"Possibly in some respects," answered her husband. "Still, he unhesitatingly says that but for our meeting yesterday, neither would he have thought of having me. I seem to have quite won his heart by my method of dealing with him. I could hardly repress a smile to-night when, with the air of one who has absolute authority down there, he informed me I need not fear to come and go among that people, as he had already issued his orders that I was not to be molested under any circumstances." Mrs. Carleton laughed heartily. "An able protector you have in him, surely," she said. "I am not so sure," Mr. Carleton continued, seriously, "but that he may prove a valuable helper, if not protector. Mr. Bacon says he has almost unlimited power over his associates at the mills; is the ringleader in all their mischief; is wild, daring, and exceedingly profane. On the other hand, he is strenuously opposed to everything that will intoxicate, and prides himself on keeping his word. What little I have seen of him has convinced me that he has in him the material for a noble Christian manhood, only let the Spirit once begin the work. He will come to the Bible school next Sunday, and I am hoping it will be the beginning of better things for him, and for the Black Forge people." "In whose class will you put him?" Mrs. Carleton asked, with interest. "Miss Squire's. I have already spoken to her about it; she has rare tact for holding her boys, and I trust may secure Ray's promise to attend regularly. Let his word once be given, we shall surely have him as a permanent scholar with us." Later in the night Mr. Carleton was aroused by his wife's restlessness, and asked the cause. "I cannot get that poor woman at the Black Forge Mills out of my mind," she replied. "To think that she should have died there without a single comfort, and with no Christian hope." "I meant to have told you," her husband quickly said, "that she was a Christian, and died happily. She belonged to a Christian family in an adjoining town, and early in life made a profession of faith. She afterward married this Branford, much against the wishes of her friends, and a sad, distressing life has been hers, until her heart was completely broken by her husband's dissipation and her children's waywardness. But she never gave up her hope, and when this Ray came to her side yesterday she sent him for a Bible, and died repeating some of its blessed promises. The boy was really eloquent as he pictured to me that death-bed scene, and though he may not realize it, it has already made a marked impression upon him." With a sigh of relief Mrs. Carleton settled back upon her pillow, and was soon asleep.