 Chapter 22 Some people are hard to warn. Had Dr. Everett desired in a few words to show Gracie the gulf between herself and the man who had been the girl's companion for the afternoon, perhaps he could not have formed his sentence better. She shivered visibly, and the doctor drew the carriage-wraps more carefully about her while he continued. I would not want to give you a wrong estimate of Hester Mason, nor lead you to imagine, for a moment, that I believe a girl who serves behind a counter cannot be a true lady. I wanted, rather, to explain to you that her opportunities had been limited. She means to be a good girl, I think. In fact, I may say I have the utmost confidence in her intentions. She is not a Christian, but a few weeks ago I had her name on my notebook as one who was almost persuaded. She has been fighting the question of personal religion for some time, her special stumbling black being that she is quick-witted and has quite a clear idea of how Christians ought to live, and can find very few who seem to her to be living what they profess. However, as I say, I have been very hopeful of her until within a few weeks when she came in contact with this man, and I tremble for the result. He is constant in his attentions, and she is evidently flattered and dazed. How long has he known her? How did he become acquainted? Abrupt questions still asked in that curiously repressed voice. The doctor's face was growing very grave and stern. He feared that there was a real wound here. Convertently, Miss Dennis, it seems that both you and I are to blame, or at least are involved in the acquaintance. Do you remember a little incident which occurred in a streetcar some six weeks ago? A young woman in leaving the car dropped a package, which you noticing called our attention to, and pointed out the person crossing the street, and Professor Ellis announced his willingness to overtake her and return the package as he was about to leave the car. Miss Mason was the person in question, and Professor Ellis presumed on that very slight introduction to cultivate an acquaintance. I have learned that he quoted my name in connection with the incident, and since that day has been on terms of exceeding intimacy with Hester. Gracie was surprised out of her reserve. I remember the incident perfectly, but the girl I saw this afternoon cannot be the one who was on the car. Yes, she was in holiday attire today, and in her working garb when you saw her momentarily on the car. I remember a feeling of regret that Professor Ellis should have so promptly volunteered to do your errand. Yet I did not know what I dreaded. I simply shrank from the man and wanted others to do so. Dr. Everett, what is his motive in showing her attention? I wish I knew. I can tell you what I greatly fear, that it is to play with the human heart to see to what extent he can gain power over it. And in this case certainly it is a most cruel thing. The girl has no friends, no father or mother to advise with or help her. She is bright and pretty, and is being shown glimpses of a world that seems to her like fairyland. She is dazzled, and one cannot blame her, for she has neither carefully formed judgment nor trustworthy friends to lean upon. Miss Dennis, you can judge from her manner this afternoon what is her knowledge of the customs of polite society. I do not think she has an idea that she was conspicuous, saved for her beauty, and the fine appearance of her attendant. She is not one to shrink from what we would consider legitimate public admiration, and this you can see but adds to her danger. But Dr. Everett, you do not think you cannot mean that he intends to pay her special attention, that he means anything beyond the desire to give her a little pleasure? Well, said the doctor, speaking slowly but with firmness, you may judge Miss Dennis what I think, what any honorable person thinks, of a man who bestows in public the sort of attentions which we saw this afternoon. You would have been insulted by them. The only reason that this poor girl was not is because she does not know any better. Did you observe the flashing of a peculiarly set ring on her finger? I have reason to fear that it belongs to him and that she believes herself specially honored in being asked to wear it. Poor Gracie's cheeks were flaming now. She had not observed the ring, but she knew it well, and for one brief evening had worn it herself and then had returned it to the owner with the assurance that she could not bring herself to wear it without her father's consent. She remembered what a wound she had felt herself bestowing when he had looked at her with those expressive, reproachful eyes and replied that if she felt toward him as he did to her, she would not allow even a father to come between them, and he had actually given that ring into the keeping of this girl. They wrote on in silence the doctor giving a hint to the horses that they might go as fast as they chose. He was in great doubt and pain of heart. Could it be possible that this carefully shielded young girl was caught in the toils of a man whom he believed to be an unprincipled villain? If so, had he been unnecessarily cruel in his revelations, ought he to take her home or drive further and give her time to recover herself? Could he have understood what was passing in her mind he would have known better what next to say? The simple truth was this. Before she came to Mrs. Roberts the child had believed herself to be a martyr to the unreasonable prejudices of her stepmother. She had been led to feel that her father had turned against her solely because of his wife's influence over him, and that the wife was peaked because Professor Ellis had not paid her sufficient attention in the days of her maidenhood. This the professor had succeeded in teaching Gracie to feel was the sole charge against him. He was therefore an ill-used man, and therefore her heart went out towards him in sympathy. It had not been at first a stronger feeling than this, but flattered by his attentions so much more marked and polished than had ever been offered to the young girl before. She had taught herself to believe that, but for her father's bitterness, she could beat to Professor Ellis what he delicately and vaguely assured her no one else could, and fill a place that hitherto in his lonely life had been left void. She had not engaged herself to him, indeed he had never in actual words asked her to do so, but to the young and innocent and well-trained there is a language which speaks as clearly as words, and is held as sacred. Gracie had allowed herself to be looked upon as one who was held by others from being more to Professor Ellis than she was, who might always perhaps be held back, for she had resolved in her own sad heart that she would never marry against her father's consent, know not if she were twice of age. Of late strange reflections had come to her. She had measured Professor Ellis with other men, Christian men, and he had appeared at a disadvantage. Also she had measured herself by the sight of other Christian workers, and herself had appeared at a disadvantage. A vague unrest and dissatisfaction with her Christian experience were growing on her. Moreover, she was growing interested in those boys, as she had not believed that it would be possible for her to be interested when she first saw them. She began to believe that some of them, at least, would be saved. She wanted to help save them and to help others. Her martyrdom dwindled rapidly into insignificance until there would pass entire days in which she did not once remember that she was an unhappy girl. At last, but a week or two before this afternoon, she had taken her affairs in hand and tried to look steadily at them. The result of her hours of thought and prayer was that she was bound to Professor Ellis, that is, provided there should come a time in the dim and distant future when her father should give his consent, it would be her duty and her pleasure because of what had passed between them to marry him. Still she began to feel less amazed at her father's opinion of him, less angry about it. She began to say to herself, softly and pitifully, Poor, lonely man, he has no one to be his friend. He is not a Christian, and that is what makes so great a difference between him and others. It is that which Papa misses, but I must not desert him. I must pray for him all the time and work for his conversion. Then he will grow to be the sort of man whom Papa can like, and everything will be all right. And while she said it, she was dimly conscious of a feeling of satisfaction over the thought that she was very young, and that it would be a long, long time yet before anything could be settled, and that, meantime, it certainly was not right for her to have anything to do with Professor Alice, only to pray for him, and that perhaps her father would allow her to carry out a project that was under delightful discussion in the Robert's family, namely, to remain in the city as a pupil in the famous Green Lawn School. And she did not know foolish little thing that so far, even as her heart was concerned, everything was wrong. Perhaps it would be difficult for me to explain to you, that is, if you do not understand without explanation, what a turmoil she was thrown into by this afternoon's experience. She was far from realizing, as yet, that the uppermost feeling even now was not wounded love, but wounded pride, of what poor stuff she had been making a hero. Nothing had ever opened her eyes like this before. Was it possible that she had spent entire evenings with a man who stooped to set in unpleasant, suspicious light, not his own character only, but that of an ignorant young girl? It would not do to plead a lack of knowledge and excuse for him. He might be ignorant of the ways of the Christian world, but no one understood better the rules which govern society. During part of the afternoon she had been very angry with the girl, but after listening to Dr. Everett, it began to dawn upon her that her friend had been playing with the ignorance of a girl who probably trusted him fully. You are to understand that Gracie Dennis was the sort of girl who would be made very angry by such a suspicion. The glow on her cheeks was not all caused by the fresh air of the spring day. Dr. Everett, she said at last, breaking the silence. What do you think he means by asking the girl to wear that ring or by letting her wear it? Does he, do you suppose that he has engaged himself to her? I wish I knew what he meant, Dr. Everett said again, a surge of indignation rushing over him. If he really meant anything so honorable as that, it would be bad enough business for poor Hester. But as I said, I distrust the man utterly, and from my experience with the world I have reason. From your knowledge of him, Miss Dennis, could you suppose him to be honest and earnest in his attentions to that girl? It was a very plain question. It meant more to Dr. Everett than even Gracie saw, but she saw enough to know that she was admitting an intimacy that made her blush. However, she answered steadily, No, I cannot think that he is honest or honorable. So I fear, witness this afternoon, gentlemen do not parade their friendships before the public gaze, and that man knows it. The doctor's voice was very stern. He was sure now that there was a wound and that it was being probed. He believed in making thorough work even with wounds. There would be more hope of a genuine healing afterward. Gracie's next question, if her companion had but known it, was a singular one. Why have not people who are her friends warned her against him and held her back from making such a false step if she does it in ignorance? Oh, Gracie Dennis, how are warnings sometimes received even by carefully trained girls who have every reason to trust the love that would shield them? Some people are very hard to warn, said the doctor. I have tried it, and I have a friend who has tried to help her. But the poor girl, you must remember, has not been brought up in a Christian atmosphere, has never had a Christian friend who came with the authority of relationship. If she had a good father, the way would be made so plain. As it is, can't you see how naturally she distrusts the rest of us in favor of the man who makes special professions of friendship? I am not surprised at Hester, I am only sorry for her. Had the doctor been carefully informed as to all the circumstances connected with Gracie's intimacy with the professor, he could not have chosen words which would have touched her conscience more. Had not her good father tenderly and patiently warned her, and had she not chosen to blind her eyes to all his words and believe rather in Professor Ellis than in him? End of chapter 22, recording by Tricia G. Chapter 23 of Esther Read Yet Speaking. This LibriBox recording is in the public