Then Mrs. Tremayne spoke of the wages she would give me, which were to be increased as I became more useful, and she said she would have me taught to clean the silver, and to wait at table, so that, after I had been with her about three years, she might be able to get me a situation as footman in one of the large houses in the neighborhood.
The little boy had been quite quiet all the time my mistress was talking to me, until she mentioned this, and then he said, suddenly—
"Dear mother."
"What, my darling boy?"
"You said three years."
"Yes, Reggie."
"Won't Jesus come before three years are done, dear mother?"
"I hope so, darling," said his mother, with tears in her eyes; "but we do not know how short a time or how long a time there may be before He comes."
"I hope He will come before three years," said little Reggie.
I glanced up when he said this, and I saw that the "Rules for To-day" were hung up over the chimney-piece. Mrs. Tremayne seemed to think of them at the same time, for she went to her writing-table and took out a copy of them, which she gave to me, and told me to hang it up in my bedroom.