The waiting-room was absolutely silent save for the droning of a huge blue fly that was circling round and round in the long beam of dusty sunlight which poured in from one window. The noise of the station outside seemed far away--a drowsy diapason. Joseph, soothed by the distant murmur, leaned back in his chair and emptied his mind of thought. Then his eye fell idly and carelessly upon an open book that lay upon the table. The book was a copy of the Holy Bible, one of those large print books which a pious society presents to places of temporary sojourn, if perchance some passing may fall upon the Word of God and find comfort therein. From where he sat, however, Joseph could not see what the book was. Nevertheless, for some strange reason or other, it began to fascinate him. He stared at it fixedly, as a patient stares at a disc of metal given him by the trained hypnotist of a French hospital when a trance is to be induced. Something within began to urge him to rise from his seat, cross the room, and see exactly what it was that lay there. The prompting grew stronger and stronger, until it filled his brain with an intensity of compulsion such as he had never known before. He resented the extraordinary influence bitterly. A mad, unreasoning anger welled up within him. "I will not go!" he said aloud. "Nothing in the world shall make me go!" All that an ordinary spectator--had there been one in the waiting-room--would have seen was a pale-faced man staring at the table. Yet, nevertheless, a wild battle was going on, almost frightful in its strength and power, though the end of it came simply enough. The man could bear the fierce striving against this unknown and mysterious compulsion no longer. His will suddenly dissolved, melted away, fell to pieces like a child's house of cards, and with a deep sigh that was almost a groan he rose and moved unsteadily towards the table. He looked down at the book. At first there was a mist before his eyes; then it rolled up like a curtain and these words sprang out clear and vividly distinct from the printed page: "But the Lord was with Joseph, and showed him mercy." CHAPTER IV ON THE MOUNTAIN The long journey was over. A company of grave-faced men had met Joseph at a little wayside station. On one side stretched the sea, on the other great mountains towered up into the still, morning air. It was early dawn. The sun in its first glory sent floods of joyous light over the placid waters. How splendid the air was--this ozone-laden breeze of the ocean--how cool, invigorating, and sweet! Joseph turned to a tall, white-haired old man who seemed to be the leader of the band of people who stood upon the platform. "I have come to a new world," he said simply. "Blessed be the name of the Lord who has sent you to Wales," came the answer in deep and fervent tones.