domain. Esther Read Yet Speaking by Pansy, chapter 23, part of the great well-to-do world. I must call at this house, the doctor said, suddenly drying rain before a quiet little house at the foot of a wide lawn. The gatekeeper of this American castle has a sick child whom I have promised to see. Can you hold the horses, Miss Dennis, or shall I tie them? This is a quiet spot, and they are gentle. I am not afraid of anything, Gracie said, eyes aglow as well as cheeks. And the doctor went into the house, wondering whether Professor Ellis, if he could see her now, would not be afraid of her. Once inside he gave a start of surprise, almost of dismay, for the face which appeared at the open door of the sick room belonged to Joy Saunders. You here, he said, trying to control the disturbed element in his voice. She answered quietly, I came out by streetcar, did you drive? Yes, he said abruptly, but I am not alone. How is the child? And he went forward at once to his professional duties, leaving her to wonder over his manner. It was peculiar, certainly. Joy Saunders was used to abruptness from this man, but there was a quality in it today that she did not recognize. She went and looked out of the window and saw Gracie Dennis holding the horses, saw her red, red cheeks and flashing eyes, and the peculiar, haughty poise of her head, with which the stepmother at home was well acquainted. She did not know this Gracie Dennis saved by reputation. Once Dr. Everett had asked her to call it Mrs. Roberts and had made her feel as though she were foolishly conventional in declining to do so. How is she ever to know you according to the rules which trample society? There ought to be some way arranged for Christians to be free from tramples. This had been his comment, but he had not asked her again, and she had never met Mrs. Roberts, nor yet Gracie Dennis. Yet she knew her very well and had watched her often as she passed. She knew instantly who she was now as she sat there in her haughty beauty, checking with determined hand the impatience of those horses. Oh, she knew more than this. It was very apparent now why Dr. Everett was peculiarly abrupt and, well, yes, embarrassed. She had almost thought that was the name of the feeling, only it had seemed so absurd. And then Joy Saunders held her meek little head high and told herself that he need not fear her presence. She could go as she had come in the streetcar. The doctor came towards her now speaking rapidly as usual. Joy, the child is very sick. There ought to be an experienced person here tonight. Not you. I am sorry you came up. Do you think your mother would come? Will you ride down with me? I have Miss Dennis in the carriage, but it is quite large enough for three, you know. Then Joy had turned away her head, holding it high and said, no, thank you, I am going down in the streetcar. And that blundering doctor drew on his gloves, saying to himself, I don't know, but that is best, and went out only waiting to say to Joy, will you ask your mother about it? I will see her as soon as I can get around. I wish she would go directly home from here, will you? Then he lifted his hat to her and spring into his carriage and rode away with Gracie Dennis. And Joy Saunders waited for the next yellow car and climbed into it and told herself all the way downtown that she wished she had stayed at the little house and watched all night by the sick child. The thoughts that Dr. Everett had given to the entire matter were few. They ran somewhat after this fashion. Joy here and I am afraid of the fever from all I've heard. I shall take her home as soon as possible. How will that poor little girl in the carriage manage with a new acquaintance just now, I wonder? I am afraid it will be quite a strain. Still, I can do the talking and let her be quiet. The main point is that I hoped she might have a suggestion to make about Hester. If she could rouse herself to try to save that girl, it would be the best thing she could do. If she only knew it, Joy is the one who could help her in that direction or any other. As they dashed down the avenue, he was still occupied in wishing that he had urged Joy to ride and thus forced an acquaintance between her and the pretty girl at his side. He was not very patient with what he called the trammels of society. When there were two people so fitted to enjoy and help one another, as were Joy Saunders and Gracie Dennis, he held it to be a waste in Christian economy that they should not know each other. Too much occupied with his thoughts and his driving to give heed to passers by, he lost the careful bow that young Reed had for him as they drew near the city's whirl again. Gracie did not, she returned it with a slightly heightened color in her cheeks and wondered if that young man knew Professor Ellis and what he thought of him and what he thought of her for being acquainted with him. Sometimes it seems to me a real pity that on occasion there could not be some way of looking into one another's thoughts. So many misunderstandings might thus be saved. For instance, there was Reed who went on his way with a clouded brow. Where had Dr. Everett been and why was Gracie Dennis with him? Was it probable that he had been riding for pleasure? The bare suggestion astonished the young man. He found that he had never before given room to the thought that Dr. Everett took time for pleasure. Allowing this to be the case, why had he not taken joy Saunders with him? Such a proceeding would have seemed altogether natural, though the honest-hearted young fellow admitted to himself that had he been taking a ride for pleasure, the companion of his choice would not have been joy Saunders. It was certainly a bewildering world. So trying did young Reed find his thoughts on that evening that he actually set himself deliberately to learn whether the ride was the result of chance or design. The consequence was that he learned not only of the ride, but of the afternoon entertainment at Salser Hall with glass goblets for instruments. This increased his astonishment and did not lessen the gloom on his face. But the two in the carriage, unconscious of the gloomy young man or of the sad-hearted young girl riding in a streetcar, were almost silent during the homeward ride until just as they turned into the avenue that led to Mr. Robert's door, then Gracie said, "'Dr. Everett, I should like to know that girl. There are some things that I ought to say to her and if I had a chance I would try to say them in a way to help her.' "'I will manage it,' said Dr. Everett, speaking in a quick relieved tone. He felt encouraged for Hester now and greatly relieved about Gracie. She might be wounded, but she was made of the material of which he had hoped. She was not going to die herself, nor fold her hands and see others ruined merely because she had been deceived. He bade her a cheery good afternoon and drove away, feeling that, although he had been obliged to give up Seawall Alley, good work had been accomplished. He believed now that he understood the situation. He was right about one thing. Gracie Dennis had not the slightest idea of dying. Her mood was better expressed half an hour later when she stood at the parlor window and returned a low-lingering bow from Professor Ellis with a haughty stare from flashing eyes looking out from an erect and motionless head. Dirk Coulson's brain was in a whirl. He had an important question to settle. In his pocket were two blue tickets, promising to admit him to the largest and finest hall in the city to hear the great temperance orator. Dirk knew very little about orators, but he had heard of John B. Gow and everything he had heard made him wish to have a glimpse of him. You will remember that Dirk was an imitator. He had heard that Mr. Gow was also, and deep down in his heart, the boy had an ambition to hear the man. Now was his unexpected opportunity. Of course, he was going, but the perplexing thing was, what to do with that other ticket? There was Mart? Oh yes, to be sure he had not forgotten her. But what a strange thing it would be to take her to a lecture. He had never taken her anywhere in his life. She had nothing to wear, though he remembered at that moment that the mother had by Ernest Effort succeeded in getting her shawl out of pawn. There was one incentive for taking her. It would please Mrs. Roberts. Dirk studied the thing for some time to try to discover why she should care and had finally given up the problem that was too great for him. Yet he was sure she cared. There had been a wistful light in her eyes when she said, I thought possibly you might like to take that sister with the golden hair that he saw and interpreted. It took him three days to decide what he should say, supposing he made up his mind to ask her. Several people were at work helping him, though he knew nothing about that. Mrs. Roberts remarked one evening to young Reed that she wished she knew a way to induce Dirk Coulson to take his sister without actually asking him to do so. She fancied that besides the advantage which might possibly directly follow in the evening spent in that way, it would suggest new thoughts to the brother. The young man caught at the suggestion and wanted to help carry it out. It was not an easy thing to do. He had not grown intimate with Dirk Coulson. In fact, that misguided young fellow rather resented any attempted intimacy. He was, however, acquainted with Sally Culkin's. The numerous trips he had made to their room during Mark's illness had brought him into such constant and pleasant contact with Sally and her brother that they looked upon him as a tried friend. Sally, he knew, was a friend of the shy golden-haired sister. So one evening he went to call at the Culkin's room with a vague hope of helping indirectly in bringing to pass Mrs. Roberts' desires. To Sally, he made known the wish that Dirk would take his sister to the lecture and secured from her a promise to help the scheme along provided it developed. After he went away, Sally sat long at her sewing, making all alone by a dim light, one of the most heroic little sacrifices that was ever offered in his name. To fully understand it, you must know that Mark Culkin's had recovered sufficiently to take his place in the office where Dr. Everett had secured him an opening and an employment that would enable him to sit most of the time, thereby giving his injured limb a chance to rest. Also, Mark had been admitted to the Monday evening gatherings and was distinguishing himself there by his skill in reading and writing. Of course, he had received two tickets and equally, of course, being the boy he was, he had planned to take Sally with him to the lecture. Great was Sally's prospective pleasure. The event of her lifetime it was to be. To walk with Mark through the crowded streets, both neatly dressed, to walk boldly forward with the throng and present their tickets of admittance to the great hall, hitherto seen only from the outside. To move down the long aisles as those who had a right and select their seats unquestioned by police. In short, to be like other people, part of the great well-to-do world, this was Sally's joy. She had washed and mended her best calico dress. She had sewed buttons on the pretty cape according to Mrs. Robert's directions. She had tried on the neat bonnet which had been manufactured for her by Mrs. Robert's own fingers. And altogether, Sally had probably gotten, during those two days, more enjoyment out of Gao's lecture than many others who had heard him a dozen times ever secured. I do not think at any wonder that, as she rocked and sewed and thought out her great thought, there fell tears on the work she was doing. End of chapter 23, recording by Tricia G. Chapter 24 of Esther Read Yet Speaking. