“A leading of Providence, Mr Eddy! I never heard you use such an expression before.”
“True, but I have learned to use it since I went to sea,” replied our hero quietly.
“That’s strange,” rejoined the diver in a low voice, as if he feared to scare the young man from a subject that was very near his own heart, “very strange, for goin’ to sea has not often the effect of makin’ careless young fellows serious—though it sometimes has, no doubt. How was it, if I—”
“Yes, Baldy,” interrupted Edgar, with a pleasant smile, laying his hand on the diver’s huge shoulder, “I don’t mind making a confidant of you in this as in other matters. I’ll tell you,—the story is short enough. When I parted from Aileen, she made me a present of a New Testament from a pile that she happened to have by her to give to the poor people. To be more particular, I asked for one, and she consented to let me have it. You see I wanted a keepsake! Well, when at sea, I read the Testament regularly, night and morning, for Aileen’s sake, but God in His great love led me at last to read it for the sake of Him whose blessed life and death it records.”
“Then you’ve fairly hauled down the enemy’s colours and hoisted those of the Lord?” asked Baldwin.
“I have been led to do so,” replied the youth modestly but firmly.
“Bless the Lord!” said the diver in a low tone as he grasped Edgar’s hand, while he bowed his head for a moment.
Presently he looked up, and seemed about to resume the subject of conversation when Edgar interrupted him—
“Have you seen or heard anything of Aileen since I left?”
“Nothing, except that she’s been somewhat out of sorts, and her father has sent her up to London for a change.”