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CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION TO INTERNAL AUDITING
Illustrative Solutions
Internal Auditing: Assurance and Consulting Services, 2
nd
Edition. © 2009 by The Institute of Internal Auditors
Research Foundation, 247 Maitland Avenue, Altamonte Springs, FL 32701 USA IS1-1
Solution Manual for Internal Auditing Assurance and
Consulting Services 2nd Edition by Reding
Full download link at: https://testbankbell.com/product/solution-manual-for-internal-auditing-assurance-and-
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Review Questions
1. The Institute of Internal Auditors’ (IIA’s) definition: “Internal auditing is an independent, objective
assurance and consulting activity designed to add value and improve an organization’s operations. It
helps an organization accomplish its objectives by bringing a systematic, disciplined approach to
evaluate and improve the effectiveness of risk management, control, and governance processes.”
2. An organization’s objectives define what the organization wants to achieve. The organization’s
strategy defines how management plans to achieve the objectives.
3. According to the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO)
ERM Framework, the four categories of business objectives introduced in this chapter are:
• Strategic objectives, which pertain to the value creation choices management makes on behalf of
the organization’s stakeholders.
• Operations objectives, which pertain to the effectiveness and efficiency of the organization’s
operations, including performance and profitability goals and safeguarding resources against loss.
• Reporting objectives, which pertain to the reliability of internal and external reporting of financial
and nonfinancial information.
• Compliance objectives, which pertain to adherence to applicable laws and regulations.
4. Governance is the process conducted by the board of directors to authorize, direct, and oversee
management toward the achievement of the organization’s objectives. Risk management is the
process conducted by management to understand and deal with uncertainties (risks and opportunities)
that could affect the organization’s ability to achieve its objectives. Control, as defined in this
chapter, is the process conducted by management to mitigate risks to acceptable levels. Please see the
textbook glossary for separate definitions of controls, internal control, and system of internal controls.
5. Internal assurance services involve an objective examination of evidence for the purpose of providing
an independent assessment on the effectiveness of governance, risk management, and control
processes for the organization. Internal consulting services are advisory and related services, the
nature and scope of which are agreed to with the customer and that are intended to improve an
organization’s governance, risk management, and control processes without the internal auditor
assuming management responsibility.
6. Independence refers to the organizational status of the internal audit function and reflects the freedom
from conditions that threaten objectivity or the appearance of objectivity. Individual objectivity is an
impartial, unbiased mental attitude and involves avoiding conflicts of interest, which allows internal
auditors to perform engagements in such a manner that they have an honest belief in their work
product and that no significant quality compromises are made.
7. The three fundamental phases in the internal audit engagement process are planning the engagement,
performing the engagement, and communicating engagement outcomes.
8. “The relationship of auditing to accounting is close, yet their natures are very different; they are
business associates, not parent and child. Accounting includes the collection, classification,
summarization, and communication of financial data; it involves the measurement and

CHAPTER 1
nd
communication of business events and conditions as they affect and represent a given enterprise or
other entity. The task of accounting is to reduce a tremendous mass of detailed information to
manageable and understandable proportions. Auditing does none of these things. Auditing must
consider business events and conditions too, but it does not have the task of measuring or

CHAPTER 1
nd
communicating them. Its task is to review the measurements and communications of accounting for
propriety. Auditing is analytical, not constructive; it is critical, investigative, concerned with the basis
for accounting measurements and assertions. Auditing emphasizes proof, the support for financial
statements and data. Thus auditing has its principal roots, not in accounting which it reviews, but in
logic on which it leans heavily for ideas and methods.” — Mautz and Sharaf, Philosophy of Auditing
9. The primary difference between internal financial reporting assurance services and external financial
reporting assurance services is the audience. Internal auditors provide financial reporting assurance
services primarily for the benefit of management and the board of directors. Independent outside
auditors provide financial reporting assurance services primarily for the benefit of third parties.
10. Factors that have fueled the dramatic increase in demand for internal audit services over the past 30
years include globalization, increasingly complex corporate structures, e-commerce and other
technological advances, and a global economic downturn.
11. The types of procedures an internal auditor might use to test the design adequacy and operating
effectiveness of governance, risk management, and control processes include:
• Inquiring of managers and employees.
• Observing activities.
• Inspecting resources and documents.
• Reperforming control activities.
• Performing trend and ratio analysis.
• Performing data analysis using computer-assisted audit techniques.
• Gathering corroborating information from independent third parties.
• Performing direct tests of events and transactions.
12. Cosourcing means that an organization is supplementing its in-house internal audit function to some
extent via the services of third-party vendors. Common situations in which an organization will
cosource its internal audit function include circumstances in which the third-party vendor has
specialized audit knowledge and skills that the organization does not have in-house and circumstances
in which the organization has insufficient in-house internal audit resources to fully complete its
planned engagements.
13. The IIA’s official motto is “Progress Through Sharing.”
14. The IIA headquarters leadership team includes the president and CEO and the chief staff officers over
global operations, North American operations, and shared services. Hundreds of volunteers also
provide IIA leadership. These leaders include the 38-member IIA Board of Directors, international
committees, district representatives, and officers and board members of the various national institutes.
15. The two categories of guidance included in the International Professional Practices Framework
(IPPF) are mandatory guidance, which includes the Definition of Internal Auditing, the Code of
Ethics, and the International Standards for the Professional Practice of Internal Auditing
(Standards), and strongly recommended guidance, which includes Practice Advisories, Position
Papers, and Practice Guides.
16. The Certified Internal Auditor (CIA) exam tests a candidate’s expertise in four parts:
• The Internal Audit Activity’s Role in Governance, Risk, and Control.
• Conducting the Internal Audit Engagement.

