Very cautiously, but with an eagerness which surprised himself, he climbed up the creaking rounds of the ladder and entered the dismal room, where the child was lying in desolate darkness. Fortunately he had his box of matches in his pocket, and the end of a wax candle with which he kindled the lamps, and in another minute a gleam of light shone upon Jessica’s white features. She was stretched upon a scanty litter of straw under the slanting roof where the tiles had not fallen off, with her poor rags for her only covering; but as her eyes looked up into Daniel’s face bending over her a bright smile of joy sparkled in them.
“Oh!” she cried, gladly, but in a feeble voice, “it’s Mr. Daniel! Has God told you to come here, Mr. Daniel?”
“Yes,” said Daniel, kneeling beside her, taking her wasted hand in his, and parting the matted hair upon her damp forehead.
“What did he say to you?” said Jessica.
“He told me I was a great sinner,” replied Daniel. “He told me I loved a little bit of dirty money better than a poor, friendless, helpless child, whom he had sent to me to see if I would do her a little good for his sake. He looked at me, or the minister did, through and through, and he said, ‘Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be which thou hast provided?’ And I could answer him nothing, Jess. He had come to a reckoning with me, and I could not say a word to him.”
“Aren’t you a good man, Mr. Daniel?” whispered Jessica.
“No; I’m a wicked sinner,” he cried, while the tears rolled down his solemn face. “I’ve been constant at God’s house, but only to get money; I’ve been steady and industrious, but only to get money; and now God looks at me, and he says, ‘Thou fool!’ Oh, Jess, Jess, you’re more fit for heaven than I ever was in my life!”
“Why don’t you ask him to make you good for Jesus Christ’s sake?” asked the child.
“I can’t,” he said. “I’ve been kneeling down Sunday after Sunday when the minister’s been praying, but all the time I was thinking how rich some of the carriage people were. I’ve been loving money and worshipping money all along, and I’ve nearly let you die rather than run the risk of losing part of my earnings. I’m a very sinful man.”
“But you know what the minister often says,” murmured Jessica: