ak spine, and ever-working brain, and a
quiet heart, he had shown himself not merely a good sort of man, for
such he had always been, but a religious man; not by saying much, for he
was modest even to shyness with grown people, but by the solemnity of
his look when a great word was spoken, by his unblamable behaviour, and
by the readiness with which he would lend or give of his small earnings
to his poor neighbours. The only thing of which anybody could complain
was his temper; but it showed itself only occasionally, and almost
everybody made excuse for it on the ground of his bodily ailments. He
gave it no quarter himself, however. He said once to the clergyman,
to whom he had been lamenting the trouble he had with it, and who had
sought to comfort him by saying that it was caused by the weakness of
his health--

"No, sir--excuse me; nobody knows how much I am indebted to my crooked
back. If it weren't for that I might have a bad temper and never know
it. But that drives it out of its hole, and when I see the ugly head of
it I know it's there, and try once more to starve it to death. But oh
dear! it's such a creature to burrow! When I think I've built it in all
round, out comes its head again at a place where I never looked to see
it, and it's all to do over again!"

You will understand by this already that the shoemaker thought after his
own fashion, which is the way everybody who can think does think. What
he thought about his trade and some other things we shall see by and by.

When Willie entered his room, he greeted him with a very friendly nod;
for not only was he fond of children, but he had a special favour for
Willie, chiefly because he considered himself greatly indebted to him
for something he had said to Mrs Wilson, and which had given him a good
deal to think about. For Mrs Wilson often had a chat with Hector, and
then she would not unfrequently talk about Willie, of whose friendship
she was proud. She had told him of the strange question he had put to
her as to whether God worked, and the shoemaker, thinking over it, had
come to the same conclusion as Willie's father, and it had been a great
comfort and help to him.

"What can I do for you to-day, Willie?" he said; for in that part of the
country they do not say _Master_ and _Miss_. "You look," he added, "if
you wanted something."

"I want you to teach me, please," answered Willie.

"To teach you what?" asked Hector.

"To make shoes, please," answ