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Esther Read Yet Speaking by Pansy, chapter 24, for you don't know what may come. This was the thought. Suppose Dirk Coulson should want to take his sister. Sally did not believe it in the least probable. She had not that amount of faith in Dirk Coulson. But suppose he should, Mark should not go for the reason that she would have nothing to wear. And here was Sally's pretty cape which would cover the worst of her dress and her pretty bonnet which she knew would make a picture of Mark. But if she lent them, it meant staying at home to Sally. Could she do it? Could she bear to think of such a thing? What would Mark say? What would he do with his other ticket? Would she be likely ever to have another chance to go to that wonderful hall and be like other folks? But Mark had never been anywhere in her life. And I, said poor Sally, catching her breath with a sob, have been often for a walk on the brightest streets and looked in at the shop windows and everything. I most know I will help her to go if I can. Young Read had no conception of the sacrifice for which he had asked. It is little wonder, surely, that Sally's voice faltered that same evening as she explained to Mark, who had slipped in for a bit of talk, that if ever she wanted to go anywhere very bad, she was to let Sally know and she should have her cape and bonnet to wear. Then she had anxiously planned for her a way to mend her dress so that it would look quite well under the cape and she had even urged. Now do, Mark, if anybody should want you to go, don't say you won't. But take your chance, for you don't know what may come. Also she bore with patience Mark's scornful laugh and emphatic statement that no chances ever came to her and nobody ever wanted her to go anywhere. As she talked, she grew interested and eloquent, urged earnestly that Mark should embrace the first opportunity to go somewhere and wear her new cape and bonnet. At the same time, she was silent about the lecture. Suppose no chance should come. Then it would be doubly hard to Mark to have had the possibility suggested. The same delicate reasoning had held her from dwelling on her own prospects. Some people would have been very much astonished over the amount of delicate consideration for the feelings of others, which could be found in that little room. Dirk loitered strangely over his meager dinner the next afternoon. It was late, for he had secured a position at last in one of the printing offices and was apt to take his meals at any hour when it happened to be convenient to do without him at the office. He had only been three days at work and Mark had taken little notice of the new departure, except to remark grimly that it would not last. But to Sally, she had boasted that Dirk had gone to work as hard as anybody. If somebody could have only told Dirk that his sister ever boasted of him, it might have helped him much during these days. What are you hanging around for? You've got all there will be to eat in this house today and it is time you were off. This was the ungracious manner in which the sister took note of his lingering. She was painfully afraid that he had already grown weary of regular employment and the fear made her voice gruffer than usual. His reply amazed her. In fact, it amazed himself. Mart, I've got tickets to a show, a nice place and I want you to go along. Humph, said Mart, that's a likely story. Then he grew earnest, displayed his treasures and urged her acceptance, quite astonished with himself the while. Did he really want her to go, he wondered? Or did he want to please Mrs. Roberts? You would have been interested an hour later to have seen Mart skip up the rickety stairs leading to the Culkin's abode. You would probably have thought that she endangered life or limb by her rapid movements. But Mart was used to such staircases and the news she had to communicate required haste. There's a chance, she said, breathless with speed and eagerness. Sally Culkin's, there's a chance and you'd never guess how. Dirk, he wants me to go to a show with him this very night. He's got tickets. It is a big show where all the grand folks go. It is in the very biggest hall in the city and Dirk says I am to go. Sally Culkin's, do you mean it truly that I am to wear your lovely new bonnet and cape? Do you suppose I can really go anywhere? I don't know why Dirk wants me to so bad but he coaxed and coaxed. Poor Sally. She stooped quickly to pick up a pin from the floor so that Mart might not get a glimpse of her eyes with the sudden tears in them. Yet, as she stooped, she made her final grand sacrifice. Mart should go. Then she entered with entire abandon into the preparations. Not only her bonnet and cape but her shoes, new ones that Mart had bought her with his first earnings after his illness were to attend the lecture. She rejoiced over the excellent fit of the shoes. She did more than this as Mart watched the process of buttoning them and remarked complacently that she shouldn't wonder if Dirk would buy her a pair someday when he earned money enough. She kept her lip from curling with an incredulous sneer. You will remember that she had not the slightest faith in Dirk. Neither must I forget that there was another thing to lend. Her comb, in order that Mart's wonderful yellow hair might be for once reduced to something like order. And at the risk of leading you to think that Sally was altogether too aesthetic for her position in life, I shall have to confess that this was her hardest bit of sacrifice. Her comb was so new and so pretty. However, it did its duty on Mart's tawny locks and the transforming effect was marvelous. In fact, when all was ready, the cape adjusted, the hat which Mrs. Roberts had shown her how to wear set on the yellow head. Sally said not a word, but went to the packing box in the corner which served as a treasure cupboard and drew forth the one possession about which she had been utterly silent. A little hand glass which Mark had bought her one winter evening just before he was hurt. A cheap little ugly glass which you would have turned from and discussed saying that it made your nose a rye and your chin protrude and your eyes squint and was altogether horrid. But held before Mart's glowing face, what a secret did it reveal? Mart looked and was silent too and went home in a hushed frame of mind to wait for Dirk. Home was deserted. The mother had dragged her wearied body out for a day of light work. The time had gone by when she was able to do any that people called heavy. Where the father was, none of the family knew and their chief hope concerning him was that he would stay away as long as possible. I find myself longing to give you an idea of what that elegant, brilliantly lighted hall with its brilliant audience was to this girl and being unable to do it. When people live so far below us that our everyday experiences are to them like a day at the world's fair, it is very hard indeed to describe how our special treats affect them. It was a treat to everybody to hear Gao. How then can I tell you what it was to this girl and her brother? Dirk listened. He must have listened well. For long afterward, he was able to repeat entire paragraphs and to imitate the manner of the great orator with remarkable skill. Yet at the time, he would have seemed to a close watcher to have been absorbed in another way. He looked at Mark somewhat as he had on that Sabbath when his acquaintance with Mrs. Roberts began. But the thought which had dimly haunted him that day blossomed on this evening. Certainly, Mark looked like Mrs. Roberts. It might be folly to think so. Doubtless the fellows would make no end of fun of him if he should ever tell them so, which he meant to take excellent care not to do. But the fact remained that in Sally's bonnet and cape and above all with the waves of hair floating about her, there was a look which instantly and strongly reminded him of that lady. There was another listener at the lecture who was unexpectedly present. Part of poor Sally's trial had been to tell her brother who had been radiant for a week over the prospect of taking her that she had with her own hand put away the blessing. How would Mark take it? Dirk's forlorn-looking sister was no favorite of his. I think it would have been very difficult to have convinced him that there was a trace of Mrs. Roberts in her face. But such curious creatures are we that it actually hurt Sally to see how quietly he took the great sad news of her sacrifice. After the first start of surprise, he seemed preoccupied and she could almost have thought that he did not hear her explanation. She had much adieu to keep back the tears, but she had made a special little feast for him that evening with a white cloth on the table and a cup of actual tea and a cup set in a saucer. She was not going to spoil the scene with tears. So after a little, she said cheerily, now you have the chance to do something nice for somebody. Who will you take on your ticket? I was thinking, he answered slowly, you know it is a temperance lecture and it is by a wonderful man. The fellows in the shop have been talking about him all day and they say you just can't help thinking when he gets a going. And I was just thinking, what if we could get him to go and he would listen and get to thinking? There were no italics that will give you an idea of the peculiar emphasis which the boy put on the pronouns. Sally understood that he could mean but one person in the world. But her brother must have answered the look on her face for she spoke no word. Sometimes they do, Sally, there was old Pete, you know. Oh yes, Sally knew old Pete, everybody in that alley knew him, a notorious drunkard once, of the sort which people, even good Christian people, are apt to pronounce hopeless. Yet now he wore a neat suit of clothes every day and brought home 20 pounds of flour at one time in a sack and bought his coal by the barrel. Wonderful things occasionally happened in that alley. Yes, said Sally, that is true and old Pete wasn't much like him. The tone spoke volumes, it would have almost angered her even now to have it hinted at that old Pete was superior to her father, though hardly a person acquainted with the two but would have said that there was more hope for old Pete, even in his miserable past than for this one. How they managed it, those two, the difficult task of getting him persuaded to go, to find then the more difficult task of keeping him sufficiently sober to get there would make a story in itself. I fancy there are many such stories in real life which will never get told. The probabilities are if they were, some wise critic would pronounce them unnatural and sensational. Suffice it to say that the task was accomplished and among the most attentive listeners to the great speaker that evening was Sally's father while she sat at home and mended a badly torn jacket and cried now and then and was glad and sorry and proud and frightened and hopeful by turns all that long evening. I am not sure but it was better for her that she sat at home. I don't know just what she might have done had she been in the hall to see her father at the close of the meeting shambles forward with the crowd and sign his name to the total abstinence pledge. She might have screamed out in her excitement or she might have fainted for although there were those who said some with a sneer and some with a sigh that signing the pledge would not amount to anything the miserable fellow could not keep a pledge to save his life. Sally would have thought nothing of the kind she had faith in her father's word. It is a wonderful stimulus to have someone who believes in us. End of Chapter 24 Recording by Tricia G. Chapter 25 of Esther Read Yet Speaking This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Esther Read Yet Speaking by Pansy. Chapter 25. What do you hope to accomplish? Do you know, said Mrs. Roberts, addressing Gracie Dennis, who, with young Reed, had waited in the hall for her to join them. They were ready for the lecture to take up Mr. Roberts on the way. Do you know that I have a desire which I see no way of realizing? If Mr. Coulson should bring his sister with him tonight, I should like so much to get possession of her and bring her home with me. But I have been planning all day and seen no possible excuse for such an apparently wild proceeding. I want you to notice how naturally Mrs. Roberts said Mr. Coulson. She never talked about Dirk under any other name. She even taught herself to think of him as Mr. Coulson. Consequently, when she spoke the name in his presence, there was not a trace of unnaturalness in tone or manner. The others tried in vain to follow her example. Dr. Everett could not speak of him in this way without slight hesitation and a touch of embarrassment. The truth is, said he, I think Dirk all the week and on the Sabbath I find it impossible to reach up to Mr. Coulson without an effort. There was no touch of reaching up or reaching down about Mrs. Roberts' talk with her pupils. It is possible that this is one link in the chain of influence which she was weaving around them. Gracie Dennis's face expressed curiosity and when they were seated in the carriage she referred to the cause. But Flossie, I cannot imagine why you should want to do such a thing. It will certainly be too late tonight to try to get acquainted with her. I should think some time when you could have an unbroken evening would be the better for experimenting. For some sorts of experimenting it would, Mrs. Roberts answered, smiling quietly. My experiment, in part at least, was to see how the pink room might impress her. Flossie, shipply! When Gracie took refuge in that name her hostess knew she was not only much excited but a trifle disapproving. At such time she made haste to change the subject. It happened that the thing for which she had been planning shaped itself so naturally as to give not the slightest color or premeditation to