he secretly resolved to place her in a condition to devote
herself entirely to the care of the child.

As Mr Maurice glanced around the room, noting each article it
contained, and gaining from thence some item of knowledge concerning the
character of its owner, his eye fell upon a shelf on which lay a few
tracts, a Bible, and a hymn-book. 'I see,' said he, pointing to them,
'that whatever trial you may be called to pass through, you are provided
with a better comforter than any earthly friend.'

The poor woman shook her head, 'They were my husband's, sir.'

'Your husband was a pious man, then?'

'He used to read the Bible and have family worship. Sometimes I went
with him on Sunday to hear the minister, but I was always tired and
drowsy, and could not keep awake.'

'I suppose you don't go at all now?'

'No, sir'

'Nor read the Bible?'

'No, not very often--I don't get time.'

'You surely have time on the Sabbath-day?'

'Oh, sir, that is the only leisure day I have, and then I like to take
little James, and go with him to his father's grave, and when I get
back, there's tea to make, (I never have tea but on Sundays, sir,) and
somehow the time slips away till dark, when I go to bed. I can't afford
to light a candle on Sunday nights.'

'Do you never visit your neighbours on that day?'

'Oh no, sir, since my husband died, I have not cared for going out, and
a lone woman like me is but poor company for others, so they never come
to see me.'

'You tell me of visiting your husband's grave--when you stand over it,
do you ever think of the time you will meet him again?'

'Not often; he used to talk to me about it, but I never can think of
anything but _him_, just as he lived, and I remember a great many kind
things he used to say, and speak them over to the baby (little James--he
was named for his father, sir,) in his own words.' And the poor woman
bent over her work, and plied her needle faster than ever.

'It is natural,' said Mr Maurice, kindly, 'that you should remember your
husband as he was when living, but it is strange that you so seldom
think of seeing him again.'

'Oh, sir, that looks like a dream to me, I can't more than half believe
it, but I know the other to be reality.'

'Yet one is as true as the other.' The woman sighed, and her countenance
looked troubled, but she made no answer.

'You believe the Bible?'

'Ye-es, sir--my James believed it, and so it must be true.'

'Then you will allo