he did
procure more. Whether it was the same day or the next, I am not quite
sure, but he went to his sister's at last, sadly under the influence of
liquor. His weak state, the uncomfortable condition of his affairs,
acting with the liquor upon his brain, caused him for a day or two to
behave in a very inconsistent and unnatural manner. He seemed even to
vary from his habitual truthfulness. Much disgusted, his sister rebuked
him sharply, declared that she would tell me, and of course, the
inference was that I should tell Mrs. Knowles. But that good woman knew
about it as soon as I did. She was grieved and disappointed at what had
occurred, but her uniform kindness did not fail. It was evident he was
no longer able to make any exertion for himself, and she procured him
admission into St. Luke's Hospital.

He went, in the midst of these trying circumstances, not coming to bid
me good-by, and knowing that his sister was seriously displeased. Poor
William! disgraced, unhappy, and sick, he went to that bed which was
about to become to him as the gate of heaven. I went to see him as soon
as possible. I went, intending to talk over with him what had passed,
but found him so humble and so suffering that I had no heart to make
any allusion to it. We neither of us spoke directly upon the subject.
In fact, I said very little upon any subject, for as he lay there with
the tears upon his thin face, expressing brokenly his pain and his
penitence, I felt that God was teaching him, and taking hold of the
very lesson to show him his true character. He was now coming upon a
new ground never understood before.

_The Blessed Change._--Mrs. Knowles saw William before I went to him a
second time. She, too, forbore alluding to the unpleasant circumstances,
but she talked to him of our human sinfulness before God, and our need
of a Saviour. Some of his most interesting conversations have since been
with her. The second time I visited William his bodily strength had
greatly failed, but his face was beautiful with a new light I had never
seen there before.

"I feel very differently now," he said, "God has forgiven all my sins."

He then went on to express his sense of his own unworthiness; not that
he had led a vicious life, but he felt he was a great sinner before
God. In the course of conversation I told him his sister had inquired
kindly about him; his eyes filled with tears, and he said:

"Tell her I have been converted; I am very happy