the act. When Durkin and his sister worked their way through the dense crowds to the open air they discovered that it was raining heavily. For almost the first time in her life the fact struck terror to Mark Colson's soul. Ordinarily no duck could have been more indifferent to a rainstorm than herself. On this evening she gave vent to her dismay in short expressive words. Sally's bonnet and cape. This last after a moment's thought. And shoes, she added, as the magnitude of her troubles grew upon her. Drawn up close to the sidewalk stood a carriage and a pair of horses that Dirk could not help giving admiring attention to despite the rain. A fine horse always held his attention. No thought of the occupants of the carriage came to him, not even after a head leaned forward and a hand beckoned. Of course it was beckoning to somebody else. Then a clear voice spoke. Mr. Colson. He started quickly forward. There was but one person who ever said Mr. Colson and besides that voice belonged only to one. I want your sister to go home with me. It is raining so hard that she ought not to walk and I should like very much to have her stay with me tonight. Would you ask her to please? If Mrs. Roberts had been asking a favour instead of conferring one her voice could not have been sweeter and more winning. Dirk went back to his sister too much bewildered by the state of affairs even to express surprise. Mart, he said, she wants you. A quick spring to the sidewalk and young Reed was standing beside Mart. It is raining so hard, he explained. Mrs. Roberts would be very glad if you would come. And Mart, thinking of nothing at all, saved Sally's bonnet and cape and shoes, turned toward the waiting carriage. Mr. Reed had his umbrella raised and carefully shielded the bonnet assisting its wearer to enter the carriage with as much courtesy as he had bestowed on Gracie Dennis but a few moments before. Not a movement was lost on the watching Dirk. When the door was closed and the good nights had been said Mrs. Roberts leaning from the carriage again for that purpose and when the horses had dashed around the corner he still occupied the position on the curb stone gazing down the street gazing at nothing unless he saw a reflection of his own bewildered thoughts. Come, said a policeman who knew him and was therefore suspicious what are you hanging about here for? Move on. Humpf, said Dirk as he slowly took his hands out of his pockets eyes still fixed on the corner where the carriage had turned what if I should? Something in his eye would have told Mrs. Roberts had she been there that he meant more than moving down the street though that he presently did regardless of wind and rain. Meantime the bonnet and cape in the carriage stepped somewhat into the background and the girl who wore them allowed herself once more to think of her individuality and to wonder at her position. She sat bold upright on the edge of the soft gray seat gazed about her as well as she could by the glimmer of the street lamps. She in a carriage marked Coulson sitting on a back seat beside a grand lady and rolling down the avenue. Who would have supposed that such a thing could have happened to Sally Culkin's bonnet? Mrs. Roberts recognized the bonnet and cape with a smile of satisfaction. She had studied much over the possibilities of this girl's costume. Was it probable that she had anything suitable to wear to a lecture? She had passed the cellar where the girl lived but once and had had but one glimpse of her. Yet these glimpses had been enough to render it highly improbable that she had any street costume. Then had Mrs. Roberts canvassed the possibilities of getting a street suit for her, there were apparently insurmountable difficulties in the way. She was too utterly unacquainted with the ground to venture. Besides there were reasons for believing that anything of value would find its way from that cellar to a pawnbroker's in a very short space of time. Having spent hours over many different schemes and rejected each one as liable to bring disaster, Mrs. Roberts was obliged to take herself to prayer. If the watching saviour wanted her to work through the medium of this lecture on this particular child of his, he could certainly see that she was present, could furnish her with clothes to wear, either through herself or some other of his servants. She would wait and watch. Not once had she thought of Sally Culkin's and the new bonnet that her own fingers had helped to fashion. Yet here it was beside her on the head of this girl, toward whom she was drawn. The fact made Mrs. Roberts radiant. She said almost nothing to the startled prisoner at her side, beyond a murmured, so glad you could let me carry you home with me. Then she drew a bright-colored wrap about her and lectured to her amazement while the eager tongues of the rest of the party talked continuously. By the way, you are not acquainted with the pink room, I think. You should see it before it is invaded for the night. Large it is. I think little people sometimes have a peculiar fondness for large rooms, Mrs. Roberts had. The walls were tinted with what might be called a suggestion of pink, with just a touch of sunset gold about the moldings. The carpet was soft and rich. It gave back no sound of footfall. It was strewn with pink buds, some just opening into beauty, some half blown. Accustomed to the sight of elegant carpets as you are, you would almost have stooped to pick one of these buds they looked so real. The curtains to the windows were white but lined with rose pink. They were looped back with knots of pink ribbons. The bed was a marvel of pink and white drapery. So was the dressing bureau. The easy chairs were upholstered in soft grays with a pinkish tinge and the tidies lavishly displayed were olive pink and white. There was nothing conventional about the room. A professional would have been shocked by some of its appointments. Many a lady of wealth accustomed to having things as they decree would have been more than doubtful over the pink ribbons and the profusion of white drapery. Aside from the carpet and a choice picture or two, there was nothing especially expensive about the furnishings. It was simply a room in which Mrs. Roberts had allowed her own sweet little fancies to take her captive. The gas was lighted, the door was ajar into a toilet room, a lavish display of great beautiful towels could be seen as you peeped in and various touches told of an expected guest. Flowers were blossoming on the mantel and a tiny vase which stood on a bracket near the toilet stand held a single rose of a peculiar hue and perfume which had blossomed for this hour. At least Mrs. Roberts thought so. Into this room with all its purity and beauty went Sally Culkin's bonnet and cape and her strong new thick shoes and the wearer thereof pushed the bonnet away from her flushed face and stood and looked about her. Downstairs they discussed in curious tones, not her but the mistress of the mansion. Flossy, I do think you are too queer for anything. Why don't you have her go to Katie's room? Katie is away for the night, you know, and I'm sure her room is as neat and pretty as can be. Imagine what a contrast it would be to anything that she has ever seen. Mr. Reed, you ought to see the room into which she has been put. There isn't a more elegant one in the house. Some of its furnishings are so delicate that I hardly like to touch them. What sort of a disease is it that has taken Mrs. Roberts, do you suppose, to send her there? Flossy, she will get no rest tonight. She will be afraid of that immaculate bed. This, of course, was Gracie Dennis. Mr. Roberts looked from her to his wife, his face smiling, curious, yet with a sort of at rest expression. What do you hope to accomplish, Flossy? He asked the question as one who was pleased to watch a new experiment, yet felt sure that the experimenter had an end to attain which would justify any measures that she might take. Mr. Roberts had believed in his wife when he chose her from all others, but he was learning to believe in her in a peculiar sense, as one led by a hand that made no mistakes. She turned to answer his question, her face bright, yet half puzzled. I am not sure that I can explain to you what I hoped for, but he said, I caught the idea from Mr. Reed. From me and the young man thus mentioned looked so astonished and incredulous that Gracie laughed. He is sure he never thought of anything so wild, she said gaily. Flossy, you must find a better excuse than that. Yet it was something that he said. Do you remember telling me not long ago about your sister's idea that all the world had lost its place because of sin that God intended everything here to be beautiful and all life to be bright with joy and that Satan had gotten hold of men's lies and was trying to ruin them and that every beautiful creation was God's picture to the world of what his intention had been? I'm telling it poorly, but it made a very deep impression. This girl's face, you know, is beautiful. It is what God meant some faces to be. At least I mean he has given her the frame for a face of beauty. I have a vague half-understood sort of wish to give her a glimpse of harmony, something that will fit her golden hair and lovely complexion and see what she will think of God's idea and whether she will understand that it is sin which has spoiled it and whether she is willing to serve the author of her ruin. I don't believe I am making myself plain, but I know what I mean at least. If we do not, I think it must be because you have caught a thought from God that we are unable to reach up to. It was Mr. Roberts who made this reply, something in his wife's experiment had deeply moved him. As for Mr. Reed, his face lighted, as it always did, at the mention of his sister's name. Sometimes I almost think that it is Esther still at work and that he lets her work through this woman. It was what he said to Gracie Dennis in an aside. Mrs. Roberts had already gone to see in person to the comfort of her guest. End of Chapter 25. Recording by Tricia G. Chapter 26. Oh Lord, take Dirk, too. She found her standing before the mirror. For the reason of the fact she understood no pretty trick of braid or curl, her long yellow hair hung just as nature had made it, with no waves or ripples save those which had grown with its growth. It fell about her now like a sunset cloud. She had taken from the vase near at hand a rose, which she had pushed in among the masses of hair with no knowledge as to how it should be arranged or indeed thought. Yet the effect was something which made Mrs. Roberts give an involuntary start of admiration. Still it was evident that, though apparently gazing at herself, she was thinking away beyond herself. It is doubtful if at that moment she saw the flower or her own reflection or knew that she was looking. Her eyes had the faraway expression which one sometimes sees in great power on faces like hers. She turned as Mrs. Roberts, having softly knocked and received no answer, softly entered, and her first words indicated the intensity of her thought whatever it was. Dirk has got to go there. Go where? asked Mrs. Roberts, startled out of the words she meant to speak, startled by the hint of power in the voice and manner. Of whom are you thinking, my dear girl? And where do you want him to go? I'm thinking about Dirk, ma'am. I thought about him all the evening. The man made me. And I've made up my mind he's got to go to heaven. I suppose I cannot give you an idea of the force in her voice. It was as though a resolution from which there could be no appeal had been taken and the person resolving felt her own power to accomplish. It was altogether an unexpected answer to Mrs. Roberts. She did not know whether to be half frightened or to laugh. She sat down in one of the easy chairs to study the girl and consider what answer to make. Mart, meantime, turned back to the survey of herself in the mirror or to the survey of whatever she saw there and continued talking. I never knew much about heaven. You may guess that if you have ever been in our alley. Only lately Sally Culkins she's been telling me what you told her and I had a kind of notion that you must know what you was talking about and that it was for rich folks and grand folks like you. But the man told about that mad you know tonight an awful drunkard and swearer and all that how she reformed and went to heaven. Dirk ain't no drunkard but he will be. Everybody says he will because father is such an awful one. Mother she's never had no hope of him. She says father didn't drink till he was most twenty and then he begun and she's looking for Dirk to begin and I haven't thought he could help it either. What if he doesn't care for it much yet? He will it's likely. I've never told nobody that not even Sally and I've been mad at mother every time she said any such