CHAPTER 1
nd
• Business Analysis and Information Technology.
• Business Management Skills.
17. The Institute of Internal Auditors Research Foundation’s (IIARF’s) major objective is “to support
research and education in internal auditing, thereby enhancing the development of the internal audit
profession.”
18. Inherent personal qualities that are common among successful internal auditors include integrity,
passion, work ethic, curiosity, creativity, initiative, and flexibility.
19. Internal auditors must have integrity because the users of their work products rely on the internal
auditors’ professional judgments to make important business decisions. These stakeholders must have
confidence that internal auditors are trustworthy.
20. The four areas are interpersonal skills, tools and techniques, internal audit standards, theory, and
methodology, and knowledge areas.
21. Many individuals now enter the internal audit profession directly out of school. Others switch to
internal auditing after beginning their careers in another area of the organization or in public
accounting. Some organizations require prospective managers to spend time working in internal
auditing as part of their management trainee program.
22. Most people who work in internal auditing do not spend their entire careers there. They instead use
internal auditing as a stepping stone into financial or nonfinancial management positions, either in the
organizations they have been working for or in other organizations.
23. Options that an individual has if he or she chooses to be a career internal auditor include progressing
upward through the ranks of a single organization’s internal audit function into internal audit
management, advancing up the ladder by moving from one organization to another, or moving
upward through the various levels in a firm that provides internal assurance and consulting services to
other organizations.
Multiple-choice Questions
1. A is the best answer. This answer is most closely aligned with The IIA’s definition of internal
auditing. Per the definition, internal auditing comprises assurance and consulting activities and is
designed to add value and improve an organization’s operations. The other answers may represent
appropriate activities for an internal audit function, but they do not represent its overall responsibility.
2. D is the best answer. An organization’s strategy, not its objectives, is management’s means of
employing resources and assigning responsibilities. It defines how management plans to achieve the
organization’s objectives.
3. A is the best answer. Assurance services are defined in the glossary to the Standards as “an objective
examination of evidence for the purpose of providing an independent assessment on governance, risk
management, or control processes for the organization. Examples may include financial, performance,
compliance, system security, and due diligence engagements.”
4. C is the best answer. Project management skills are important, but according to The IIA’s Internal
Auditor Competency Framework, this attribute falls in the Tools and Techniques competency
category. The other three are all part of the Interpersonal Skills competency category.

CHAPTER 1
nd
5. B is the best answer. Internal auditors need to develop an understanding of the auditee’s objectives
and risks during the planning stages of an engagement. The internal auditor will use the auditee’s
business objectives, together with the risks that threaten those objectives, as a framework for defining
the desired outcomes of the engagement. The other answers may be part of an assurance engagement,
but understanding the auditee would not be sufficient for the internal auditors to meet these
objectives.
Discussion Questions
1. Objectives define what an individual or organization wants to achieve. Strategies define how
individuals or organizations plan to achieve their objectives.
A common objective expressed by students is to achieve a good grade. Some students indicate that
they want to learn. These responses open the door for the instructor to discuss the relationship
between objectives and key performance indicators. If the instructor’s grading criteria are aligned
with his or her student learning objectives, the grades students earn in the course should reflect their
levels of learning.
An appropriate strategy for learning and achieving a good grade in a course includes:
• Obtaining a clear understanding of the instructor’s expectations and grading criteria.
• Attending all class sessions.
• Actively participating in class discussions.
• Completing all assignments on a timely basis.
• Studying diligently throughout the semester instead of just before exams.
• Communicating with the instructor in a timely manner if problems are encountered.
2. The student’s objective is to get to her 8:00 a.m. class on time. Students may encounter several
different risks that threaten this objective and the corresponding controls that can be implemented to
mitigate these risks. Simple examples of risks and controls include:
Risks
Oversleeping
Controls
• Getting to bed at a reasonable time
• Setting an alarm clock
Missing the bus •
•
•
Packing books and supplies before going to bed
Planning in advance the activities that must be
completed in the morning before leaving the house
Allowing sufficient time to walk to the bus stop
3. The point to this question is that monitoring activities such as trend analysis are most effective when
observed performance is compared with predetermined expectations. It would be reasonable for the
owner of the flower shops to expect sales to be higher in certain months, for example in February
because of Valentine’s Day and in March or April, depending on when Easter occurs. Accordingly,
the fact that monthly sales remained relatively consistent at the one shop over the six-month period
should be reason for concern, especially if the sales performance at this shop was inconsistent with

CHAPTER 1
nd
the sales performance at the other four shops. This question also illustrates the value of internal
benchmarking, that is, the comparison of performance among comparable business units.
4. a. Inherent personal qualities common among successful internal auditors include, for example:
• Integrity.
• Passion.
• Work ethic.
• Curiosity.
• Creativity.
• Initiative.
• Flexibility.
• Competitiveness.
• Commitment to excellence.
• Inquisitiveness.
• Confidence.
• Professionalism.
b. The knowledge and skills entry-level internal auditors are expected to possess include, for
example:
• Knowledge of internal auditing and audit-related subjects such as accounting, management,
and information technology.
• Understanding the concepts of business objectives, risks, and controls.
• Hands-on working knowledge of audit-related software such as flowcharting software and
generalized audit software.
• Oral and written communication skills.
• Analytical, problem-solving skills.
Credentials that entry-level internal auditors are expected to possess include, for example:
• A good GPA.
• Scholarships.
• An internship or other relevant work experience.
• Active involvement in a student organization such as an IIA student chapter or a business
fraternity.
• Although not yet common, completion of one or more parts of the CIA exam by students
before they graduate is rising.
c. Additional knowledge and skills in-charge internal auditors might be expected to possess include,
for example:
• An in-depth knowledge of the organization and its industry.
• Specialized subject matter expertise in more than one area such as accounting, technology,
emerging regulations, enterprise risk management, or control self-assessment.
• Communicating effectively and building rapport with management.
• Coaching subordinates and sharing expertise.
• Making presentations to and facilitating meetings of management personnel.
Credentials in-charge internal auditors are expected to possess include, for example:
• Professional certification such as a CIA, Certified Public Accountant (CPA), Chartered
Accountant (CA), or Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA).

CHAPTER 1
nd
• A developing track record of successfully leading engagements that is reflected in positive
performance evaluations and complimentary feedback from service recipients.
Additional knowledge and skills chief audit executives (CAEs) might be expected to possess include,
for example:
• Deep expertise in governance, risk management, and control.
• Commanding respect among senior executives.
• Thinking strategically and stimulating change within the organization.
• Building and sustaining an internal audit function that adds value to the organization.
Credentials internal audit executives are expected to possess include, for example:
• A history of successful professional advancement and leadership.
• A reputation inside and outside the organization as a thought leader in governance, risk
management, and control.
Case
The purpose of this case is twofold: (1) to expose students to The IIA’s website and (2) to have the
students study pertinent information about the internal audit profession. Individual instructors should
customize the assignment to align it with their specific goals. As of the date this textbook was published,
the web addresses for the two questions can be found at the following links. Instructors should check
these links in advance to ensure they still contain the information requested in the case, and modify the
case as necessary should the information on the website change.
1. http://www.theiia.org/theiia/about-the-profession/faqs/
2. http://www.theiia.org/certification/certified-internal-auditor/cia-exam-content/

