Page:Her Benny - Silas K Hocking (Warne, 1890).djvu/97

Rh But what of Benny? Alas I if Joe Wrag had seen him that evenings he would have been more than ever convinced that he was none of the elect, and that he had not one particle of spiritual discernment. The words of the preacher seemed to have a very soothing influence upon our hero, for scarcely had he uttered twenty words of the sermon ere Benny was fast asleep. Nor did he wake again till near the end of the service, when he was startled by a strange voice speaking.

It was one of the men that Nelly had noticed kneeling at the communion. The man stood up, and with a face radiant with his new-found joy, he said in broken accents—

"Oh, friends, thank the Lord for me, for I have found the Saviour!"

Evidently he intended to have said more, but overcome by his emotion, he sat down and hid his face in his hands.

"I'm glad the chap found 'im," said Benny to his sister, as they hurried homeward, "for he seemed desperate cut up 'bout it." But Nelly did not answer; she was too full of what she had seen, and heard, and felt, to speak.

The next evening, long before service-time, they were waiting near the chapel door, and when at length it was opened, they were welcomed by the same gentleman who had spoken to them the previous evening, and put into the same pew. And once more was Benny delighted with the music, and once more was he soothed to sleep by the sermon.