"Yes," said Gwen slowly. "She is the one person I know who makes me feel ashamed of myself." "And it seems to me," said Sybil, making her way towards the house, "that instead of commiserating her on her hardships, and pointing out to her, as you do, her husband's imperfections, we ought to encourage her. She has to live the life, why should we make it more difficult for her. Why try and rob her of the 'Well done' that she will hear by-and-bye." "That may be all true; but it does not mean that we are to stand still and see her die. I shall certainly write to the Bishop." The Bishop smiled as he read the letter that lay on his hall table next morning. He knew Gwen, and had no doubt whatever that in her love for her sister she had exaggerated matters. He sent her a kind answer reminding her that no life was perfect. There was almost always some drawback or other. "All our joy is touched with pain; So that earth's bliss may be our guide, And not our chain." He owned that the trials that Rachel had apparently to meet, if Gwen had reported their correctly, might not be very good for her bodily health, but they were the means of strengthening her soul, of helping her to grow in grace, evidence of which was not wanting. That after all it was worth enduring hardness, if it resulted in becoming a better soldier of the Lord Jesus Christ. He ended his letter by expressing the wish that his little friend Gwen knew what it was to take up her cross and to follow Christ. But the Bishop did not put the thought of Rachel and her husband away from him. He determined to run over to Trowsby before long to see if Gwen's report had the element of truth in it. The first few months after the baby's birth had been supremely happy for Rachel. Little Pat had supplied all that she had been conscious of lacking in her life. Notwithstanding the fact of their increasing poverty, she was able to fight successfully the anxiety which would have depressed her in earlier days. She was so engrossed with the thought of her child that other cares were put into the background. That the balance at the bank grew steadily less she knew; but it was no use allowing this fact to weigh down her spirits, and when she now and then had to face it, a glance at the lovely little flushed face lying on the pillow in the cradle, filled her heart with such rapture that anxiety fled, leaving her with a smile of happiness on her face.