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Badham, the lawyer, came to the assistance of the discomfited
Barton. He had a supercilious, sarcastic manner, almost more
disgusting to Franks than the coarseness of Sir Lacy himself.
"You are well up in the commandments, I perceive, my good friend,"
he observed, addressing himself to the school-master, "and no doubt
your knowledge on all other parts of education is equally deep. May
I ask in what college you have studied?" Badham winked at the
baronet as he asked the question.
"I was never at college," replied Ned Franks; "I was brought up at a
village school, but left it early to go to sea."
"But of course you have read and studied a good deal since, or you
would hardly have been placed by the late Sir Lacy Barton in the
position which you now hold."
Ned Franks flushed. He felt as if he were being put upon his trial,
and before judges determined beforehand to condemn him. "I have
not great book-learning," he replied; "but Mr. Curtis recommended
me to Sir Lacy as one who could fulfil the duties of school-master
here."
"But the present Sir Lacy takes such a fatherly interest in the school
which his ancestors founded," said the lawyer, winking again at the
baronet, "that he wishes to judge for himself as to the competency
of one entrusted with such a responsible charge as yours. He has
desired me to ask you a few educational questions, to which, I have
not the slightest doubt, you will give a prompt and able reply."
"I do not think this the time or place for such an examination," said
the school-master, whose countenance was glowing with indignation
at the insidious proposal. "I will wait upon Sir Lacy at the Hall at any
hour that he may choose to appoint."
"No time or place like the present!" cried the baronet, who had a
keen relish in the "baiting and badgering" of the school-master in
the presence of his pupils. "As I'm the patron of this school, I've a
good right, I take it, to see that the teacher isn't a blockhead or a
dunce."

And then, at a sign from him, the flippant lawyer began to aim a
shower of questions, like a flight of arrows, against the unfortunate
school-master,—questions ingeniously contrived to perplex and
puzzle even one who had received a better education than had fallen
to the lot of Ned Franks. At every query to which no reply was or
could be given by him who had passed his youth at sea, the baronet
burst out into an insulting laugh, which was echoed by the medical
student; as if the ignorance of Franks regarding Neri and Bianchi,
Palleschi and Piagnone, the respective styles of French, German, and
Dutch infidel writers, and the names of female favorites of Bourbon
kings, was as absurd as if he had been unable to repeat the
multiplication-table. Certainly, Sir Lacy could not have himself
answered one of the questions. But what of that? One needs no
deep study to learn how to laugh; and it was rare fun to him to
humble and degrade the teacher before all his pupils. Franks was
more annoyed by the titter from some of his scholars, which now
followed the gentlemen's uproarious mirth, than he was by the more
direct insults of the strangers. That his "jovial crew," that a single
boy amongst them, should be mean enough to join in the laugh
against him, was almost more than his spirit could endure.
I am purposed that my mouth shall not transgress, had been the
text which Franks had chosen on that morning for his meditation
during the day. Sorely he needed it now. As he stood silent before
his persecutor, with flushed cheek and flashing eye, again and again
he repeated that text to himself, to keep in the burning words that
were rising to his tongue. He had spoken out boldly when the insult
was against his Master; there was the more need that he should
show self-command when the attack was personal to himself.
"You don't mean us to conclude," said Badham at last, "that you
have never so much as heard of all these well-known matters
before?"
"Sir," replied Franks, as calmly as he could, though his tone betrayed
some emotion, "my work is to train village lads for usefulness here
and happiness hereafter; and I do not suppose that farm-lads will be

the less suited for either the one or the other because they can't
give the names of Italian factions or of the favorites of French
kings."
Badham shrugged his shoulders, the baronet and the medical
student shrugged theirs, to express their utter contempt for such a
very ridiculous observation. The baronet was the first to break the
silence which followed, which he did by addressing himself to
Badham.
"What say you to our master here,—you who have all kinds of
learning at the ends of your fingers,—is he fit to be a teacher of
boys?"
"About as fit as to be a performer on a lady's grand piano," said the
lawyer.
"While he remains here, the motto of the school had better be,
'Where ignorance is bliss 'tis folly to be wise,'" observed the medical
student.
"It was a shame for Mr. Curtis to recommend such a fellow to my
father," said Sir Lacy. "You see how unfit he is for the place."
"Utterly unfit!" cried the lawyer.
"Disgracefully incompetent!" chimed in the student.
"I suppose," said Sir Lacy, in his insolent manner, "that school-
masters, like footmen, expect their masters to give a month's
warning. What day is this?—the sixth of July. Well, on the sixth of
August you will bundle yourself off, my fine fellow, and I'll take
precious good care not to consult the old parson as to whom your
successor should be. He might, in his wisdom, recommend some
saint from the Idiot Asylum!" and with another laugh at this brilliant
joke, which was echoed by his two companions, but by none of the
boys, who stood aghast at the sudden dismissal of their master, Sir
Lacy sauntered out of the school-room, accompanied by the lawyer
and medical student.

There were a few moments of silence after they had left, during
which the ticking of the large school-clock sounded almost painfully
loud. It was broken by Ned Franks himself, who, turning towards his
class, resumed the interrupted thread of the morning studies by
asking Sims for the third time the question, "What was the text of
yesterday's sermon?"

XXXV.
Village Talk.
Very uneasy had Persis felt while Sir Lacy was in the school-room;
very anxiously she watched the porch, in hopes of seeing him and
his visitors quit it. She could hear from beneath the sound of
laughter; but it was laughter which raised in her soul a very opposite
feeling to that of mirth. She listened intently; but her baby was
fretful from cutting teeth, and his crying soon drowned every other
noise. Persis fondled him in her arms, and hushed him on her
bosom, and just as she had succeeded in quieting the child, saw, to
her relief, the three strangers issue from under the porch. She did
not, however, like their looks, still less the laughter which followed
words of which she could not catch the exact meaning, but which
she was certain had none which was good. Persis watched the three
men till they disappeared down a turn in the road, and then heaved
a long, anxious sigh. Lessons were evidently going on as usual
below,—Persis knew that from the hum of voices from the school-
room. She had to wait in restless expectation till the school broke up
for an hour's recess, and she saw the stream of boys come issuing
forth from the porch.
Their grave yet excited looks frightened the wife yet more. That
something remarkable had happened was written on every young
face, as the boys thronged together in knots of three or four, all
seeming far more eager to speak than to listen. But Persis was not
much longer to be kept in suspense; she knew the step of her
husband; she saw him enter, looking paler than she had ever seen
him before. Franks seated himself beside his wife, put his arm round
her, and drew her tenderly towards him, unwilling to inflict pain,
scarcely knowing how to break the news that he was a ruined man.
Persis had guessed the truth before Franks said, in a tone which he

