"He thinks it a foolish one, ma'am," replied Miriam, colouring up to her eyes, and pressing the bannister tightly with her hand, for it was hard to a proud spirit to make the humbling confession. "Then perhaps you would wish to remain in my service still," said the lady, "and I should be very willing to keep you, and overlook the burst of temper into which you were betrayed in my presence, had I reason to hope that such bursts would not again recur. But I cannot," continued Mrs. Mellor, "have perpetual quarrelling in my kitchen; I cannot keep two servants who will not live in harmony together, I must—and will have my house an abode of peace, as every Christian home should be." "Oh! Ma'am, if you would but try me," cried Miriam. "Caroline and I have made up our quarrel, and I hope that it will be our last." The face of Mrs. Mellor brightened. "If such be the case," said the lady, "I will gladly try you again." And never had Mrs. Mellor cause to regret having done so. It was not that Miriam was never again tempted to give way to a temper naturally violent; it was not that the hasty word would not rise to her tongue, nor the angry blood to her cheek; evil habits and evil tempers are not to be conquered without a struggle, sometimes long as well as severe. But both Miriam and Hamil had learned to keep watch against besetting sins, and knew where to look for help in their time of need; they both pressed onwards where duty called them, as faithful soldiers of the cross; and they hoped one day to join in the song of triumph which the redeemed will raise: "thanks be to God which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." * * 1 Cor. xv. 57. A LIGHT OR, A CHRISTIAN IN INFLUENCE. CHAPTER I. The Young Stepmother. "THIS is most vexatious, most perplexing; I am sure that I scarcely know which way to turn," exclaimed Mrs. Fairley, as she entered the room in which her firstborn babe lay asleep in his cradle, trimmed with muslin, blue ribbon, and lace. The lady was very young, and looked even younger than she was. She had but lately left the school-room when she had married Mr. Fairley, a widower, and so had become stepmother to his two children, who were six and seven years of age. Little suited was a lively girl, who had never so much as paid a bill for herself, to undertake at once the care of a house and family. "Then I suppose that Dr. Blane thinks, ma'am, that Master Tom's rash is something infectious; I felt sure that it was," said the nurse.