When she got home she found that Mr. Fuller had been there, but had left a message that he would call again. He was so delighted with the result of his efforts with Tom, that he could not wait till the evening. Still, he had no intention of taking the office of a mediator between them. That, he felt, would be to intrude for the sake of making himself of importance; and he had learned that one of the virtues of holy and true service is to get out of the way as soon as possible.
About six o'clock he went again, and was shown into the bookseller's back parlor, where he found both Lucy and her grandmother.
"Will you come out with me, Miss Burton, for an hour or so?" he said.
"I wonder at you, Mr. Fuller," interposed Mrs. Boxall—"a clergyman, too!"
It is a great pity that people should so little restrain themselves when they are most capable of doing so, that when they are old, excitement should make them act like the fools that they are not.
Mr. Fuller was considerably astonished, but did not lose his self-possession.
"Surely you are not afraid to trust her with me, Mrs. Boxall?" he said, half merrily.
"I don't know that, sir. I hear of very strange goings-on at your church. Service every day, the church always open, and all that! As if folks had nothing to do but say their prayers."
"I don't think you would talk like that, Mrs. Boxall," said Mr. Fuller, with no less point that he said it pleasantly, "if you had been saying your prayers lately."
"You have nothing to do with my prayers, sir."