"How long has he been this way?" I inquired.

"Oh, about five weeks, I guess. It came on suddenly, like a fit of apoplexy."

Why, this is perfectly awful!" I exclaimed.

"It is, indeed, a sad affair! He's got a notion that his broken leg was a judgment on him for his sins, and all he does now is to read the Bible and say his prayers. He's not like the same man. Not a bit. Go and see him as soon as you can. He's always inquiring after you, and perhaps you may do him some good. If I wasn't in such a tremendous hurry, I'd tell you more about it. See him as soon as you Good-bye! Get up, Bess!" And Molloy was off as fast as his nag could trot, leaving me to plod forward on foot in sorrow and amazement.

can.

"Poor Antle!" I soliloquized; "this, no doubt, is the direful penalty of an ungoverned temper. The short madness of anger has become the life-long madness of monomania."

As I hurried over the familiar road, revolving in my mind the captain's latest and most terrible calamity, it occurred to me that Molloy, being a Roman Catholic (and a poor one, at that), was hardly the man to diagnosticate this particular case; for it seemed to me to resemble what Evangelical Christians termed "conversion." If the captain did nothing worse than read the Bible and pray, may not this be that very change of heart the Methodists make so much of in their lively prayer-meetings, but of which I, at that time, knew little, and Molloy, less?

It was a matter I was most impatient to investigate.

II.

BEFORE going near the office, I hastened to the captain's boarding-house. I was still doubtful as to the reliability of Molloy's information, and inquired of two or three acquaintances I met on the way, if they had heard anything of Captain Antle lately. One shook his head ominously, and another smiled; but each advised me to go and see for myself. The consequence was that by the time I reached the house, my curiosity was wound up to the highest pitch of excitement.

His landlady, Mrs. Williams, opened the door, and, in answer to my inquiry, told me that the captain was nearly well; so that, she thought, he would be able to walk out in the course of a few days.

"And — isn't he—" I was about to say crazy, but touched my forehead, instead.

The woman smiled, and lowering her voice almost to a whisper, replied, "Well, sir, he's certainly very different from what he was; but I guess he's all right in his head. I know the doctor thinks the captain's a little queer; but my opinion is, he's only got religion- that's all."

This being just what I surmised, I delayed no longer, but went up at once to the captain's chamber, and finding the door partially open, stepped in without the formality of knocking. The captain, ensconced in a capacious easy

chair, with his injured limb on a rest, was attentively reading a quarto Bible which, with a hymn-book and a well-thumbed copy of "Pilgrim's Progress," lay on a small table at his elbow.

So absorbed was he with his reading, that, for a second or two, he appeared not to notice my entrance; then, looking up suddenly and seeing who was standing by him, he grasped my arm, pulled me towards him, and gave me a resounding kiss on the forehead.

For a moment we gazed silently into each other's face; then, seizing my hand and holding me at arm's length, the captain said, "Charles, do you know me?"

"Know you, captain," I replied. "Of course I do. Why

shouldn't I?"

Because, Charles, I am not the same man I was two months ago."

"Not the same?"

"No! Bless the Lord, I'm another person altogether! Not the old Antle, child of the devil; but the new Antle, of the Lord Jesus. Charles, I am glad — glad to see you glad to be able to tell you that the old things have passed away, and all things have become new. You see me a brand plucked from the burning- a sinner saved by grace-saved through the blood of Jesus. Yes, my dear brother. And a happier soul lives not this side the pearly gates!"

All this time he kept firm hold of my hand, and gazed with an expression of intense delight up into my face.

When released from his grasp, I drew along a chair and seated myself in front of him.

That a marvelous change had been wrought in my old friend, was apparent at a glance. It was, indeed, almost a transfiguration, so radiant was his visage and so spiritual his

utterance.

How, in so brief a time, the captain could have acquired such familiarity with the Scriptures, was amazing; and certainly, if the assurance of salvation is not all a delusion, he was perfectly rational as well as supremely happy.

Now that I was fully satisfied as to his sanity, I said, 'Captain, I met Molloy on the way down, and he told me that you had gone crazy."

'Ah, yes! Poor Molloy! No doubt he thinks so; but I wish he and everyone else were as crazy as I am. No, Charles, I have been crazy all my life; it's only now that I'm coming to my senses. No, I won't say I was crazy. A crazy man is innocent. He does know what he is doing or saying, and is not responsible. It was not so with me. I was a vile and wicked sinner, and I knew it, and gloried in it. I've done more harm than a legion of crazy men. I've done harm to the souls of men, and that's worse ten thousand times than harming their bodies. But, by the help of my Heavenly Father, I shall try to spend the balance of my days in making what amends I can for the evils I have done, and for the wicked sinner I have been. No more sea for me, Charles. Henceforth my business will be to tell men what the good Lord has done for me and what He can do for them. I have little education and know nothing about theology, but I do know that the Lord has washed me clean with His most

precious blood. I do know that sin has no more power over me, and that I am a free and happy soul.

"Oh, it's a wonderful, wonderful Providence! What I considered the greatest misfortune, has proved the greatest blessing of my life. I lost my voyage, but I found my Saviour! I see it all now as plain as the sun at noon-day. No, I was not to go that trip. The wind had been in our teeth five days. The first day it veered round so that we could weigh anchor, I fell and broke my leg. Well, another man takes my place and I'm laid up for repairs.

Charles, you know how I take such things, or rather, how I used to take them. You know everyone knowswhat a poor, miserable, profane wretch I was. I let out on everything in heaven above and the earth beneath. I cursed the ice, and the winds, and the streets, and everything and everybody, until God sent his angel to me in the shape of an old woman! Yes, Charles, a most wonderful old lady as ever I bless her heart and soul! for under God, she has made a new man of me! She is my second mother spiritual mother. She was a messenger from the Lord to call the greatest sinner that ever lived to repentance."

saw

my

"But, captain," I interrupted, "surely you do yourself a great injustice. You were very far from being the greatest sinner that ever lived. What harm —”

"Charles! Charles!" the captain exclaimed, grabbing my knee and looking almost wildly into my face. "If you have any regard for me, don't say anything like that. If you value my friendship, don't make any kind of excuses for me. I