vainly tried to make cheerful, "Well, sweetheart, you and I will have
to set out on our travels together."
But when Ned gave his wife a more detailed account of what had
occurred; when he told of the absurd questions, the mocking
laughter, the insolent taunts which had made his blood boil, even
natural anxiety concerning his future prospects was swallowed up for
the time in passionate indignation. "I longed to strike him,"
exclaimed the late sailor, "and I had to chain even my tongue! Wife
—wife—it is no easy matter to endure, or to forgive insults and
injuries such as that man has heaped upon me! To hold me up to
the contempt of my own boys,—that was the most intolerable wrong
of all! I actually heard Sam Barker and Peter Core tittering behind
me, the little sneaking—But your fire-ships are bearing down upon
me full sail; I must not trust myself to speak on these matters,—I
must try not to let my mind brood over them,—would that I could
drive the whole scene out of my memory forever!"
Persis did not, as most wives would have done, stir up her husband's
wrath to a blaze, and heap on it the fuel of her own grief, fears, and
regrets. She tried in her gentle, loving way to make him look beyond
second causes, to see that the trial—bitter as it was—was sent in
wisdom and love, and that man could inflict no real injury except by
drawing into sin. Persis did not say much, but she looked bright and
hopeful, to keep up the spirits of her husband. If they were to leave
their happy home at Colme, their pleasant occupation in the village,
it might be because God had provided for them something better
still, some wider field of usefulness in which they might humbly
serve him. They were spared to one another, and their darling was
left to them still. "Whilst I have you and our boy," cried Persis, as
she rested her head on her husband's shoulder, "I feel that I could
be contented in a hovel, or in a prison."
The news that Ned Franks, the one-armed school-master, had been
dismissed by Sir Lacy, spread like wildfire through Colme. The tidings
were received with almost universal regret and indignation, for both
Ned and Persis were great favorites in the village. Mrs. Fuddles of

the "Chequers," indeed, observed, as she wiped the dust from a
bottle of whiskey, "I guess that Sir Lacy knows what he's about. It
aint likely that a sailor that's been spending his life in mopping up
decks should know much about hedication." But the publican's wife
was almost the only person who did not regret the disgrace of the
Frankses. Bat Bell, the miller, declared that to send off an honest
fellow like Franks from the school was like damming up a mill-
stream; and that everything would come to a dead lock,—while his
little girl cried as if her heart would break, and wished that that
wicked Sir Lacy never had come to make every one unhappy. Ben
Stone the carpenter, on his bed of sickness, heard the news with less
than his usual placid calmness.
"Sir Lacy," he observed to his wife, "is like the idiot who sawed at
the branch on which he was seated. If he goes on with this kind of
work he'll come down with a crash one of these days, though I
shan't live to see it," added the invalid, whose increasing weakness
warned him that his hours were numbered.
I will not say that the Clerk of Colme looked grave and solemn when
he carried the tidings to his wife, for he never looked otherwise,
except on the very rarest occasions; but his solemnity and
melancholy were of a shade so much more intensely black than
usual, that his Nancy exclaimed, as soon as she saw him, "Why,
John Sands, has any one been murdered to-day?"
But when she heard that Ned Franks had been dismissed,—
dismissed in disgrace as incompetent and ignorant,—the wrath of
the clerk's wife blazed up with a sudden fierceness that showed that
the old shrewish spirit was not quite dead in her yet. As her torrent
of indignation poured forth like lava-streams from a volcano, John
Sands scarcely knew whether he was glad or sorry to be so forcibly
reminded of the Nancy of former days. Nancy was certain that the
school would go to rack and ruin; they would never, never again see
the like of Ned Franks and his wife!
But perhaps in no place did the news cause deeper regret than in
the vicarage. Norah was almost overwhelmed by the sudden blow,

and her letter to Sophy Claymore, informing her of what had
happened, was wet with the young girl's tears. Mr. Curtis lay awake
half the night, meditating over a second letter to Sir Lacy (which was
—when written and sent—to meet with just the same fate as the
first), and the invalid had, in consequence, a relapse of fever in the
morning. Claudius Leyton, the young curate, broke through his
resolution,—never again to enter the Hall, and, like a man on a
forlorn hope, set out to endeavor to move and persuade his cousin
to recall his hasty words. The nervous shyness of the curate was not
lessened by his being handed into a room full of rollicking revellers;
a room which in ancient days had been used as a chapel, but which
was reeking, even at that early hour, with the fumes of tobacco and
the odor of spirits. It need scarcely be added that the visit of the
young clergyman was as unsuccessful as regarded its object, as it
was to himself painful and disgusting. The baronet, laughing, said to
his cousin, "My dear fellow, you have come a day too late for the
fair. I have already written up to my friend, Dick Sharpey,—you know
Dick,—all the world knows him as the luckiest card-player in London.
I've bid him look out for a cute fellow who can teach the clods in the
day, and be my billiard-marker at night. That's what I call killing two
birds with one stone, ha! ha! ha!"
It was with a heavy heart that the curate again turned his back on
the Hall, not surprised, though grieved, at the utter failure of his
mission.
Mrs. Curtis, a very practical as well as kind woman, directed her
efforts to writing to friends in various quarters to try by their means
to procure some other situation for Franks before he should quit the
one which at present he held. As Ned would have nothing to fall
back upon except his very trifling pension as a disabled sailor, Mrs.
Curtis knew that, unless he could procure some work, he and his
family would be reduced to absolute want. She also quietly set on
foot a subscription to raise a little fund to supply his immediate need
and the expenses of removal to some new home, perhaps at a
distance. "It is only right," said the vicar's wife, and her husband
warmly seconded her proposal, "that a testimonial should be given,

on his departure from Colme, to a school-master who has for years
so faithfully performed his duties, and who has won the good will
and respect of all whose approbation is worth having." Ned Franks
and his wife knew nothing of this secret subscription. The most
active agent in collecting it was Nancy Sands, who went from
cottage to cottage gathering the pence given with willing hearts by
the children, and the little offerings freely bestowed even by the old
tenants of the almshouses in Wild Rose Hollow. Had the power of
the villagers to give been equal to their will, Ned would have been
the wealthiest man in Colme; but it needs a great weight in copper
to make up a single sovereign's worth, and even the vicar, whose
charity never left him a full purse, was unable to contribute largely,
though he gave with all his heart.

