A DOMESTIC DRAMA 45 



phantasmal face caused me to write at once to the 

 mother to inquire after them all, particularly my 

 favourite girl, and her reply was that they were all 

 well and going on as usual, etc. Somehow this did 

 not quite satisfy me; something in the child's mind 

 had caused that vision, although the mother was 

 perhaps ignorant of it. Before long I was able to pay 

 them a visit, and found them, as I had been told, all 

 well and going on as usual. The girl told me nothing, 

 and I asked no questions. Nevertheless a suspicion 

 lurked in my mind, and presently I became conscious 

 of a slight change in the moral or mental atmosphere 

 of the place, a change so slight that it could not be 

 described as a restraint or a chill, but it was there all 

 the same, a something which had come to dim the 

 old bright family happiness and union. 



Here it is necessary to tell what the atmosphere 

 had been. They were an intensely religious family, 

 church-goers, but not satisfied with the Sunday ser- 

 vices at the village church, they made it a custom to 

 attend religious meetings and week-day services in 

 their own and the neighbouring village. Which was 

 only the right thing for them to do, considering their 

 evangelical doctrine with its Methodist colouring, 

 which was that their God was a jealous God Who 

 watched their minds, taking note of every thought in 

 them, and Who desired them to live with one object 

 before them — to save their souls from everlasting 

 perdition by availing themselves of all the means 

 of grace at their command. They were all of that 

 mind, all having undergone or suffered conversion, 



