A few days after that prayer meeting the student happened to be in the post-office.  It was a small, rough place; a wooden partition shut off the public from the postmistress and her helpers.  He was waiting for some information for which he had asked; he was forced to stand outside the little window in this partition.  He listened to women’s voices speaking on the other side, as one listens to that which in no way concerns oneself.

’It’s just like her, stuck up as she is since she came from school, setting herself and her family up to be better than other folks.’

‘Perhaps they were out of them at the store,’ said a gentler voice.

’Oh, don’t tell me.  It’s on the sly she’s doing it, and then pretending to be grander than other folks.’

Then the postmistress came to the window with the required information.  When she saw who was there, she said something else also.

’There’s a parcel come for Miss Torrance,—­if you happen to be going up that way,’ the postmistress simpered.

The student became aware for the first time that his friendship with Miss Torrance was a matter of public interest.  He was not entirely displeased.  ‘I will take the parcel,’ he said.

As he went along the sunny road, he felt so light-hearted that, hardly thinking what he did, he began throwing up the parcel and catching it again in his hands.  It was not large; it was very tightly done up in thick paper, and had an ironmonger’s label attached; so that, though he paid small attention, it did not impress him as a thing that could be easily injured.  Something, however, did soon make a sharp impression upon him; once as he caught the parcel he felt his hand deeply pricked.  Looking closely, he saw that a pin was working its way through the thick paper.  After that he walked more soberly, and did not play ball.  He remembered what he had heard at the post-office.  The parcel was certainly addressed to Miss Torrance.  It was very strange.  He remembered with displeasure now the assumption of the postmistress that he would be glad to carry this parcel.

He delivered the pound of pins at the door without making a call.  His mind had never come to any decision with regard to his feeling for Miss Torrance, and now he was more undecided than ever.  He was full of curiosity about the pins.  He found it hard to believe that they were to be used for a base purpose, but suspicion had entered his mind.  The knowledge that the eyes of the little public were upon him made him realise that he could not continue to frequent the house merely to satisfy his curiosity.

He was destined to know more.

That night, long after dark, he was called to visit a dying man, and the messenger led him somewhat out of the town.

He performed his duty to the dying with wistful eagerness.  The spirit passed from earth while he yet knelt beside the bed.  When he was returning home alone in the darkness, he felt his soul open to the power of unseen spirit, and to him the power of the spiritual unseen was the power of God.