lf fearful, her heart in her throat, but bravely,
Julia Cloud knelt with a child on either side, hiding wondering,
embarrassed, but loyal faces.

There was a tense silence while Julia Cloud struggled for words to
break through her unwilling lips, and then quite softly she breathed:

"O dear Christ, come and dwell in this home, and bless it. Help us to
live to please Thee. Help me to be a wise guide to these dear
children----"

She paused, her voice suddenly giving way with a nervous choke in her
throat, and two young hands instantly squeezed her hands in sympathy.

Then a gruff young voice burst out on one side,

"Help me to be good, and not hurt her or make it hard for her."

And Leslie gasped out, "And me, too, dear God!"

Then a moment more, and they all rose, tears on their faces. In the
dying firelight they kissed Julia Cloud fervently, and said
good-night.

CHAPTER XV

Leslie and Allison did not go to the Christian Endeavor meeting that
second Sunday. They were tired out, and wanted to stay at home all the
evening, and Julia Cloud felt that it would be unwise to urge them; so
they sat around the fire and talked. Leslie sat down at the new piano,
and played softly old hymns that Julia Cloud hummed; and they all went
to bed early, having had a happy Sabbath in their new home.

But Monday evening quite early, just after they had come back from
supper and were talking about reading a story aloud, there came a
knock at the door. Their first caller! And behold, there stood the
inefficient-looking young man who had led the Christian Endeavor
meeting, the boy with the goggles who had prayed, and the two girls
who had sat by the piano.

"We're a committee," announced the young man, quite embarrassed. "My
name's Herricote, Joe Herricote. I'm president of our Christian
Endeavor Society, and this is Roy Bryan; he's the secretary. This is
Mame Beecher. I guess you remember her singing. She's chairman of our
social committee, and Lila Cary's our pianist and chairman of the
music committee. We've come to see if you won't help us."

"Come in," said Allison cordially, but with a growing disappointment.
Now, here were these dull people coming to interrupt their pleasant
evening, and there wouldn't be many of them, for college would soon
begin, and they would be too busy then to read stories and just enjoy
themselves.

Leslie, too, frowned, but came forward politely to be introduced. She
knew at a glance tha