XXXVI.
A Struggle.
Two, three, almost four weeks passed, every week bringing fresh
disappointments to Franks and his wife. The vicar sent over to them
every morning the advertisement sheet of the Times; and anxiously
were the columns of the paper searched and searched over again
each day, and many were the letters written by Ned, or by Persis to
his dictation, to take advantage of what they fondly hoped might be
openings to some new sphere of work. But few of these letters
brought any reply, and there was not one of an encouraging nature.
Ned always frankly stated the facts that he had passed no regular
examination, and that he had lost his left arm; and one or other of
these disqualifications seemed ever to bar his way to obtaining any
employment.
Isaacs had exerted himself greatly in his friend's behalf in London,
but hitherto without any success. He thought that the chance of
Ned's making his way would be greater were he himself on the spot,
and sent a pressing invitation in the name of Sophy to the family of
the Frankses. It was arranged that Ned, Persis, and their baby
should travel up to London on the succeeding Thursday, the day on
which their dear home must be given up to a stranger.
The new school-master had already arrived at the Hall, and was
constantly showing himself in the village. He even made his
appearance at church, where, on the first Sunday in August, the
vicar had come to return thanks for recovery after his long and
dangerous illness. The irreverent manner of the school-master-elect,
who looked like—what he was—a low sharper, likely to teach the
boys little but how to play, or to cheat at cards, made a very painful
impression, not only on the vicar and curate, but upon all who cared
for religion or morality in the parish.

A very sad Sunday was that to Ned and Persis. Even under happier
circumstances, the thought that it would be their last at Colme
would have sufficed to throw a shade over the brightest prospects.
All their happy wedded life had been spent in the place. There
seemed to be dear associations connected with every cottage, nay,
almost with every tree. The friends who were dearest to them, the
children whom they had taught, the pastor whom they revered, all,
all must be left behind. Would they ever see them again? And what
darkness hung over the future! Would Franks, a one-armed man,
succeed in earning enough to support a wife and child? And if not,
what distress might be before them! And all this wrecking of peace,
this breaking up of one of the happiest of homes, was the work of
the wanton malice of one unprincipled man!
On the Sunday evening, Ned Franks, usually so cheerful and brave in
spirit, was overpowered by deeper depression than he had ever
experienced since he had first met with Persis. He sat gloomy and
silent in the darkening twilight, with his hand pressed over his eyes.
Persis had just placed her babe in his cradle, and drawing forward a
footstool, she now seated herself upon it, at the feet of her
husband. She longed to give comfort, yet scarcely ventured to
speak, and at last, feeling that the words of the Lord were far more
likely to soothe a troubled spirit than any of her own, she repeated
very softly, "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you."
"If I had only that," said Franks, sadly, as he removed his hand from
his eyes, "I should care less for the troubles that have come upon us
thus. Do you know me so little, Persis, as to think that I'm so
downhearted just because we're in a few days to be turned out of
our home, or because we've been disappointed in these letters from
London? I do not say that I do not feel these things, but I should be
a coward if I could not bear them, and a fool if I'd expected that
troubles never would come." Then, suddenly appearing to change
the subject of conversation, Ned abruptly asked, "Did you hear what
Mr. Leyton said to me this afternoon when we had just come out of
church?"

"No, I was speaking to Nancy Sands."
"He said, 'Poor Stone is now sinking fast. The vicar himself is going
to administer the communion to him—I fear for the last time—to-
morrow evening at six. Stone told me that he hoped that you and
your wife would come over and partake of the Lord's Supper with
him, as he owes more to you than to any one else upon earth!'"
"And what did you reply, Ned?" asked Persis.
"Nothing. Mr. Leyton noticed Nancy Sands at that moment, and
turned to ask her a question, and, as you know, you and I then
walked home."
"Surely," observed Persis, "it will be a satisfaction to us both—once
more—in this dear, dear place—to"—She dared not go on, lest her
voice should betray her distress at leaving the village.
"How can I share the feast of love," exclaimed Ned Franks, bitterly,
"when my heart is full of hatred! I've been searching and examining
myself ever since Mr. Leyton spoke, and I dare not go to the Lord's
table!" The school-master rose from his seat, and began pacing up
and down the room while continuing to speak. "'To be in charity with
all men,'—that is absolutely needful; without that I should but
profane the holiest service. I can't shut my eyes to the truth, I can't
deceive my own heart,—I do hate and detest Sir Lacy, more for what
he is than for what he has done! So I must keep away—like an
outcast—from the feast to which I am so lovingly invited; I must not
share it with my poor dying friend, or the pastor whom I reverence,
though, by keeping away, I shall own before all the village that I
know myself to be unworthy to join in Christian communion. And if I
am unfit to partake of the holy supper, I am also unfit to die, unfit to
appear in the presence of my God! O Persis!" exclaimed the agitated
man, throwing himself again on his chair, "people talk well of me,
think well of me—much too well; tell me that I've helped them on
their way to heaven; but what will it profit me if, after preaching to
others, I myself should be a castaway!"

"God forbid!" exclaimed Persis. "But, Ned dearest, surely it is not the
entrance of sin into the soul, but the harboring it there, that makes
us unfit for heaven, or unworthy to receive the means of grace."
"I do harbor malice and hatred," muttered Franks.
"But you would turn them out this moment if you could."
"I can't; whenever I think of Sir Lacy"—
"Oh, think of him only when you're on your knees!" cried Persis.
"Ned, I share your temptation, I feel what you feel,—not quite so
warmly perhaps, but just as deeply. Let us kneel down together
now; let us confess our sin, our heart sin, to our heavenly Father; let
us together ask of him that Holy Spirit that can cast out the 'strong
man armed,' and keep him out; and make us ready to forgive even
as we have been forgiven!"
The husband and wife knelt down side by side, and silently poured
out their confession of sin and prayer for help unto Him who could
himself pardon his murderers. Night darkened around as they
prayed; and with the night came a rush of refreshing rain after the
fervent heat of the long summer day.
When Franks arose from his knees his manner was calmer and more
subdued.
"Persis," he said, after he had resumed his seat, "God has been
showing me my weakness. I cannot by myself subdue the fierce
passions within; but he can, and he will send his Spirit, even as he
sends his rain from heaven to quench the fire, and calm the proud,
resentful spirit! I have made one resolution,—and may God help me
to keep it!—never, if possible, even to name Sir Lacy, except in my
prayers. Yes, Persis, you and I will not harbor malice and hatred as
guests, but resist them as foes; and, to gain strength for the
struggle, you and I will to-morrow seek the Lord in his own
ordinance by the bedside of our poor dying friend."

