The opening meeting was made a special one. Bessie had got a special solo, with a very taking chorus, and then some of the men gave little testimonies. To Phebe's great surprise and intense joy, after a little pause when she had asked if any one else would like to speak, Reynolds stepped forward. "Friends, I think it is high time I opened my mouth." His voice trembled very much when he first began, but gradually got steadier. "I've made up my mind to be a Christian. I gave myself to Jesus three weeks ago, and I made up my mind on the Sunday the room was opened to let this be known. It gave me a little courage to put it off a while. I was tempted this afternoon to put it off still longer, but I did not give in." ("Hear, hear!" said Dick, once the secret Christian himself.) "What I owe to my mistress here I can never tell you; she has made God so real to me." ("God bless her!" said Red Ribbon.) "That's all I have to say, as I am no speaker, but I thought I must let you know this." Emboldened by Reynolds' example three other men made a like confession, and then they all stood up and sang the doxology. "For," said Phebe, "if you cannot all praise God for yourselves you can for others." On the way home she grasped Reynolds firmly by the hand. "God bless you, Reynolds! This is a happy day. But always remember I am as much your debtor as you are mine. So, please, never praise me again. God only knows how much you have helped me, and what I owe to you. I should not be in the position I am to-day but for you." And what effect do you suppose that little speech had upon the young fellow? To make him proud and expect a bigger bonus than ever at Christmas? Not a bit of it; he was more than ever her willing slave. If masters knew the value of praise, there would be more "love-unions" than "trades-unions." Every dinner-hour in a small corner of Sunshine Hall--that was its formal name--a little group of men gathered together, either for prayer or to talk over any difficulties, and it was astonishing the knotty points they got hold of, and the difficult questions they afterwards propounded to their leader. In prayer they mostly spoke of her as "The Little Missis," "The Missis" being too cold and "Mrs. Waring" too formal. But, in spite of all this sunshine there were still deep shadows. Public opinion in Hadley passed very hard sentences on "The Little Missis," though fortunately she did not always hear them. "Unwomanly," "Forward," "Did not know her place," "Eager for popularity," "Fond of men's company," "Hand in glove with the world," "Knew how to advertise her business"--these were some of the comments. There was one good thing, however, about this state of matters--there was clearly no danger to be feared such as comes when all men speak well of you. How Satan must rejoice when he can get God's workers paralysed through the criticisms of Christians! CHAPTER XX A STRANGE KIND OF PREACHING