thing but all the time I've been expecting him to begin and I know well enough when once they begin how it goes on. But that man tonight told things that made a difference. He said that God can keep them from wanting to drink and help them right straight along and that they can go to heaven as well as the next one. I've wanted nice things for Dirk all my life but I never saw no way to get them and it made me mad. Tonight I saw a way but I never had no kind of a notion how heaven looked till I came into this room and see the light in the flowers and the shine and another room spread out there in the glass and now I know and Dirk shall go. Mrs. Roberts was in no mood for laughing. The tears were dropping slowly on the flower she held in her hand. Mark saw in the glass just then a sight which seemed to add to her surprise. She turned wondering eyes on her hostess. What are you crying for? She asked. Don't spoil the flower. It is like the one Dirk brought me once. He said you sent it to me. I kept it most a week. I took it over to Sally's and she got fresh water for it every day somehow and it was then she began to tell me what you said about heaven and I thought if God had made such flowers as that for you it was likely he had made a heaven for you but I didn't believe it was for Dirk till tonight and I didn't have no kind of a notion how it looked till just now. Do you believe what that man said that folks like Dirk can go? Of course if Madge went why Dirk would have a right. He is bad just because he has to be. He never had no chance to be anything else and he ain't very bad anyhow. Nothing to compare with some. Her voice was almost fierce in its earnestness. She was beginning to resent the creeping doubt that Mrs. Robert's silence suggested. Careful words must be spoken now. What if this awakening soul should be turned aside? No wonder that the unspoken words were prayers. Dirk has a right to go to heaven, she said steadily sweetly. There is not the shadow of a doubt as to his right. No one in the world, not Satan himself, can deprive him of it and it is not only his right but his duty to go. Then he shall. I wish I could give you an idea of the strength in the girl's voice. It almost carried conviction with it to Mrs. Robert's heart. Come and sit down, she said, and she drew her towards one of the low cushions. If Mart sat on that her head would be just where a gentle hand could stroke the masses of hair. Let me talk with you about this. You are mistaken in one thing. Dirk is very bad. He is bad enough to shut him out of heaven forever. The girl started and tried to fling off the caressing hand. So are you, said the gentle voice. Oh, me, don't talk about me. Whoever said I wasn't bad. Let me go. I want to go home. I don't care how hard it rains. And so am I, continued the gentle voice. The girl on the cushion ceased struggling to free herself from the caressing touch and remained motionless. Let me tell you of something that we have each done a great many times. We have been asked and urged and coaxed day after day and year after year to accept an invitation to go to this very heaven, and we have paid no attention at all. And this after Jesus Christ had given his life to make a way for us to go. Is not that being bad? Dirk, he never had no invitation, never heard anything about it. Yes, he has, speaking with quiet firmness. The Lord Jesus Christ told me to invite him and I have done so a great many times and he has made no answer. And Sally Culkins has invited you and you have treated it in just the same way. I didn't believe it. Isn't that being bad? What has he ever done that you should refuse to believe his word when he died an awful death to prove to you that he was an earnest? You said Dirk had a right to go. So he has. Jesus Christ has given him a right if he will. I have invited you to my house and asked you to spend the night in this room and sleep in this bed. Has any person a right to keep you from doing so? No, an emphatic knot of the head and a lingering, almost loving look at the white bed behind her. Then cannot you truthfully say that you have a right to be here? My dear girl, it is so faint an illustration of what Jesus Christ has done to give you a right to heaven that I almost wonder at your understanding it. But can you imagine something of how I should have felt had I urged you to come to me night after night for weeks and years and you turned from me with no answer or else with scorn? You wouldn't have kept on asking me. Mark spoke with the assurance of one who had firm faith in her statement. No, I presume I should not. I would have said after the third or fourth invitation if she really will not have anything to do with me I cannot help it and I should have tried to forget you. This is one of the many differences between Christ and me. He waits and asks and asks, how long will you keep him waiting? I have given you only the beginning of the conversation. It was long ere it was concluded. Downstairs Mr. Reed waited as long as he could, curious to know the result of Mark's first impressions. Then he went away and Gracie went to her room and the house settled into quiet and Mr. Roberts in the library waited for his wife while she told over again with tender words and simple illustrations the old old story so fitted to the wants of the world. How many times has there been a like result? It was midnight when they knelt together the fair child of luxury and the child of poverty but the savior who intercedes for both bent his ear and heard again the cry of a groping soul seeking him out of darkness and held out his loving never failing arms able to reach down to her depth and received her to himself. Who can tell that story? Who can describe how heaven seemed to the girl just then? It was not what Mrs. Roberts had expected. I cannot even say that it was what she had hoped for. Her faith had not reached to such a height at all. She could hardly have put into words what she hoped. When she ventured to try to tell it to the friends in the parlor and to you, I doubt whether you understood. She thought to get a hold on the girl to show her something of God's beauty and love as it shown through herself to make her long after something her life did not give and to gradually lead her to seek after satisfaction in Christ. A long process, something that should unfold gradually with many discouraging drawbacks and some days that would look like utter failures. She had schooled herself to be prepared for this but she had not looked for him to exert his mighty power to save in a moment. How it had touched her to find a soul hungry not for itself but for a brother I shall not attempt to tell. The first words she said after she went back to her waiting husband a little after midnight were these. He could not do many mighty works there because of their unbelief. I think that is what is the matter with the world today. I wonder if he would not be pleased with one who could throw herself at his feet with a child like abandon of faith and expect wonders, yes, and impossibilities just as a child feels that anything can be done by father. God has shamed my faith tonight. It is as though I had asked for a crumb of bread and he gave me the entire loaf. That girl upstairs has not heard of him before as a saviour for her has never thought of such a thing or at least dreamed of its possibility and yet she has given herself to him. And, Evan, what do you think were the first words she said? O Lord, take Dirk too. She is on her knees at this moment praying for him. If you could have seen her face when it first dawned upon her that she could tell God about him and ask for his mighty power to be exerted on his behalf it would have been a picture for your lifetime. O Evan, Evan, why can we not expect great things of God? Chapter 27 An Awful Problem Isn't it strange the ways the Lord takes to answer prayers? Much prayer had been made for Dirk Coulson but few had thought of his sister. Sally Colkins, it is true, had come with trembling steps into the light of Christ's love and had immediately desired to have Martin joy it with her but was very trembling and doubting as to her ability to reach Martin or to influence her in the right direction. She sent the bonnet and cape to the lecture with a prayer but she did not look for the prayer to be answered. Verily he has to be content with faith less than a grain of a mustard seed. Was the rest of the story unanswered a prayer? We are to remember that he has strange ways. Events startling enough in their import followed each other in rapid succession. In the first place, Dirk's father, poor, wrecked man returned no more. Whether he had wandered among the network of railroads which lined the southern portion of the city and lost his life there or whether he had fallen into the river or just how he had disappeared could not be discovered. There were three men killed by an accident on the road one night but their disfigured bodies were buried before Dirk heard of it. There was a man seen struggling in the water off the lower wharf one evening but he sank before help could reach him and his body was not recovered. There were half a dozen men killed by a boiler explosion but that was not heard of in time to look into it. There were so many ways in which the wreck might have gone out of life and left no sign. They were safe in supposing that he was intoxicated and that was about all they could be perfectly sure of concerning him that and the fact that he came no more. Of course there was no such search for him as is made for the man of respectability and position. To one who had some idea of the worth of a soul it is pitiful to see what a tiny ripple this disappearance made on the surface of life. A moment of startled questioning by those who lived in the immediate neighborhood a few women with aprons thrown over their heads congregating in groups around the pump or before the door of the bakery a crowd of dirty children stopping their play for a moment and speaking lower then the tide of noisy fighting swearing life went on. One was gone out from it wither none knew few cared and there were such crowds and crowds left how could he be missed? One missed him and abused insulted downtrodden woman one whom years before he had promised to love and cherish until death parted them and had broken the vows almost as soon as taken and never renewed them again yet that woman wept bitter tears over his absence watched for him listened nightly for his staggering steps rose up from her heap of straw in the corner in the middle of the night and set wide open the cellar door and listened to the angry voices floating down to her from some drunken brawl further up the street if perchance she might hear his listened and held her breath and quavered all over with hope and fear then crept back to her miserable bed covered her head with the ragged quilt and cried herself into a few hours of forgetfulness she is crying herself to death about him Mart said there was surprise mingled with on her voice she told it to Dirk and the two stood thoughtfully for a moment looking out at the one window they carefully avoided looking at each other they did not understand to them there was simply relief in the father's absence they had no trace of love for him in their hearts the word father meant nothing to them but misery still there was that in them which respected the mother's grief they tried to shield her Dirk of his own thoughtfulness brought home a bit of tea in a paper and bought half a pint of milk at the corner bakery and Mart took lessons of Sally and made a delicate slice of toast and borrowed Sally's one cup and saucer to serve the tea in she was disappointed that the mother cried and could hardly drink the tea she was even almost vexed that the mother said with tears that poor jock always did like tea so much and she had always thought that maybe if he could have had it hot and strong he would not have taken to the drink Mart had no faith in this no belief that anything in her father's past life could have kept him from the drink but she held herself silent and let the tears have their way all the time she had in her heart one great solemn regret there was one who would have helped her father would and could have saved him even from Ram what if she, his daughter, had known the Lord Jesus and could have taken the miserable father to him and had him transformed Mart had no doubt about his power to do it an unanswerable argument had been given her no infidel need try to assail her now but the father why had everybody kept silence and let him sink away awful why had she not known Christ why had she not listened to Sally but a week before why had not Dirk learned the way and saved his father an awful problem Mart's life must henceforth be shadowed by it meantime what was Mrs. Roberts to do for this newborn soul how was she