A sudden movement of his mother caused him to stop his reading and look up. She had raised herself up to a sitting position, her arms were extended, her eyes were turned heavenward, her lips moved:
"Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name: thou art mine." She repeated the words once, twice, thrice, in a clear, strong voice, and then fell back upon the pillow—dead!
Those divine words were the only legacy she had left her boy.
CHAPTER II.
MISS SQUIRE'S NEW SCHOLAR.
About ten o'clock the next evening the door bell of the First Church parsonage rang with a sharp and prolonged peal, as though pulled by a vigorous hand. The servant had gone to her room long before; so Mr. Carleton, who sat in the cozy parlor, reading to his wife, arose and went to the door. Mrs. Carleton heard him, with surprise manifest in his tones, say "Good-evening!" The caller, whoever he was, replied at some length, but in a voice too low for her to understand his words; then he and Mr. Carleton went up to the study.
It was nearly an hour later when they came down, the visitor going directly out, while Mr. Carleton, closing and locking the door, came to the parlor. He seemed surprised to find his wife still waiting for him, and said:
"Had I known you were sitting up for me, Mary, I would have dismissed my caller sooner."
"Oh, it was my own choice," she replied, as they entered their room together. "But who was your visitor?"
"Ray Branford, the boy who stoned me yesterday down at Black Forge Mills," he answered, with a thoughtful expression still on his face.