"I don't know that, dear, nor do you. Don't you think the Holy Spirit
sometimes presses words on people that they do not seem to be heeding?
In any event, that is a part with which I have nothing to do. I tried;
and if I failed utterly I have but to try again. It isn't as though
there were some good teacher ready to take them. Nobody will make a
second effort. Now there is one thing I can certainly do. I can keep on
making efforts; who knows but some of them may bear fruit? By the way,
Gracie, I want ever so much of your help."

"Mine?"' said Gracie, with wide-open eyes. "I don't know how to help
people; I'm not good." And her face darkened in a frown,--some
unpleasant memories that went far toward proving the truth of that
statement coming to mind just then. After a moment she spoke in a
somewhat more gentle tone: "Don't count on me, Flossy, for help about
those boys. They frighten me; I never saw such fellows. I couldn't help
wondering what--papa would have said to them."

Between the "wondering" and the noun there had been an observable pause.
Mrs. Roberts suspected that the thought in Gracie's mind was rather what
Mrs. Dennis, who was supposed to have much knowledge of boys, would
have thought of them. But since her arrival Gracie had studiously avoided
any reference to her stepmother, and Mrs. Roberts had humored her folly.

"Never mind, you can help them; and when you begin to realize that, you
will forget your fears."

"Do you expect to see one of the creatures to-morrow evening? What in
the world would you do with them if they did come?"