to help her and through her to help her brother she in her elegant home sat down to study this problem life at East 55th Street was so far removed from life in the alley that she knew nothing about the missing father days passed and busy with many claims of society she had made no movement toward helping the girl and knew as yet no way to do it yet she carried her on her heart Monday evening came and went and still she had been detained from any effort one afternoon her thoughts shaped themselves into action she would go and see Mart she would get Dirk to protect her in her journey down the alley also in accomplishing this she would accomplish another thing she would call on Dirk at his place of business the chief of the office was a Christian man yet she had reason to believe that he knew less about Dirk and cared much less for him than he did for his little dog who sat in the window and barked at passersby she had no difficulty in securing attention the ladies were not often admitted but a card bearing the name Mrs. Evan Roberts was sufficient passport among any of the business men of the city Mr. Stone was more than ready he was eager to serve her what could he do for the elegantly dressed lady whose carriage waited at the door while she came in person among the bales and boxes her business must be urgent it was could she speak with Mr. Coulson just for a moment she would not detain him long but she wished to make an appointment with him for the next day Mr. Coulson the chief and his perplexed assistant looked at each other thoughtfully and shook their heads there was no such person connected with their establishment she must have the wrong number no she was positive he told me only three days ago that he was in your employ he is on the third floor I believe the gentlemen looked at each other again Mr. Coulson repeated Mr. Stone there is certainly a mistake Briggs is in charge on the third floor front and Dixon has the back rooms no Mrs. Roberts we have no such name among our men I am positive but Mrs. Roberts gently held her ground she was sure she was not mistaken for she had talked with him about his work and the different men he was in Mr. Briggs department she felt quite sure he was not a foreman she explained but quite a young man had been there but a few weeks and Dr. Everett was the one who had interested himself in securing the place light of some sort began to dawn on the perplexed faces of the gentlemen can she mean Black Dirk do you suppose questioned the elder looking hard at his associate then came the sweet voice of the visitor oh no he is not a colored gentleman his name is Coulson Mr. Derek Coulson that is the one said the gentleman quickly should he laugh or be annoyed it took but a moment after that to summon Mr. Derek Coulson Blackie was certainly not only by reason of his naturally dark skin but because of the grimy work whatever it was which fell to his lot his big apron was soiled with ink and oil and dogged with bits of dark color which seemed not to be either he came forward with his usual shambling gate and an additional shade of sullenness apparent on his face but it glowed a swarthy red when he recognized the lady good afternoon Mr. Coulson she said and she held forth her delicately gloved hand his own went forward to meet it then drew suddenly back it is not clean enough he said there is ink or something on it but the lavender kids were not withdrawn never mind the ink a little honest soil never heard anybody and the rough dark hand was taken in her own then occurred a few moments chat at least the lady chatted with easy familiarity she referred to the social parlors to the Monday evenings to Miss Dennis's Music Hall to half a dozen themes about which the bewildered gentleman within hearing knew nothing could it be that the low voiced gentle lady was trying to give them a lesson as well as to talk with Dirk finally she made an appointment for the next afternoon would his employer be so kind as to excuse him for an hour if convenient certainly it would be convenient to please Mrs. Evan Roberts Dirk was very much embarrassed he blushed and stammered and did not know how to answer any of the kindnesses but there were two things during the interview which gave Mrs. Roberts more pleasure than you perhaps are able to understand one was that at sight of her he had suddenly snatched off the paper cap which he wore and the other that having said it again on his head as he turned from her he glanced back from the door and in answer to her bow and smile lifted the ugly little cap with an air that was an exact imitation of young Reed and yet so well done that you would not have thought of it as an imitation Mrs. Roberts could have clapped her hands but she did not instead she said sweetly I am very glad that Mr. Coulson is in the employ of a Christian gentleman he is greatly in need of help from all Christian sources and I am sure that there is that in him which will respond to judicious effort then she let the bewildered man attend her to her carriage and went her way rejoicing but there were plans being laid for her at that moment of which she knew nothing tomorrow she would go and see the golden-haired girl in a neatly packed basket she had certain things among them a bonnet and a sack that she knew would fit the hair and face and she believed would give Mark pleasure if only she could contrive a natural way to give them to her and there could be planned ways of keeping them safe from the pawnbroker's grasp all this time she knew nothing of the fact that the hand which had grasped for years to furnish the pawnbroker was stilled forever it had not once occurred to Dirk to tell her it is a solemn fact that in this greater excitement he had actually forgotten it as for the Christian employer he did not know of it to tell he had not so much as known whether Black Dirk had a father or not he was simply a street-rough whom Dr. Everett was trying experiments with and because there was an unusual pressure on the office and poor help was better than none he was helping the experiment however when Dirk went home from the office that night he remembered that his father was gone Mark met him at the door a look of solemn determination on her face Dirk she said she's going as sure as you live she's going she's been bad all the afternoon Sally says that Mark's doctor will come to see her she knows he will and Mark shall go for him as soon as he comes home but I don't mean to wait for no doctor I want her to come she knows the way and I want mother to be told it right so there won't be no mistake you go for her Dirk right off straight there ain't any time to lose for I tell you now she's going she's been failing all along you know and she has just pried herself down Dirk will you go for her as fast as you can the confusion of pronouns might have bewildered you they did not Dirk her meant to him exactly what it did to Mark he could not think how it could possibly mean any other person but this was astounding news about his mother it was one thing to have a father disappear whom he had simply feared until he had learned to hate it was quite another thing to talk about the going away of the only one who had ever tried to mend his clothes and who had sat up nights to wash them when she could she rode past Mart into the ratchet room and looked at the bed in the corner the mother was asleep but on her face was a strange change a something that he had never seen there before worn and sunken as it always was it made him understand Mart's fears I'll go he said huskily and rushed from the house her carriage was just rolling down the avenue as his swift feet cleared the alley he knew the horses he was a little ahead of them but it was not probable that the driver would stop for him won't you stop that carriage he said in a breathless haste to a policeman at the corner I've got to speak to the lady that's in it I'll be quite likely to no doubt said the policeman in quiet irony what rascality are you up to now Dirk can't you be decent for a few days but Dirk was trying to free himself from the detaining hand he threw up one arm in a sort of despairing gesture to the coachman Mr. Roberts caught the signal recognized the face and in another moment the horses stood restlessly by the curb stone and Dirk his embarrassment gone told his brief story rapidly father went off a spell ago and never came back and mother she is sickly and it set her crying and she's going Mart thinks and I guess it's so and Mart wants you to come and show her the way she said you knew how and you would come End of Chapter 27 Recording by Tricia G Chapter 28 of Esther Read Yet Speaking this LibriVox recording is in the public domain Esther Read Yet Speaking by Pansy Chapter 28 may she go with me of course she went and of course now that the truth was known much was done Dr. Everett was summoned the wretched bed with its distressing rags were turned out together and a comfortable one took its place brass and teas and jellies and physical comfort of every kind were furnished and the doctor did his best to battle with the disease that long years of wanton misery had fastened upon their victim it was all too late of course it was true what Mr. Roberts sadly said that half of the effort expended years or even months before might have saved the poor tortured life but now how awful those too late are isn't it a wonder that we ever take the risk of having one ring in our ears forever there was one thing over which these Christian workers shed tears of joy I am too late said Dr. Everett but my master has as much power today as ever he can save her and he did the poor tired woman who years before had remembered an old story well enough to name her one daughter Martha in memory of the one who loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus roused her dull heart at the mention of his name and listened while the wonderful story was told her that he loved not only Martha and her sister but her own poor sinful wrecked self loved her enough to reach after her and call and wait and prepare for her a home in his glory dear why has not someone come with the news before surely she would have listened during these long sad years well they made the way plain neither was it a difficult thing to do the woman was weary and travel stained and afraid and longed for nothing so much as a place of refuge she knew that she was a sinner she knew that she was and had been for many a year powerless to help herself why should she not hail with joy the story of a great and willing helper come unto me I'll ye that labor and are heavy laden she opened her eyes with the gleam of eagerness to hear the words weary yes indeed heavy laden who more so if the call was not for her whom could it mean what else why what but the glorious old story I will give you rest what wonder that she closed her eyes and smiled what wonder that the first words after that were I'll come show me how and he showed her how dirk the sister said when the mother had gone the last and only restful journey of her life dirk she went to heaven and I'm going I've been wanting to tell you for more than a week but I didn't know how he asked me to and I'm going now you must never had a good time here and she'll kind of expected in heaven and be looking out for you she always looked out for you dirk then did dirk lose his half cell and self-control and great tears rolled down his dark cheeks but the sister shed no tears she had serious business to attend to dirk must go to heaven now without fail one day there was an unusual scene in the alley it was no uncommon thing to see a coffin carried out there but on this day there was a hearse and a minister in Dr. Everett's carriage and dirk and his sister in need apparel came out together and were seated in Mr. Robert's carriage and all the boys of the Monday evening class walked arm in arm after the slow-moving carriages and the children of the alley stopped their placing and their fighting and the women stood silent in doorways and took most of them their very first lesson in the proprieties of life she's got a ride in a carriage at last poor soul said one thinking of the worn-out body in the coffin and another said I wonder what poor old jock would think of all this but the scene made its impression and left its lesson I think the voices of some of them were lowered during the rest of the day because of it what next it was the question that filled Mrs. Robert's thoughts something must be done for dirk and mart that fearful alley was no place for human beings certainly not for these two but what to do with them was a question not easily answered various plans were proposed Sally Culkin's two rooms were much better than the cellar in which the Coulson family had lived and there was a chance to rent a room next to Sally's with a closet opening from it for dirk how would it do