Day after day Nanna kept her secret from Phebe. How could she tell her! How could she bring such a double fold of gloom over her! And day after day she prayed for God's clear guidance.
At every opportunity she kept a stealthy watch over every customer who came into the shop, and all the day she was for ever listening for that hollow, rasping cough.
All this tension told upon her considerably. Phebe was quite certain she was not well, and she knew herself it was taking away her joy and breaking her peace. At last she pulled herself together, and decided she must carry the burden no longer. "It is too difficult a piece of work for me to do," she said to herself, "I must leave it all to God. If He wanted me to help in it He would have shown me the way. I'll just watch and see how He does it," and the joy and peace came back again.
If she had known of "63 Dutton Street," she would have seen the beginning of God's plans.
The knowledge soon came.
She was in the business early one morning, when all at once she felt impelled to whisper to Reynolds—
"Have you seen Ralph Waring again?"
Reynolds had no alternative but to answer "Yes."
"Did he come into the shop?"
Reynolds gave a solemn nod.