XXXVII.
The Sudden Summons.
On the following morning Franks started before breakfast for a spot
called Cliff Farm, to make arrangements with the owner of the place
for the loan of his cart to carry the school-master's family, and what
little luggage they possessed, to the station on the succeeding
Thursday. The errand was not a pleasant one, but Franks had no
longer the heavy weight on his heart which had oppressed him so
long as he felt that, not being in charity with man, he could not be
at peace with his God. Franks could now look calmly up at the clear
blue sky, flecked with rosy morning clouds, with a spirit in harmony
with the tranquil, holy beauty of nature.
Cliff Farm owed its name to its position. It stood on very high
ground, and was approached by a road steep enough to try the
breath and mettle of any horse drawing a conveyance. On one side,
not a hundred yards to the right of the farm-house, there was an
abrupt fall of the ground, forming a sheer perpendicular descent of
some fifty or sixty feet, down which tumbled a light sparkling
cascade. It was the joyous leap of the young stream which, not a
mile lower down, turned the wheel of the mill, after winding its way
past the village of Colme. The brook, rushing with a pleasant
gurgling sound over its rocky bed, added to the charm of the spot,
which was one of the loveliest in the county. Franks had often bent
his steps towards Cliff Farm, and stood on the edge of that steep,
rocky bank, to enjoy the extensive view which it commanded.
And there the school-master now lingered to gaze, perhaps for the
last time, from that point on the beautiful landscape before him.
There lay beneath him the village of Colme, the ivy-mantled church
in which he had been married to Persis, and to which they had
brought their first-born babe to offer him unto the Lord. There was

the dear little school-house, at once the scene of Franks's earliest
labors, and the home in which he had known more of pure
happiness than falls to the lot of most men, even during the longest
life. The eye of the school-master wandered along the high road
leading towards the town; his gaze lingered on the cottage of Nancy
Sands; never would he remember that dwelling and its inmates but
with feelings of thankful joy. Then the glance of Franks fell on the
chimneys of Stone's house; trees intervening hid the rest of the
building from his view; there the one-armed sailor had sought
faithfully, and not unsuccessfully, to open blinded eyes to the truth.
Farther on—how well Franks knew its position!—lay the wooded dell
in which Persis had dwelt when he wooed her, and where he had
first met with Isaacs, then an unconverted Jew,—now, partly
through his words, his prayers, his example, a consistent Christian
believer. The little stream plunging over the cliff, which was almost
at the feet of Ned Franks, was the same from which—by the mill in
that same wooded dell—he had drawn the drowning Nancy at the
imminent peril of his life. The pines on yon eastern hill looked down,
as the school-master well knew, on the almshouses nestling in Wild
Rose Hollow. How greatly would he be missed there! If that thought
was sad, it also was sweet. There would be many a tear shed by
aged eyes in those cottages which he had labored so hard to repair.
Ned sighed to think that his work there must be left unfinished.
Still farther on roved the eye of Franks. On another hill, girdled with
woods, stood the Hall; he could see its upper windows glancing in
the light of the morning sun.
"O God! Thy blessing may yet rest on that dark place—as it seems to
us," said the school-master half aloud. "Thou sendest thy sunshine
to all, so may none be shut out from thy grace. It seems to me at
this moment as if I could forgive from my soul even Sir Lacy Barton."
As Ned pursued his meditations, suddenly he was startled by a cry of
"Stop him! stop him!" from behind, with the sound of the clattering
hoofs of a horse rushing on in wild, frantic career down the steep
slope just above the spot on which Franks was standing. Turning

quickly round, he beheld a black hunter dashing towards him at a
furious speed, which its rider, tugging at the rein, tried in vein to
check, as his horse was carrying him direct towards the cliff and—
unless it were possible to stop his career—to inevitable destruction!
Franks had but an instant to calculate chances, to recognize the
rider, to resolve to try to save him by catching at the rein as the
maddened hunter rushed like a whirlwind by! Franks made the
attempt, but failed, and was struck to the earth with violence! The
hand of no single man would have sufficed to stop the furious and
powerful animal which the baronet rode. Ned instantly sprang to his
feet, and, as he did so, saw the fearful plunge over the cliff, and
heard the wild cry for help from one beyond all human help. Then
followed a terrible crash below!
"He's lost!" exclaimed the owner of Cliff Farm, who came panting up
to the spot, followed by one of his men, who had also witnessed the
frightful catastrophe, and Ned's gallant though fruitless effort to
avert it.
"Let's make our way down without a moment's delay!" cried Ned;
"he may be living still!"
The three men, Franks the foremost of the party, with all speed
clambered to the bottom of the cliff, at a place where a little
roughness in the ground, and a few bushes to hold by, enabled them
to manage the descent. I will not dwell on the fearful sight which
awaited them. The black horse lay dead, the rider apparently dying.
Franks took the lead in doing all that could be done for the sufferer.
One messenger was sent off to the Hall, another to the town for a
surgeon. There was no difficulty in finding messengers, for country
people, who had seen the horse when it first started off, now came
running to the scene of the disaster.
With all the tenderness that he could have shown to his dearest
friend, Ned helped to place the crushed and senseless Sir Lacy upon
a shutter, and to carry him by a steep path which wound up the cliff
at a little distance from the cascade, to the shelter of Cliff Farm.
Franks did not quit him till his own people, summoned hastily from

the Hall, were around him, and amongst them the school-master-
elect. Then, as he could be of no farther use, Ned Franks, thoughtful
and grave, returned to his home. He found his pupils already
assembled. Of course the tidings of the accident to Sir Lacy Barton
were on every one's lips, and the boys awaited from their master an
account of all that had happened, perhaps with such comments as
what they deemed a judgment upon a wicked man might call forth
from their teacher.
But Franks was not one to condemn a poor sinner already under the
chastening of Heaven, nor to gratify private malice under the
pretence of enforcing a lesson. He was much more grave and
serious than usual, but avoided making any allusion to the fate of his
persecutor, though the awful scene which he had witnessed was the
uppermost thought in his mind. It was a relief to Franks, when,
study-time being over, his pupils dispersed, and he was able to go to
his own quiet room, where Persis was anxiously awaiting him. She,
of course, like every one else in Colme, knew what had occurred,
and knew, also, that the baronet had by this time been conveyed to
the Hall, where he lay in a very critical state.
"Persis, how thankful I am that God had enabled me to forgive that
man," said Ned Franks to his wife as they met. "Poor fellow! poor
fellow! had he wronged me far more than he has done, I could feel
nothing but pity for him now. Let us pray that God may spare him
yet for a new and a better life."
The day wore on, and Franks and Persis did not fail at the appointed
time to go to the cottage of Stone; a neighbor taking care of their
baby during the short time of their absence. Glorious was that
evening in August! The fields were dotted with golden sheaves,
where the summer harvest of joy was following the early sowing in
tears. Mr. Curtis, the venerable vicar, himself raised from what had
been likely to prove a death-bed, came to administer the Holy
Supper to a dying, penitent man. While the pastor had been a
prisoner to his own room, as had for many months been the case,
he had been constantly visiting in thought the dwellings of his flock;