to have them bored with Sally the suggestion came first from Gracie Dennis and sounded reasonable Mrs. Roberts was almost ashamed to dislike it as much as she did Sally's need rooms were home now the father for this length of time at least held to his pledge and son and daughter were radiant over him he had gone to work and already the two rooms were taking on an air of greater comfort because of the little things that he proudly brought home Sally was doing her part wisely the table was regularly laid now with a white cloth and knives and two cups and plates had been added to the dishes would it be wise to invade this home just at this juncture and introduce borders Mrs. Roberts did not believe it would it was not as though the father had an established character and stood ready to shield his children they were still acting the protective and he had but too recently risen from the depths where Durkin Mart had laughed and jeered at him besides the rooms were located in that dreadful alley and do what she would Mrs. Roberts could not feel that that dangerously beautiful face could find a safe abiding place in that alley some other way must be thought of their immediate future was arranged through the intervention of a house agent for even that dreary and desolate seller had its agent who was eager to secure his rent he was unwise enough to undertake to interview Mrs. Roberts as she descended from her carriage not long after it had followed Mart's mother to the grave he considered this effort of his a special stroke of business energy he wanted to be patient with the poor he said there wasn't an agent in the city who waited for them oftener than he did but business was business and it stood to reason that he could not depend on a fellow like Dirk it had been bad enough when the mother was there but he couldn't think of such a thing as risking it now what was he to understand did she mean to rent the room for them and for how long because it was his duty to look out for the future what would be more natural than for Mrs. Roberts with those two young things looking on to say that of course she would be responsible for the rent as long as they lived in the room thus reasoned the house agent instead of which Mrs. Roberts turned toward Dirk her face flushed over the hardness of the man who could stop a boy and girl on such business on their way from their mother's grave and said if I were in your place Mr. Coulson I should not rent these rooms at all they are not suited to your sister's needs I am sure you can do better the agent was disgusted Mr. Coulson indeed the disreputable young scamp whom nobody trusted he would show this silly woman a fact or two business is business he repeated doggedly either they must take the room and pay the rent in advance or else they must hustle out this very night he had waited now three days after time for decency's sake and more than that he couldn't and wouldn't do Dirk stood looking from one to the other the red coming and going on his swarthy face here was responsibility he had not thought of it before his mother was not there to count out the hoarded rent with trembling fingers and save the wretched home to them for another month she would never be there again he had nothing with which to pay rent he had nowhere to move yet she had called him Mr. Coulson and seemed to expect him to act for himself in March it was she who answered the agent but spoke to Dirk very well I suppose you are quite as willing to leave here tonight as at any time if I were you I would leave immediately let your sister come home with me for the night and until you have time to make other arrangements Mr. Roberts had been summoned to a bank meeting and had sent Reed to attend his wife he came forward now from the carriage where he had stood waiting and laid a hand on Dirk's arm and you come home with me tonight Coulson he said in a cordial tone such as he might have used with any young friend then we will have a chance to talk things over and make plans that is nice Mrs. Roberts said quickly rejoicing Mr. Roberts over reads promptness to act then you can get away from this wretched place at once Mr. Roberts will see to the removal of your goods whatever you need and the agent can call on him in the morning that will be the simplest way to settle it all may she go with me a slight caressing movement of a gloved hand on the girls arm accompanied this question Mart was silent with bewilderment when had Dirk ever before been do or might not do at first she was half inclined to scorn the suggestion then suddenly it came to her with a sense of relief and protection she was not alone it was Dirk's business to think of and care for her would he do it as for Dirk no wonder that his face was deeply flushed new thoughts were struggling in his heart he was to decide for Mart he was head of the home now Mrs. Roberts waited anxiously she longed exceedingly to rouse in the boy who was already grown to the stature of a man a sense of responsibility a moment more and he had shaken himself free from the spell which seemed to bind him will do as you say he spoke with the air of a man who had assumed his proper place and taken up his duties Mart you go along with her and I'll see about things tomorrow and Mart for the first time in her life received in silence a direction from her brother possibly Mrs. Roberts may have been mistaken but she thought that much had been accomplished that day yet none of them realized where and to this thing would grow Mrs. Roberts when she ushered Mart that evening into the pink room again and showed her how to manage the hot and cold water in which bell to ring if she needed anything and in every imaginable way treated her as had really no plans just then no hobby to ride but simply acted out the dictates of her heart you will remember that her Christian life had always been unconventional the very fact that during her early childhood she had been painfully trampled by what they would say or think seem to have had its influence over her later experiences since she had been made free she would be free indeed that is with the liberty which Christ makes free what would please him she resolved would be the one thought to which she would give careful attention now it is perhaps worthy of mention that this closely following disciple did not once stop to determine whether it would please him to give such tender care to the stray child of his nor whether she would be considered doing not just the thing in his eyes if she entertained her in the pink room about what he could have her do what and it was not for days or rather weeks that she caught the possibility of his meaning that the pink room should really be the girl's own it was just this way the weeks went by and no plan for settling mark comfortably elsewhere met mrs. roberts approval there was constantly some excellent reason why the one mentioned would not do meantime they became she and Gracie Dennis more and more deeply interested in mark in her first she should have respectable clothing this much is easily settled so the matron decreed and Gracie did not gain say it she became absorbed in preparing it such fascinating work so many things were needed and her skin was so delicate and her eyes so blue and Gracie's choice of shades and textures fitted her so precisely then when dressed simple though her toilet was her remarkable beauty shown out so conspicuously as to alarm mrs. roberts whenever she thought of her in shop or store several times during the weeks she visited sally colkins and looked about her with a thoughtful air and came away feeling that it would not do there was mark growing into manhood a good boy hard working respectable proud of his good homely sister and of his reformed father the two rooms were taking on every sort of homely comfort that sally's skill helped by mrs. roberts suggestions could devise it was growing into a model little home in its way but there was not a corner in it where mark would fit then as the days passed a subtle fascinating change began to come over mark she slipped quietly into certain household duties she showed marvelous skill with her needle such skill indeed that Gracie Dennis said more than once I'll tell you Flossie what to do with her put her in a good establishment and let her learn the dressmaking trade she would make her fortune in time and mrs. roberts smiled and assented to the statement but not to the proposition there was no dressmaking establishment known to her where she was willing to play so young and pretty and ignorant a girl but she was quite willing that mark should learn the looping of dresses and the fitting of sacks and collars and take many a stitch for her as well as for Gracie she was willing to have her do a dozen little nameless things the ways of doing which she had caught up until at last the touch of her fingers began to be felt about the rooms and mrs. roberts began to notice that she should miss mark when she went away still from the first time she said this the thought came afterward with a smile of satisfaction and it was but a week afterward that she caught herself phrasing it that she should miss her if she went away what about Dirk young reed could have told you more of him during these days than anybody else he still stayed at the boarding house mrs. saunders the mistress of it was one whom if you had known her you would feel sure could interest herself heartily in such as he there was a bit of a room next to reeds to be sure it had been used for a close press and it took the busy housekeeper half the day to plan how she could get along without it but she planned and offered it to reed for his protege just for the present you know until he sees what he can do poor fellow she said and reed accepted the little room joyfully and helped fit it up end of chapter 28 recording by trisha g chapter 29 of esther reed yet speaking this libervox recording is in the public domain esther reed yet speaking by pansy chapter 29 what if I be longed you think things are taking very rapid strides well don't you know that there come periods when they do just that thing or appear to why even the buds on the trees teach us the lesson how many springtimes have you gone to your bed feeling that the season was late and the trees were bare and the fruits would all be backward in the long in a very weary some fashion and awakened in the morning to find that there had in the night been a gentle rain and a movement of mysterious power among the buds and the grasses and that now in the morning sunshine the world had burst into bloom yet did you really suppose after all that the work was done in one night there was progress of several sorts in the class at the south end even a casual observer could have seen a change in the boys that first Sunday after they had attended Dirk's mother to the grave the dignity of that hour of sorrow was still upon them even the very reckless and world-hardened will offer a certain degree of respect to death on ordinary occasions the boys might have been merry at Dirk's expense for they saw changes in him but the memory of his mother's coffin kept them silent and let his changed manner have its effect that Sunday was full of small events to Dirk at least they are small enough when one puts them on paper though I admit that they looked large to him several people interested themselves in his welfare poor fellow said Mrs. Saunders I suppose his mother tried to do for him just as likely as not she had a clean shirt for him of a Sunday morning you will perceive that Mrs. Saunders though all her life a resident of a large city was not very well acquainted with the abject core in point of fact Dirk Coulson had had no extra clothing for his mother to make clean but Mrs. Saunders full of the motherly thought yet finding no trace of a shirt in the bundle of rags that Dirk had brought with him went down one day into the depths of an old trunk and brought to light and mended and washed and ironed a shirt that had been long laid aside it lay in its purity on a chair at the foot of Dirk's bed on Sabbath morning he lay still and looked at it for a while then arose and gave such careful attention to the soap and water as was new to him and arrayed himself in the clean linen his clothes were whole and clean Mr. Roberts had seen to it that he went respectively dressed to his mother's funeral a tap at his door a little later and young reed appeared in the wash and blacking box in hand want to borrow? he said in the careless tone of one who might have supposed that the blacking of his boots was an everyday matter to this boy I always keep my own it is cheaper than to depend on the street boys Dirk said nothing at all but reached forth his hand and took the offered tools and the hint which came with them when he went down to breakfast his boots shone and his fresh paper he arranged all