e cupboard, and
gave him of his store of good tobacco, enough to last him for months.
Something else, too, he must have given him, for the old man came away
from the cupboard grinning broadly, and ostentatiously wiping his
mouth with the back of his hand.

"Great work you've done, Parker, a great work."

"Yes, yes, Mas'," grinned the old man, "now ef Jim can des' stan' out
his p'obation, hit'll be montrous fine."

"His probation!" exclaimed the master.

"Oh yes suh, yes suh, we has all de young convu'ts stan' a p'obation
o' six months, fo' we teks 'em reg'lar inter de chu'ch. Now ef Jim
will des' stan' strong in de faif--"

"Parker," said Mordaunt, "you're an old wretch, and I've got a mind to
take every bit of that tobacco away from you. No. I'll tell you what
I'll do."

He went back to the cupboard and got as much again as he had given
Parker, and handed it to him saying,

"I think it will be better for all concerned if Jim's probation only
lasts two months. Get him into the fold, Parker, get him into the
fold!" And he shoved the ancient exhorter out of the door.

It grieved Jim that he could not go 'possum hunting on Sundays any
more, but shortly after he got religion, his rheumatism seemed to take
a turn for the better and he felt that the result was worth the
sacrifice. But as the pain decreased in his legs and arms, the longing
for his old wicked pleasures became stronger and stronger upon him
though Mandy thought that he was living out the period of his
probation in the most exemplary manner, and inwardly rejoiced.

It was two weeks before he was to be regularly admitted to church
fellowship. His industrious spouse had decked him out in a bleached
cotton shirt in which to attend divine service. In the morning Jim was
there. The sermon which Brother Parker preached was powerful, but
somehow it failed to reach this new convert. His gaze roved out of the
window toward the dark line of the woods beyond, where the frost still
glistened on the trees and where he knew the persimmons were hanging
ripe. Jim was present at the afternoon service also, for it was a
great day; and again, he was preoccupied. He started and clasped his
hands together until the bones cracked, when a dog barked somewhere
out on the hill. The sun was going down over the tops of the woodland
trees, throwing the forest into gloom, as they came out of the log
meeting-house. Jim paused and looked lovingly at the scene, and sighed
as he tur