This was the effect the manager wished to produce. He wanted Adam to take a higher and more just view of his calling and responsibilities. He wanted first to raise his self-estimate, to encourage efforts at self-improvement; above all, to lead him to a knowledge of his spiritual need, and the all-sufficiency of Christ to meet it. But this last part of the subject would have to be carefully approached. There must be no plunging recklessly into it. He must prove his good-will to Adam, and thus secure his confidence, and he was a good deal astonished at the progress already made.
The manager had no thought of meeting Adam when he did, but he had been longing for such an opportunity, and was thankful for such a fulfilment of one of the desires of his heart.
"You think, then, I did not do wrong by marrying Maggie?" said Adam, interrupting Mr. Drummond's thoughts by the inquiry.
"I imagined that question had been settled a few minutes ago."
"I'm glad you think so, sir. It has troubled me for a long time, ever since her mother went away to live beside her elder daughter. She used to be next door to us, but the children began to run in and out too often, and Maggie was p'raps a bit too having, seeing her mother was independent like. Maggie will have a matter of three hundred pound when the old lady dies, so I may well wonder she married me."
Adam was relapsing, and would be o' no account again directly.
"No doubt she was, and is, very fond of you, Adam. You have proved this by your own evidence, and I was sure of it almost without that. I do not think I durst have felt certain if you had been like some of the men whose wives are waiting for them at pay time. You do the best you know how to do, and Maggie must respect you."
At this instant the baby opened her dark eyes, then looked into Adam's face, and began to laugh and struggle to be on her feet. Just then, too, the other four children, tired of the swings and wanting a change, approached the bench on which they had left their father.
The sight of the gentleman checked their rapid advance, and they hung shyly back. But Mr. Drummond encouraged them, saying that he wanted to see Adam's flock, and at the father's call they came to be inspected.
The manager congratulated Adam on their healthy looks, and the signs of a mother's care to be seen in their neatly mended clothing. Then he asked, "What school do you go to on Sundays?"