together he was not the boy to whom I first introduced you I am not sure that policeman Duffer would have recognized him a collar and a necktie made a great difference in some people's personal appearance Dirk wondered a little as to where the box of paper collars came from the necktie he had just found lying in the bottom of the box it was the mate of the one young reed war but that told nothing for both were simple and plain it could be bought by the dozens in any furnishing store it is small wonder that the boys in the class looked at him nimble dick wore at first a roguish air but a sudden memory of Dirk's face when he turned away from his mother's grave came in time open graves are not easy things to forget Dirk went to church that day went with young reed by invitation and sat in the pew behind Mr. Roberts by the way he occupied was another of Mr. Roberts peculiarities three seats were rented by him in the central part of the large church one of these seats he and his wife regularly occupied the others were almost as regularly occupied by the clerks from the store who chose to make that their church home six sittings to a pew when a young man chose Mr. Roberts was ready to enter into a business engagement with him whereby the sitting should be considered his own Mr. Roberts considering it to be no part of anyone's concern that the sum for which he thus sublet the sittings was not a tenth of what the first rental cost it was in this way that Mr. reed owned settings in the pew just back of that occupied by Mr. Roberts and brought with him constantly one and another young man today the young man was Dirk Coulson it was all a strange world to him he had wandered into the gallery full and looked down from his perch on the crowd of worshipers but this morning he was in the very center of things as if he were one of them perhaps it is not strange that the startled inquiry came to his heart what if I belonged where did he belong now he had lost his place he must make another what if it should be in this neighborhood among these surroundings such thoughts did not take actual shape to him so that he could have put them into words they merely hovered in his atmosphere Mrs. Roberts sat so that he could look at her which thing he liked to do it had long since been settled in his mind that he had one friend and that one was Mrs. Roberts he admired Gracie Dennis too with a different sort of admiration from that which he gave to the matron she might be all very well and she was a splendid reader and he knew that he could imitate her on certain sentences at least and she had taught him to use the typewriter an accomplishment which he meant to perfect himself in as soon as he had a chance in fact his ambition reached higher than that one of these days he meant to make one of his own with certain improvements who shall say that Dirk was not growing on this particular day there sat beside Mrs. Roberts a lady a stranger he could not see her face but for some reason which he did not understand Dirk liked to look at her she suggested something to him that seemed like a familiar dream he thought much about her and resolved to see if in her face she looked like anyone he ever saw as she turned at the close of the service he was looking at her steadily low it was marked now the possibility had not once suggested itself to his mind if you think this doubtful you merely show that you know nothing about the transforming effect of a becoming dress no matter how simple it may be remember Dirk had never but twice seen his sister in a bonnet the first time it was Sally's and though the effect was sufficiently startling yet Sally's bonnet did not fit her face as this creation of Gracie Dennis's fingers did the second time the bonnet had been a hideous black one proffered by an old woman who lived in the story above them as Mrs. Roberts would not mar by making any mention of the neat one which she had brought in a box that day the black bonnet had been like a mask hiding Mart's beauty the bonnet that she worn now was not of that character it told a wonderful story to Dirk's astonished gaze now indeed the likeness was plain without doubt the girl whose face lighted with a curious smile at sight of him wore a striking likeness to the woman who had smiled at him whenever she met him a curious effect this had on Dirk there was that in his sister which made it possible for her to be something like the woman who had won his heart and that sister was in his care she had said so he must work for her and watch over her I suppose that Sabbath was really the beginning of the surface changes in Mrs. Roberts class not the beginning to the teacher but to those people who only have eyes and only marked things I know that it was but a few weeks afterward that Mrs. Roberts came home with such an unusual light in her eyes and with her face so full of brightness that her husband said inquiringly what is it Flossie she turned to him eagerly ready to laugh it is what you will understand but a great many people wouldn't it is so nice that you understand things I feel just like saying thank the Lord do you mean to convey the idea that only a very few favored people feel like that I don't know of a person who has not great occasion what is your special one Evan the last boy had his boots blacked and a fresh paper collar on Mr. Roberts threw back his head and laughed a genial hearty laugh his wife looked on smiling there is a great deal of character in a laugh remember a pathetic one Mr. Roberts was entirely capable of realizing what this said to his wife about the future of her boys it was becoming certain that their self respect was awakened a few days thereafter occurred another of those little things which marked some characters Dirk at Mrs. Sander's breakfast table on Sabbath morning heard talk that on Monday he recalled by the way I should have told you of one other way in which the Sabbath became a marked day to him he slept in the little room which opened from Reeds but his meals were picked up at a restaurant as occasion offered a much nicer insurer method of living than he had ever known before even the commonest restaurant had great respectability to him yet you will remember that he had by this time taken several suppers in Mrs. Roberts dining room he knew that there was a difference in things in fact his experience over infinite differences but the first time he sat down to Mrs. Sander's breakfast table on a Sabbath morning he discovered another grade this by no means belonged to the restaurant class the Sunday breakfasts and dinners were some of Mrs. Sander's quiet ways of helping along the work of the Christian world many a young man appeared at her table as the guest of Reed or of Dr. Everett or of some other of the boarders who was unaware that he owed his experience to the landlady well Dirk at the Sabbath table heard talk of one General Burton famous as a soldier, a scholar and an orator General Burton was in the city the guest of a prominent man he was to speak on the following evening in one of the great halls and much eager talk was had concerning him great desire was expressed to hear him to get a glimpse of him Dirk listened in silence but had his own thoughts about what it must be to have people talking about one wanting to get a glimpse of one and next what it must be to intimate with such people did Mrs. Roberts know the great man he wondered and then Dirk smiled as he thought how queer it was that he should know Mrs. Roberts that he might in fact be called intimately acquainted with her remembering this reverie of his you will better understand how he felt on Monday morning as he made his way in haste down a quiet part of one of the uptown streets intent on an errand that required promptness to hear his name called by Mrs. Roberts good morning she said are you in too great haste to recognize your friends I want to introduce you to a friend of mine General Burton Mr. Coulson General this is one of my young men of whom I told you where upon the famous general hero of many battles held out his honored hand and took Dirk's in a cordial grasp I don't suppose I could explain to you what an effect this action had on a boy like Dirk there is this comfort you may be a student of human nature and therefore may understand it all without explanation this is only one of many so-called trifles which occurred during the weeks to make their indelible impress on the characters of the boys of course the Monday evenings prospered reading lessons and writing lessons and as time passed lessons of all sorts made good progress neatly blackened boots carefully arranged hair and fresh collars became the rule instead of the exception other avenues for improvement opened it became noised abroad in Christian circles the great transformations were being worked among a certain set of hard young fellows who had hitherto been best known to the police Mr. Roberts was interviewed by one and another and one outgrowth of the talks was that tickets for a course of expensive and valuable and attractive lectures on popular subjects were placed in large numbers in Mr. Roberts hands for him to use at discretion moreover seats were rented in the church towards which most of the boys gravitated the one connected with their mission seats re-rented after Mr. Roberts planned so that as often as there appeared a young man to have a spot in the church which belonged to him it could be had for a very small sum in fact as pews rented in that church a ridiculously small sum these are only hints of the channels which time and patience and thought opened for these young men on whom but a short time before Satan believed himself to have so firm a grip one feature of the Monday evenings had in the course of time to be changed the young teacher of Elocution went home I want to go she said at last in answer to her hostess's pleading I think it quite likely that Papa would let me stay and attend school here but I am in haste to get home you need not look sober flossy I have had a happier time than I have ever had in my life before and I have found here a sort of happiness that will last it almost breaks my heart to think of leaving those boys my dear Dick Bolton but really I need to go home and undo certain things that I left badly done you don't half know me flossy shipply when I came here I was a regular goose if you had known what a simpleton I was and how hateful I had been about some things at home you would never have invited me among other things that were hateful about me I was a real horror to my mother I thought I had reason to distrust when the truth is that I have caused to go down on my knees and thank her for keeping me from some things I'm in a real hurry to get home and show that young mother of mine what a perfectly angelic daughter I can be and Mrs. Robert smiled and kept her own counsel and this was all that she was supposed to know about her young guest she never knew the whole story about Professor Ellis though there was a girl Hester Mason by name at Sabbath school who could have told her a good deal about him and about Gracie Dennis's helping to break the net that Satan had woven for her unwary feet the fact is there is a great deal concerning all these people Hester Mason and Dr. Everett and Joy Saunders and Joy Saunders' mother which I should have liked to tell you if I could have found room you may read them any time however if you choose in a book called an endless chain of course the story of their lives does not end even there because the chain is as I said endless but there are many of the links presented to view so Gracie Dennis went home and neither then nor afterward did Mrs. Robert's hear in detail the story of Professor Ellis what matter she had however a short added chapter it came in a letter from Mrs. Mary and Dennis not long after Gracie's return it read thus oh Flossy Shipley Roberts blessed little scheming saint that you are what did you do how did you do it ah I know more about it than those sentences would indicate the dear Lord did it working through you his servant he has called our Gracie to hire ground filled her heart with that which has made insignificant things take their true place and wrong things show for what they are you know of course that it is all about Professor Ellis or no I feared is all wrong about him but right with our Gracie I hear that he has permanently located in your city perhaps your Christian charity can reach him he sent Gracie a letter trying to explain certain affairs about that Mason girl with which I presume you are familiar she showed me the letter and her answer he will not write her another I don't know any Mason girl said Mrs. Roberts to her husband but it doesn't matter I don't want to know the story if there is nothing to be done through it there are stories enough that one must know end of chapter 29 recording by Tricia G