obedient love, learned by the
meanest Abigail, will make of her an angel of ministration, such a one
as he who came to Peter in the prison, at whose touch the fetters fell
from the limbs of the apostle.

"What forced, overdriven, Utopian stuff! A kingdom always coming, and
never come! I hold by what _is._ This solid, plowable earth will serve
my turn. My business is what I can find in the oyster."

I hear you, friend. Your answer will come whence you do not look for
it. For some, their only answer will be the coming of that which they
deny; and the _Presence_ will be a very different thing to those who
desire it and those who do not. In the mean time, if we are not yet
able to serve like God from pure love, let us do it because it is his
way; so shall we come to do it from pure love also.

The very next morning, as she called it--that is, at four o'clock in
the afternoon--Hesper again entered the shop, and, to the surprise and
annoyance of the master of it, was taken by Mary through the counter
and into the house. "What a false impression," thought the great man,
"will it give of the way _we_ live, to see the Marstons' shabby parlor
in a warehouse!" But he would have been more astonished and more
annoyed still, had the deafening masses of soft goods that filled the
house permitted him to hear through them what passed between the two.
Before they came down, Mary had accepted a position in Mrs. Redmain's
house, if that may be called a position which was so undefined; and
Hesper had promised that she would not mention the matter. For Mary
judged Mr. Turnbull would be too glad to get rid of her to mind how
brief the notice she gave him, and she would rather not undergo the
remarks that were sure to be made in contempt of her scheme. She
counted it only fair, however, to let him know that she intended giving
up her place behind the counter, hinting that, as she meant to leave
when it suited her without further warning, it would be well to look
out at once for one to take her place.

As to her money in the business, she scarcely thought of it, and said
nothing about it, believing it as safe as in the bank. It was in the
power of a dishonest man who prided himself on his honesty--the worst
kind of rogue in the creation; but she had not yet learned to think of
him as a dishonest man--only as a greedy one--and the money had been
there ever since she had heard of money. Mr. Turnbull was so astonished
by her communication tha