"Why, Molly!" he exclaimed. "How did you come by it?"
Molly clapped her hands, and laughed. "You'll never guess who gave it to me, father!"
"It was Mr. Talbot," Mrs. Lethbridge explained; "he's Molly's latest friend, you know. It was like this. When you were at your worst, Mr. Talbot called to enquire how you were getting on. He only saw Molly and baby, and it seems she got talking to him; wasn't that it, Molly?"
"Yes, mother. He asked lots of questions, and I told him how I went to Sunday-school with Miss Morris. And then I told him about the Good Shepherd, and that he could see the picture in Mrs. Mugford's window. He went across to Mrs. Mugford's, but she said he couldn't have it, until he said it was for me, then she let him buy it. I found a nail, and he nailed it up there!"
"I never was more surprised about anything than when I came down and saw it," Mrs. Lethbridge declared; "and that was only the beginning of Mr. Talbot's kindness. Every Saturday, as you know, James, he has brought me a sovereign. God must have put it into his heart to be so generous!"
The husband was silent, but only because he could find no words to express his sense of gratitude. He knew his master had acted thus for the sake of his helpless wife and family, and he felt deeply thankful.
The next day Mr. Talbot called, and had a long interview with James Lethbridge; and afterwards Mrs. Lethbridge found her husband in such excellent spirits that she looked at him in surprise.
"I told Mr. Talbot about the poaching, Jenny," he explained in answer to her look of enquiry. "I thought I ought. He was surprised, I could see; but he was so kind, and says when I'm well enough I'm to come back to the Hall, and let bygones be bygones. I mean to start life afresh!"
And James Lethbridge kept his word. He did start life afresh; and though at first, he found it a hard matter to pass by the "White Hart," yet he was true to his determination to abstain from drink.
"Molly, my dear," Mrs. Lethbridge said one day, "do you remember how, on the day, of your father's accident, you prayed to Jesus to take the pain from my heart?"