ll in the name of the Lord Jesus." Could she, as
his little servant, help the other children in giving such a gift? And
she was pledged, as a member of the Commission no less than as a
servant of Christ, to do all she could for the cause of temperance.
Would it not be _something_ for the cause of temperance, if she
declared off from having anything to do with the liqueur stand? She had
felt she must try somehow to speak to David and Norton about their own
drinking wine; this was a good chance, and if she let this chance go--I
can never do it another time, she thought to herself. But oh, the
difficulty and the pain of it! They thought her a baby, and a little
country girl, who knew nothing; they would laugh at her so, and perhaps
be angry too. How could she do it! And once or twice Matilda put her
head down on her book in the struggle, wishing with all her heart it
were not so hard to be a Christian.

But all her thoughts and her prayers only made her more and more sure
which way lay the course of duty; and along with that grew a heavy
looking forward to the next day and the trial it would bring. How to
manage the matter best was a question. To speak privately to Norton
alone would be far the easiest; but then, that might not secure the
effect of her protest against wine and cordials and all such things, as
she wished to make it; Norton would perhaps cover it up, for the sake
of shielding her and himself from the reproaches of the others; and so
the work would not be done. She could not decide. She was obliged to go
to bed and leave it to circumstances to open the way for her. She half
made up her mind that the "opportunities" of her new position were as
likely to be opportunities for self denial as for anything else. This
was not what she had expected.

Saturday morning rose still and fair. The wind had gone down; the
severe cold had abated; the weather was beautifully prosperous for the
children's expedition. Now if Matilda could get a chance to speak
before they set out--It would be awkward to have to speak in the store,
maybe before a shopman, and when they were all on the very point of
finishing what they came to do. Matilda was ready to wish the day had
been stormy; and yet she wanted to go to Tiffany's, where Norton had
said he would take her; and to Candello's too, for the matter of that

There was another question Matilda had to settle with herself, only she
could not attend to so many things at once. Her twen