivver troubled
mysen wi' readin' th' Bible afore," she went on, "I ha' na lived wi'
th' Bible soart; but now--well that theer has stirred me up. If he said
_that_--if he said it hissen--Ah! mester,"--and the words breaking from
her were an actual cry,--"Aye, mester, look at th' little un here! I
munnot go wrong--I munnot, if he said it hissen!"

He felt his heart beat quick, and his pulses throb. Here was the birth
of a soul; here in his hands perhaps lay the rescue of two immortal
beings. God help him! he cried inwardly. God help him to deal rightly
with this woman. He found words to utter, and uttered them with courage
and with faith. What words it matters not,--but he did not fail. Joan
listened wondering, and in a passion of fear and belief.

She clasped her arms about the child almost as if seeking help from it,
and wept.

"I munnot go wrong," she said over and over again. "How could I hold th'
little un back, if he said hissen as she mun coom? If it's true as he
said that, I'll believe aw th' rest an' listen to yo'. 'Forbid them
not--'. Nay, but I wunnot--I could na ha' th' heart."

CHAPTER XVI - "Owd Sammy" in Trouble

"Craddock is in serious trouble," said Mr. Barholm to his wife and
daughter.

"'Owd Sammy' in trouble," said Anice. "How is that, papa?"

The Reverend Harold looked at once concerned and annoyed. In truth he
had cause for irritation. The laurels he had intended to win through
Sammy Craddock were farther from being won to-day than they had ever
been. He was beginning to feel a dim, scarcely developed, but sore
conviction, that they were not laurels for his particular wearing.

"It is that bank failure at Illsbery," he answered. "You have heard of
it, I dare say. There has been a complete crash, and Craddock's small
savings being deposited there, he has lost everything he depended upon
to support him in his old age. It is a hard business."

"Have you been to see Craddock?" Mrs. Barholm asked.

"Oh! yes," was the answer, and the irritation became even more