How bright and smooth his path of life was growing! He almost feared sometimes that he was dreaming, and that he would awake and find himself destitute and forsaken.

He was now beginning to enjoy life, and as he looked back upon the past he almost wondered how he and his little sister had managed to live in those dark years of cold and want.

When Joe Wrag first heard of Benny's good fortune, he lifted up his hands, and said in a voice of reverence,

"The Lord is good! the Lord is good!" Then after a moment's pause he went on, "But oh! what an old sinner I've a-been, to be sure."

"How so?" said Benny.

"How so? 'cause as how I turned my back upon God, an' tried to persuade mysel' that He had turned His back on me. Oh, I did, lad, an' in my heart I called Him 'ard names. I didn't dare say it wi' my lips, but in my heart, boy, I said He wur cruel—that He wur a monster, that He had no feelin', that He had shut the door agin' me, when all the time He wur a-sayin', 'Joe, come back, come back, for there's room in the Father's heart and home for thee.' But, oh! praise His name, He sent His hangel to tell poor owd Joe the way, an' reveal the Father's love—He did, boy, for sure."

"His hangel, Joe?" said Benny, trying in vain to comprehend all Joe had said.

"Ay, His hangel, boy. An' that hangel wur little Nell, bless her! she's wi' Him now, in the land where there's no more sorrow nor pain, an' Joe's on the way."

And the old man looked up into the star-bespangled sky, as if he would look through the very floor of heaven.

Benny thought of all this, as he hurried from Mr. Lawrence's door, and felt as if he, too, had had an angel sent from God to help him on the way to heaven.

Poor boy! he did not see the heavy cloud that was gathering in the sky, nor the dark and painful paths that lay before him, which he, with bruised and bleeding feet, would have to tread. He only saw the promised land, bathed in sunshine and clad in beauty, a land where plenty reigned and want could never come, and knew not of the weary wilderness that lay between. He thought that he had passed through the wilderness already, and that all the sorrow, and hunger, and pain lay behind him.

It was well he did so. Let him enjoy the sunshine while it lasts, and dream his happy dreams of coming joy. The awaking will come all too soon. Poor boy! may God protect him in the struggle of life.

Chapter XV - A Terrible Alternative

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