bout blessings on
their humble efforts, and the widow's mite."

"Simply meaning that they want their amusement a little--"

"Buttered over," said Mr. Fuller, supplying the word. "Though you
are hard on them, Charnock--I don't know about the fine ladies; but
there are quiet folk who will work their fingers to the bone, and
can do nothing else."

"That's true," said Julius; "and one would gladly find a safe outlet
for their diligence."

"You do not trust to it for bringing the blessing," said Mr. Fuller
in a tone that Julius liked even less than the mere hopeless faint-
heartedness, for in it there was sarcasm on faith in aught but
pounds s. d.

The two brothers held another discussion on this matter later that
night, on the stairs, as they were on their way to their rooms.

"Won't you come to this meeting to-morrow, Julius?" asked Raymond.

"I don't see that I should be of any use, unless--"

"Unless what?"

"Unless you would make what seems to me the right proposal, and I
could be any support in it."

"What's that?"

"To use the insurance to put up the mere shells and plain
indispensable fittings of the church and town-hall, then make the
drainage of Water Lane and Hall Street the first object for the
rates, while the church is done by subscription and voluntary
effort."

"You put the drainage first--even before the church?" said Raymond,
smiling, with an elder brother's satisfaction in such an amount of
common sense.

"Of course I do," said Julius. "An altar and four walls and chairs
are all that ought to be sought for. Little good can be done to
people's souls while their bodies are in the feverish discomfort of
foul air and water. This is an opportunity not to be wasted, while
all the houses are down, town-hall and all."

"The very thing I told Briggs and the others this morning," said
Raymond; "but I could not get a hearing; they said there never had
been any illness worth mentioning, and in fact scouted the whole
matter, as people always do."

"Yes, they take it as a personal insult when you mention the
odorous--or odious, savours sweet," said Julius. "I heard a good
deal of that when we had the spell of cholera at St. Awdry's."

"I shall work on at it, and I trust to get it done in time," said
Raymond; "but it will not be at once. The subject is too new to
them, and the irritation it produces must subside before they will
hear reason. Besides, the first thing is to employ and feed the