and john meeting that sad and steadfast gaze and shaken beyond control by his pent up suffering and suspense suddenly fell on his knees help me i he cried with the tears struggling in his throat � you are right � i need help me to be strong you are nearer god than i am pray for gently the bishop withdrew his hands from the clasp that held them and laid them tenderly on the bowed head his lips moved but he uttered no words there waa a solemn pause broken only by the slow of the clock in the outer hall god s good man presently rising in obedience to his friend s touch stood awhile with face turned away trying to master himself yet trembling in every nerve despite his efforts � he began i am ashamed that you should see me like this so weak a weakness that will make you stronger by and by john and the bishop linked a friendly arm within his own � come into the church with me will you i feel the influence of your saint upon me i let us wait for news good or bad at the altar � and while waiting we will pray do you remember what i said to you when you came to see me last summer some day when we are in very desperate straits we will see what your saint can do for us without a word of john obeyed they passed out of the house together and took the private by path to the church it was then about noon and the sun shone through a soft mist that threatened rain without permitting it to fall the faint of a in the near distance suggested the music of the coming spring and the delicate of plant life pushing its way through the earth gave a freshness to the quiet air arriving at the beautiful little they entered it by the though the public door stood open according to invariable custom a singularly brilliant glare of reflected from the plain clear glass that filled the of the rose window above the altar struck on the old world which doubtless contained the remains of one who all miraculous attributes apart had nobly lived and bravely died � and as the bishop moved reverently round it to the front of the altar rails his eyes were uplifted and full of spiritual rapture kneel here with me john he said � and with all our hearts and all our minds let us pray to god for the life of the beloved woman whom god has given you � given surely not to take away again but to be more completely made your own i let us pray as the faithful servants of christ prayed in the early days of the church � not hesitatingly not not f i � but believing and making sure that our prayers will if good for us be granted they knelt together folding his arms on the altar rails hid his face � but the bishop clasping his hands and fixing his eyes on the word that flashed out god s good man of the worn wherein the unknown saint seemed to gather to himself all the sunlight that poured through the window above him and to from his own slight worn frame something like the mystic of glory pictured round the figure of an or the minutes slowly away the church clock the half hour after noon � and they remained absorbed in a trance of speechless passionate prayer they were unaware that some of s moved by the same idea of praying for while she was the operation which was to save or had come to the church also for that purpose but were brought to a pause on the threshold of the building by the sight they saw within that their own beloved should be at the altar in the agony of his own heart s was too much for their simple and affectionate souls � and they withdrew in haste and silence many of them with tears in their eyes they were considerably awed too by the discovery that no less a personage than the bishop of the himself was in his trouble � and moving away in little groups of and they stood about here and there in the churchyard waiting for they knew not what and all affected by the same thrill of mingled suspense hope and fear among them was who when he had peered into the white silence of the church and had seen for himself that it was indeed his master who was praying there beside his bishop made no pretence to hide his emotion we be all fools � he said to adam frost in hoarse accents wiping his eyes with the back of his hand � we ain t no stronger nor wiser than a lot o on a i old he be too weak an to get out in this kind o weather he he s ard which i truly believe he is though he ain t in church all the village is on its knees this i reckon whether it s in fields or gardens or or an if the lord a mighty don t take no notice of us he must be powerful ard of i adam frost � jerked his thumb in the direction of the church and was silent suddenly a lark sang rising from the thick moss and grass which over the grave of th squire s father the bird aloft into the warmed february air � and by one common impulse the villagers looked up watching the quivering of its wings god s good man bless that s the first of the said mrs frost who holding her blue eyed baby otherwise by the han stood near the church ain t it sweet f fine i murmured one or two of her near 