I do not know whether, had Elsie known all the temptations and embarrassments to beset her on that very next day, she would have been able to make so emphatic a resolution as the one with which she left the car. A shopping excursion was in order for the morning. Cousin Carrie had a dozen trifles which must be bought that day, and it suited Ben to attend them gallantly all the morning. Now shopping was not a trial to Elsie; it had all the charm of novelty for her, for hitherto her busy young life had known comparatively little of it. On this particular morning the circumstances were particularly agreeable. She had no grave responsibilities, but was merely an interested looker-on, ready to give bits of advice as occasion offered; while nestled away in her pretty porte-monnaie were two shining gold pieces which her father had given her that morning to spend as she pleased. Oh, the charming things that a girl of eighteen may please to buy! Cousin Carrie was a helpful companion in that direction. She had wide-open eyes, and dealt in superlatives: "Oh, Elsie! Do look at this lovely shade in kids. Aren't they perfectly exquisite? Just your number, too, and, match your new hat exactly. Really, Elsie, you ought to have a pair of those. I never saw a more perfect match." Elsie looked interested but doubtful. "I have just bought new gloves," she said, "and they match nicely, I think." "Oh, they do; they are charming. But these are that lovely, peculiar shade which one so rarely finds in kid—just the tint of your long plume. Oh, I do think they are too lovely for anything!" "They are expensive." "Oh, I don't think so. Only two and a quarter. You can't get really good kid for less than that, and poor gloves are not worth buying. Besides, they have the Foster fastenings. Now I really dote on Foster fastenings." Elsie was being persuaded. They did look as though they would fit her shapely hand so well, and they really were a remarkable match. What if she had just bought a pair? Gloves would keep and would be always needed. Mamma approved of good gloves, and papa had told her to spend the gold pieces just as she pleased. "Well," she said, a slight hesitation still in her voice, "I think I'll—" and she glanced down at her hands. "Next time any temptation of this sort approaches you, just look at your hand." It was to Elsie as though the words were written on the back of her glove, so distinctly did she seem to see them. A temptation of what sort? Was this box of gloves in the list? "Can you let it take up things, which, to say the least, are not for Jesus?" Were the gloves for Him? The question startled her, seemed a little irreverent, yet she was a clear-brained girl and knew what the query meant.