little Marian
constituted another circumstance of strange import. Like his own child,
Miss Owen had been an outcast. Kind friends had given her a home. Might it
not be that similar happiness had fallen to the lot of his little Marian?
If he could think so, he would almost be reconciled to the prospect of
never seeing her again. And every day he felt that his young secretary was
making for herself a larger place in his heart.

CHAPTER XXX.

A NOVEL DIFFICULTY FOR A MAN OF WEALTH.

The trouble with most people, rich and otherwise, is to know how to keep
their money; how to get rid of it was the difficulty with which "the
Golden Shoemaker" was beset. "Cobbler" Horn's unalterable purpose was to
retain no more than a comparatively small portion of his wealth for his
own use. Since he had entered upon his fortune, he had already given away
a great deal of money; but it seemed to him a very trifling amount in
proportion to the vast sum he possessed. He was, moreover, aware that he
was getting richer every day. Since the property had come into his hands,
the investments it comprised were yielding better than ever before; and he
could not endure that such vast sums of money should be accumulating upon
him, while there was so much misery and want in the world. He believed
that his immense wealth had been given him, in trust, by God; and that it
was not absolutely his own. The purpose of God, in bestowing it upon him,
was that he should use it for the benefit of all who had any need which
might be supplied by its means; and, by so much, it belonged, not to
"Cobbler" Horn himself, but, under God, to those who possessed any such
claim to its use. He was convinced that no preacher had ever been more
definitely or solemnly called to the ministration of the "Word" than was
he, "the Golden Shoemaker," to the ministry of wealth. And it was a
ministry after his own heart. Full of Christ-like love and pity for the
needy, the sad, and the sinful, he revelled in the gracious opportunities
which now crowded his life. He had few greater pleasures, in these days,
than that afforded him by the signing of cheques. To negotiate a
contribution from him for some worthy object was a means of grace;--so
hearty and joyous was his response to the appeal, and so thankful did he
seem for the opportunity it had brought.

Never, perhaps, were the functions of a Christian man of wealth more
clearly compr