“Who could be otherwise, my good sir, if he had a heart in his bosom--only eight months married, and in danger of being separated. Mother and child taken, and the husband... left desolate... desolate for life!” “If you could see your way,” resumed Rutherford, after a respectful pause, and still harking back to the dispute, “to do anything...” “Why did you not say that before? Only tell me; and if it be in my power, it shall be done. May I undertake the doctor's fees, or arrange with the nurse--through you of course, and in any way that will be in keeping with their feelings? Command me; I shall count it more than a privilege--a duty of pity and... love.” “It was not the Fortunes I was thinking of,” said Rutherford; “but that can be left over. It is kind of you to offer help; they are not, however, in need of pecuniary assistance. Fortune has a good post in the railway. He's a first-rate engineer and a rising man. But if you cared to send flowers...” “I am obliged to you for the hint, and I'll attend to this to-morrow morning.” (The invalid had a fresh bouquet every day for a month.) “No, I will not go in. Just present my compliments and sympathy to Mr. Fortune. Here is my card, and... I'll just wait for the bulletin, if you would be so good as to come with it to the door.” “Baby's going to live too, and Manley says she will be a thumping big child in a few months!” “Thank God, Mr. Rutherford! You cannot imagine how this incident has affected me. I'll go home now, and as I cross through the dark-ness of the Meadow my humble thanksgiving will mingle with yours, that in this home it has been God's pleasure to turn the darkness... into light.” The voice of the Collector was charged with emotion, and Rutherford was confirmed in his romantic belief, although it seemed as if he had laboured in vain in the affair of the Sabbath school. It was known before the meeting of that evening that no compromise had been effected; and when the Collector rose to speak, his face and manner charged with solemnity, it was felt that a crisis in the Free North had arrived. He began by saying that the subject of last meeting had never been long out of his thoughts, and that he had now arrived at a decision which commended itself to his judgment, and which he would submit with all brevity. “Moderator”--for the Collector's historical utterance must be given in his own words--“if a man lives alone for many years, through the providence of God, and has come almost to the limit of ordinary human life as set down by the Psalmist, he is apt to become censorious and to be out of sympathy with young people; and if I have erred in this respect, you will kindly assign it to the habits of my life, not to the feelings of my heart.”