rofile of his aunt's sweet face as she
read in a gentle, even tone, paragraph after paragraph without a
flicker of disturbance on her brow. Allison was not more than half
listening to the story. He was thinking hard. Those things Julia Cloud
had said about obligations and Moses and Abraham and Paul stuck hard
in his mind, and he couldn't get away from them.

CHAPTER XVI

Julia Cloud said nothing more to her boy about that Christian Endeavor
Society, but she said much to her Lord, praying continually that he
might be led to see his duty and want to do it, and that through it he
might be led to know Christ.

In the meantime she went sunnily about setting the new home to rights
and getting the right maid to fit into their household regime. Julia
Cloud had never had a maid in her life, but she had always had ideas
about one, and she put as much thought and almost as much care into
preparing the little chamber the maid was to occupy as she had put
upon the other rooms. To begin with, the room itself was admirably
adapted to making the right maid feel at home and comfortable. It had
three windows looking into gardens on the next block, and a blaze of
salvia and cosmos and geraniums would greet her eyes the first time
she looked out from her new room. Then it had a speck of a bathroom
all its own, which Julia Cloud felt would go a long way toward making
any maid the right maid, for there would be no excuse for her not
being clean and no excuse for her keeping her tooth-brush down on the
edge of the kitchen sink or taking a bath in the laundry tubs, as she
had heard that some of her neighbors' maids had done at various
times.

The windows were shrouded with white curtains of the same kind as
those all over the house, and within were draperies with bright flower
borders. The bureau was daintily fitted out, and the bed was spotless
and inviting-looking. A cushioned rocking-chair stood beside a small
table, with a dainty work-basket on the shelf below; and against the
wall were some shelves with a few interesting books and magazines. A
droplight with a pretty shade gave a home-like air, and the room was
as attractive as any other in the house. Any maid might think her
lines had fallen in pleasant places who was fortunate enough to occupy
that room. As a last touch Julia Cloud laid a neat coarse-print
Testament on the table, and then knelt beside the rocking-chair and
asked God to make the unknown comer a blessing to t