nominal business of his own, an agency which he had heretofore
neglected, and now he worked hard, living frugally, and for the first
time in his life earned his own living. The rules of conduct which the
preacher had laid down for him were simple and broad. He was to see God
in everything, accepting all events joyfully from His hand; he was so to
preach Him in life and word that others would love Him; he was to do all
his work as unto a God who beheld and cared for the minutest things of
earth; he was to abstain, not only from all sin, but from all things
that might lead to evil. At first he saw no contradiction in this rule
of life; it seemed a plain path, and he walked, nay ran, upon it for a
long distance.

Between Toyner and his old friends the change of his life and thoughts
had made the widest breach. That outward show of companionship remained
was due only to patient persistence on his part and the endurance of the
pain and shame of being in society where he was not wanted and where he
felt nothing congenial. There was a Scotch minister who, with the people
of his congregation, had received and befriended the reformed man; but
because of Toyner's desire to follow the most divine example, and also
because of his love to Ann Markham, he chose the other companionship. It
was a high ideal; something warred against it which he could not
understand, and his patience brought forth no mutual love.

When six months had passed away, Toyner had gained with his neighbours a
character for austerity in his personal habits and constant
companionship with the rough and the poor. The post of constable fell
vacant; Toyner's father had been constable in his youth; Toyner was
offered the post now, and he took it.

The constable in such villages as Fentown was merely a respectable man