if he could not preach to them, he could pray for them. There were
two of his parishioners whose cases had then lain particularly heavy
on the mind of the good old man, Nancy Sands and Ben Stone. At
the beginning of the year they had been the two in all the village
who might have been pointed out, from their appearance, as giving
promise of long life; the brawny carpenter, jovial and hearty, and the
clerk's wife with her strongly built form, muscular arms, and loud
voice. They were also the two about whose spiritual state their
pastor had felt most concern. Nancy, a slave to violent passions,
furious temper, and a craving for drink. Stone, free from all these
vices, yet, in his self-righteousness and blindness of heart, almost as
far from the kingdom of heaven as the neighbor whom he despised.
Almost at the same time the two had been stricken down, the one
by a terrible accident, the other by sudden illness. Affliction had
come to both the Pharisee and the publican. One had been raised
and restored, though maimed, to her home; the other was never to
quit his cottage till carried forth in his coffin. But mercy had visited
each, and, as they met to attend the solemn service together, both
penitents could say in the words of the Psalmist, It is good for me
that I have been afflicted.
This was the first time that Nancy had been a communicant; she had
never before dared to approach the table of the Lord. Stone, on the
contrary, had attended regularly, at stated times in the year; but
with him, until now, the service had been but an empty form, only
tending to increase the blindness of his conscience, by leading him
to think that he had fulfilled all righteousness, when he made thus
open profession of faith, without one spark of its living reality. At
that time Ben Stone would have scouted the idea of Nancy Sands,
whom he deemed the worst woman in Colme, being permitted to
enter his cottage on an occasion so solemn, to show that she shared
his faith and his hopes, and might share his happiness in the
mansions above. Yet there they were now together, Pharisee and
publican, both brought to the foot of the cross; the once despised
drunkard meekly giving God thanks that she was not what she once
had been, and the Pharisee, not raising up so much as his eyes unto

heaven, but silently uttering the prayer, God be merciful to me a
sinner!
Often had Persis and her husband joined in the holy service, but
never had they felt heaven nearer to them, and the Christian's hope
sweeter, than they did in Stone's cottage on that bright August eve.
They saw the saving power of the gospel in the two penitents before
them, the one rescued from the rock of self-righteousness, the other
from the whirlpool of intemperance. The little flock gathered
together in that peaceful home seemed an emblem of that blessed
band, who, through God's mercy and grace, shall, after life's troubles
and tossings, reach in safety the heavenly shore.
As the Frankses returned, after the solemn meeting by the sick-bed
of Stone, a rich, golden glow was over the sky, and a deep stillness
in the air; heaven seemed to be all brightness, and earth all peace.
Then came a sound, solemn at all times, but especially so at that
hour, the measured tolling of the church-bells for a departed soul. It
was the first announcement to those who had met in Stone's cottage
that the unhappy Sir Lacy had been called to his last account.
Yes, the bells that had been silent on his arrival at his ancestral
home, now, with slow and mournful peal, announced his departure.
Soon would a dark and narrow home receive the mortal remains of
the late possessor of thousands of acres. Had power, wealth, and
high station been a blessing or a curse to him who had not indeed
buried his talents, but made them an instrument of evil? The profane
tongue was now silenced; the hand that had rattled the dice, the
brain once so busy with evil designs, the heart that had been a den
of wickedness, now lay lifeless and cold. The baronet's spirit had
passed from earth, and left no sweet memories behind. Another and
a far better man would now bear his title and rule in his Hall, and
dispense happiness as widely as the late lord of the manor had tried
to spread the contagion of evil. Every toll of the solemn bell, which
pealed through the calm evening air, seemed, with a voice more
impressive than that of man, to repeat the warning, He that being

often reproved, hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed,
and that without remedy.

XXXVIII.
Conclusion.
Franks and his wife received a message from Mr. Curtis, on the
following morning, to desire them to come to the vicarage at one. At
their accustomed time of assembling for study, the boys of Colme
flocked to their school-house, full of expectation and excitement, the
congratulations beaming in their eyes which their lips did not
venture to utter; for something in their master's manner told them
that they must not speak to him of any change in his prospects likely
to be caused by the baronet's death. The boys, who were rejoicing
in the assurance that they would keep their "dear old Ned Franks,"
since there was a new baronet now, could hardly settle to business
or attend to their tasks. Had not their teacher found it quite as
difficult to do so himself, he would have had to reprove or correct
half his pupils for the most ridiculous blunders. There was also an
unusual amount of nodding, whispering, and smiling, which Ned
Franks for once tried in vain to repress. The boys had never seemed
to care so little for addition or multiplication, or found it so
impossible to master a column of spelling. "He'll never leave us, not
he;" "Won't the curate be glad to keep him!" "That fellow with the
sly look, who was to have been our master, will have to take himself
off sharp, like a beaten dog!" "Won't we have jolly days now, and
won't we work double hard at Wild Rose Hollow!" Such were the
eager whispers which passed from mouth to mouth. It must be
owned that Franks seemed to be an inefficient school-master on that
day, and had very inattentive pupils.
Lesson time was over at last, and punctual to their appointment, the
Frankses appeared at the vicarage just as the church clock struck
one. The boys, instead of dispersing as usual, had followed them,
like an escort, as far as the garden gate. Norah, with a beaming

countenance, was waiting at the door to usher them in. The young
maiden had double cause for her joy, for her mistress had received a
letter that morning from Mrs. Lowndes, mentioning that the
confession of Martha, her late housemaid, that she had taken the
lost sovereign which had accidentally dropped on the floor, had
entirely cleared Norah from all suspicion of theft. Mrs. Lowndes
expressed her satisfaction that Norah had succeeded in getting a
place, and gave her testimony that, except in one unhappy act of
deception into which she had been drawn, a more truthful and
faithful servant than Norah she never had known. Norah had not at
this moment time to tell the Frankses of this letter, which had been a
great relief to her affectionate heart, but her pleasure was seen in
her looks. She ushered her uncle and his wife into the study, and
then would herself have retired, but her mistress, with a kindly
smile, beckoned her to remain. Never had she been more readily
obeyed.
In the vicar's study were collected several of the villagers of Colme,
looking on with curiosity and interest. Sands, the clerk, unusually
placid and serene in his mien, stood by the side of his wife, whose
dark eyes expressed pleasure mingled with something like triumph.
The sturdy miller was also present, holding by the hand his little
Bessie, who looked brimming over with joy.
Mr. Curtis, who was seated in his large arm-chair, shook hands with
the school-master, and then Persis received first from her pastor, and
then from his wife, the same kindly greeting. Had there been any
doubt before on the subject, the manner of Mr. and Mrs. Curtis, and
the smiles of the villagers present, would have assured the Frankses
that they were summoned to hear good news. The pastor when he
spoke was listened to in respectful silence.
"I have been requested, Franks, by Mr.—I mean Sir Claudius—to
express to you his hope that you will continue, and long continue,"
there was a strong emphasis on the word long, "to instruct the boys
of our village school. He has had, during the time that he has been
curate at Colme (as I have had during a much longer period), the

