146 The Love of God.

wifhed him to ftay till he and the houfekeeper had
fufficiently impreffed him by their leflons, And
then—why then—by degrees, all mention of the
workhoufe ceafed, and better clothes were bought
for him; and the houfekeeper, who was one of
the by-gone generation of warm-hearted old family
fervants, became, for her mafter’s fake, a perfect
mother to him; and to Theodore he involuntarily
proved an object of daily increafing intereft, and
finally, of ftrong perfonal affection.

And thus nearly a year pafled over, during
which time Theodore’s health and adtivity in a
meafure returned ; but the cheerfulnefs of a happy
mind was ftill wanting. Reuben often lured him
temporarily into it, but he would again relapfe,
and had never given up his unhappy theory, though
now he dwelt upon it much lefs frequently than
of old. At the end of the year, however, Theo-
dore was much diftreffed by fancying that he de-
teCted Reuben in lying ; and he was, befides, by
no means fure that little trifles were not taken
from him by the child for his own ufe and amufe-
ment. He communicated his fufpicions to the
houfekeeper, and alas! found his worft fears con-
firmed. ‘The pain and forrow he felt at this dif-
covery were of a kind totally new to him. But
the ftrongeft feeling of all was, that he would not
give up the boy to vicious habits without a ftrug-
gle (coft what it might) to fave him! The houfe-
keeper told him, with tears, that fhe had obferved
Reuben’s habit of petty lying and taking any thing