"And the new man is coming soon?"
"As soon as the Bishop can find him. He has one or two that he would like to send here, but I'm wandering from my point. Before I leave, I should like to find something for Jessie to do. She's utterly unfitted for life on a back block. It's too rough for her, and the work too heavy. She can't do anything yet, but before the winter sets in I'd like to see her settled at work she can do, something fairly quiet and regular. What do delicate girls do? What are they fit for," and Tom glanced appealingly at Betty.
"Sewing would be too sedentary, and she would not get it either, living where she does," said Betty.
"That's just it; I want to move her from where she is, but she's not strong enough for service."
"She might help in an infant school where such help is needed. She has read a good deal and passed all her standards, and has picked up a good deal of desultory knowledge which, from what the children tell me of the way she talks to them, I should think she had a gift for imparting."
"The very thing," cried Tom, "and I believe there is an opening at Wylmington, which has the advantage of not being far from home in case of a breakdown. I was in the little school there the other day, and the teacher, Miss Armstrong, was saying that it was imperative that she must have help with the tinies, and that she had written to the department about it. Now, if I could only put an oar in and get the post for Jessie, she could spend her spare time in study, and in qualifying herself to pass the examinations necessary for her to become a certificated teacher. In years to come she might get quite strong enough to undertake the care of some country school."
Tom lost no time in getting into touch with the authorities, with the result that in a few weeks' time he had the offer of the post which he sought for Jessie.
Jessie's imaginings about the parson's first visit to her home only came partly true, for on one soaking wet afternoon as the light was beginning to wane, a dripping man, clad in waterproof from top to toe, came riding up to the door, and she could hardly believe her eyes when the rider turned out to be Tom. Her greeting was absolutely incoherent in its gladness.
"Mother, father," she cried flying to the door, "come, come quickly. Here's Mr. Chance, come to see us, and he must be soaking to the skin."
"Not a bit of it," said Tom, dismounting cheerily from his horse and shaking the rain from the brim of his hat, "thanks to my overalls. I have a proposal to make to your father and mother, the answer to which is urgent, and I could not wait for fine weather."