opportunity of seeing how faithfully, zealously, and successfully you
have performed the duties of your office. To no one could we more
gladly, more confidently, entrust the charge of our boys."
Ned Franks bowed and colored at the praise; Persis exchanged a
glance of pleasure with Norah.
"And I have another pleasant office to perform," continued the old
vicar, turning to receive from the hand of his wife a well filled
crimson purse which had lain on the study table. "When we were
afraid that we were going to lose you, that you and your good wife
were about to leave Colme, a little subscription was set on foot, to
procure a testimonial to be given at parting to those who have
earned the respect—I may say the affection—of those amongst
whom they have dwelt."
"They have—they have," murmured Nancy, and little Bessie
squeezed tightly the hand of her father to express her silent assent.
"We are happily to keep you with us in Colme," continued the vicar;
"but our friends"—here he turned smilingly towards the parishioners
who represented the subscribers,—"our friends will not lose the
opportunity of offering the present, though we all unite in hoping
that the parting may be very far off."
Ned Franks, by whom this tribute of regard from his neighbors had
been altogether unexpected, was taken by surprise, and looked
more confused and embarrassed than if he had been receiving a
reproof instead of a present.
"No—indeed, sir—I am very thankful—grateful to you—to all—but I
could not,"—he stammered forth, shrinking from touching the
proffered purse. "Pray, let the money be returned to the subscribers.
I feel, from my heart I feel, their great kindness all the same as if I
availed myself of it."
"They won't touch it, not a penny of it!" exclaimed Nancy, who was
standing behind the vicar's chair. "I went round to every one this
morning. You must take the purse, Ned Franks, if it be but to throw
it away!"

John Sands, who had a high sense of decorum, looked aghast at his
wife thus venturing "to put in her word" in the vicar's own study; but
the clerk only attempted to stop her by a faintly murmured "My
dear!"
"No, indeed, I will never throw away money so kindly, so generously
given," said Franks. "Pray, sir," he continued, addressing Mr. Curtis,
"let the contents of the purse go towards repairing the almshouses
in Wild Rose Hollow. I and my wife have everything that we need,
and I think that I can answer for Persis that this is the way in which
she would best like the money to be spent."
There was a little murmur through the circle of villagers, in which
admiration of the sailor's generosity was mingled with something like
dissatisfaction at his giving everything away. Nancy said, in a very
audible whisper, "They could have had their trip to the sea-side."
Mrs. Curtis, who had hitherto remained a silent though interested
spectator, now spoke.
"Perhaps all parties will be gratified by a compromise," said the lady;
"let half of the contents of the purse be contributed by Franks to the
object for which he has pleaded and worked so hard, and let him
satisfy his friends here by using the other half for a little holiday-trip
for himself and his wife, when his pupils for a time give up their
studies for gleaning."
The proposal of the lady gave universal satisfaction, and when Ned
Franks and his happy wife had quitted the vicar's house, the loud
ringing, joyous cheer which greeted them from the boys who had
been waiting outside went as warm to their hearts as the praise of
their pastor, and the practical token of the loving esteem of their
neighbors.
When the sound of cheers had died away, and all the shaking of
hands and exchange of words of kindness were over at last, Franks
and his wife, thankful and happy, turned towards their own home,
whilst neighbors and boys dispersed to theirs. For several minutes
neither husband nor wife spoke a word; perhaps each understood

too well what was passing in the mind of the other for any words to
be needful. At length the silence was broken by Ned.
"Persis," he said, with emotion, "I think I'm more humbled than
exalted by all this kindness, and all this praise. How our friends
judge by the outside! It is God alone who reads the heart. How little
they guess what a struggle with evil was going on here," Ned laid his
hand on his breast, "and that not forty-eight hours since!"
"God gave you the victory," said Persis, softly.
"He helped me in the hour of temptation," said Franks; "and when
the enemy of souls takes advantage of my weakness, and sends his
fire-ships again to set this impatient spirit in a blaze, may I be
enabled to be watchful and vigilant, and steer my onward course in
the safe track left by Him who was meek and lowly in heart!"
My little story is almost ended. I shall not linger over any description
of the well-earned holiday-trip, which was greatly enjoyed by Franks
and his wife. The almshouses in Wild Rose Hollow were put in most
perfect repair before winter, and each one had a beautiful porch.
The work of Ned and his "jovial crew" was helped forward by the
ready purse of the new baronet. Sir Claudius never forgot that he
was the minister of the gospel, as well as the lord of the manor.
I will but give a short glimpse of the party of village boys gathered
together on the following Christmas day in the school-room, not for
study, but to partake of a substantial feast provided for them by Sir
Claudius. The large room was richly decked out with wreaths of bay
and holly, bunches of mistletoe, and sprigs of laurel. Even blind
Sophy had helped to form the garlands; for the long-cherished wish
of Benoni had been gratified at last, and Isaacs had brought him and
his adopted sister to spend their Christmas at Colme. The
preparations for the banquet had been made by Persis, with Norah
and Nancy Sands as her cheerful assistants, while Benoni, proud of
the charge, had insisted on taking care of the baby.
"What a different Christmas this is from my last!" thought Nancy,
with a humbling recollection of having made the last anniversary of

her Lord's birth an occasion for plunging into mad and sinful excess!
Such memories but deepened her thankfulness to Him who had
snatched her from the whirlpool of destruction.
"What a different Christmas this is from the last!" observed Benoni,
looking up with a glad smile into the face of Persis, his first friend in
Colme, and still the one most tenderly loved. "Last Christmas we
were in London, and there was such a yellow fog that we could not
see to read without a candle, and we had no candle to light! and we
should have stood shivering round the fire, only there was no fire to
stand round! And when we came home from church, we were
hungry enough for our Christmas dinner, only," the boy added, with
a laugh, "dry bread and cold tea didn't look much like Christmas
fare!"
"You must have had a sad time of suffering, then, dear Benoni!"
"It would have been sad indeed, except that the Lord was with us in
our trouble, as he is now in our joy!"
"Ah! my boy," said Ned Franks, who had overheard the last
observation, "that is the secret of having life's voyage a safe and a
happy one. It is when the Master is with us that we are guided
through the rocks and the shoals, and kept from running aground. It
is having the Master with us that turns the storm into a calm, so that
the winds and waves are still. And so, when the children of God
reach the heavenly shore, it will only be because the Master was
with them, and hath brought them at last, through his power and his
love, unto their desired haven."
THE END.
Transcriber's Note
Obvious typographical and punctuation errors have been corrected.
Hyphenation has been made consistent throughout.
Footnotes have been moved to the end of the chapter.

Blank pages before illustrations have been removed.

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