The weary, weary minutes stole on. It was now nearly one o'clock. Drowsiness was creeping over Paul, but he knew the danger of sleeping when the cold is intense; if he slept now, he might never waken again, or waken in torture. "I can only keep myself awake by singing," thought Paul. "I will sing that hymn over again, and try to think of the words, and to make them indeed a New Year's prayer." Paul sang, and this time loudly, for he was calling on God from the heart, and so threw his whole soul into the hymn. "Who is singing there—at this hour?" cried a voice from outside. Paul sprang to his feet with almost a cry of delight. "I'm Paul Harley—I'm locked in—I'm almost frozen!" he shouted with the utmost strength of his voice. "Paul Harley!" echoed the speaker without. "Oh! Run, run—quick as light—and get the key of the church!" cried Paul. "Trust James Barton for that!" cried the voice, and off rushed the speaker at full speed. Yes, it was James, who, returning from the church where he had prayed in the New Year, had taken his homeward way through the churchyard of that in which poor Paul was looked up. It was not James' shortest way home, but he had chosen it because St. Mary's church and churchyard would look, he thought, so beautiful in the moonlight, robed in their winter mantle of snow. James had been not a little surprised to hear the sound of Paul's hymn in a spot so lonely and quiet. But for that sound, James would have passed the church without suspecting that any one was shivering and starving within it. I have not space to describe how James ran, as if for his life, to the house of the clerk of St. Mary's, and rang so furiously at the bell, that the poor man, his wife, and all his family, thought that the place was on fire. It is enough to say that James was trusted with the church key, for his character was known to the clerk, and back he hastened to the church. The big key was turned in the lock, the heavy door swung back on its hinges, the imprisoned Paul was set free; and with what a hearty grasp of the hand did he thank his kind deliverer! "Come to our home for the rest of the night," said James; "mother will bid you heartily welcome, I'm sure of that. She is sitting up to give me my hot supper on my return from church, and I need not say how glad I shall be for you to share it." Very thankfully was the invitation accepted. Paul felt as if new life were poured into his frozen veins when he sat by a glowing fire, and drank hot steaming soup. Before he went to rest, he had confessed to James the wrong he had done him by spoiling his ship, and asked forgiveness for that and other acts of unkindness. "Let bygones be bygones," said James, smiling; "this is New Year's day you know; let us both resolve, by God's help, to begin it well, and make a better use of our time than we ever have done before."