mutual communion and interest; he is faithful to the end, through good
report and evil, and falls, if need be, with the man to whom he has
engaged his troth and given his heart."

"I am unworthy, sir," I said, "to stand in this relation with one so
good, so holy as yourself. I have but a word to say--trust and confide
in me. I will never deceive you."

"Let us pray," said Mr Clayton, after a long pause, sighing as he spoke,
and speaking very softly--and immediately he fell upon his knees, and I,
according to a practice which I had acquired at the chapel, leaned upon
a chair, and turned my face to the window.

It was about a month after my installation into my new office, that
business connected with the society carried me to the village of
Highgate. It was late in the evening when my commission was completed,
and I was enabled, after a day of excessive fatigue, to direct my steps
once more homeward. The stage-coach, which set out from the village for
London twice during the day, luckily for me, was appointed to make its
last journey about half an hour after my engagements had set me at
liberty. A mile, across fields, intervened between me and the
coach-office. Short as the distance was, it was any thing but an
agreeable task to get over it, with the rain spitting into my face, the
boisterous wind beating me back, and the darkness of a November night
confounding me at every turn. In good time, however, I reached the inn.
Providence favoured me. There were but two seats unoccupied in the
coach; one was already engaged by a gentleman who had requested to be
taken up a mile forward; the other had just been given up by a lady who
had been frightened by the storm, and had postponed her return to London
to the following day. This seat I immediately secured, and in a few