A CHANGE FOR KATE.
REUBEN ROY went back to his work in Birmingham looking "like himself,"
as his mother fondly said. With fresh hopes and a renewed determination
to acquit himself well, he presented himself the next morning at the
works. The hearty greeting and warm congratulations he received from
old Samuel were but a sample of what awaited him from most of the
"hands." Those who had looked coldly and even scornfully on him in the
time of his trouble were now anxious to atone for their mistake.
Reuben was touched by the kind words which reached him from all sides,
and the universal pleasure which his return with restored character
seemed to give. But his satisfaction was still greater when Mr.
Akenside told him that he was not to return to his former work, but
was in future to fill a post at the works which involved considerable
responsibility.
"It has never before been given to one so young as yourself," the
master said. "But I know that I can trust 'you,' Reuben Roy."
It was too late when he left the works that evening to go to the
hospital. But the next day being Saturday, Reuben availed himself of
his leisure in the afternoon to visit Kate Barnaby. He was very anxious
to see her, for his mother had entrusted him with a message for the
poor girl, which he believed would give her pleasure.
He found that Kate had made great advances during his absence. She had
left her bed, and was sitting in a pleasant room adjoining the ward
with some other convalescents, to whom she was chatting with somewhat
of her old brightness. But the change of position and dress only made
more apparent the traces of suffering. Kate looked weak and worn. The
scars on her neck showed plainly, and her head seemed slightly drawn on
one side by them. But she told Reuben with a wistful look that she was
now almost well, and was to leave the hospital early in the following
week.
"Have you thought where you will go?" he asked.
She shook her head. "To the old place, I suppose. P'raps you'd be so
kind, Reuben, as to speak to the foreman about my coming back to the
works."
"You'll not be fit for work yet, Kate."
"I 'must' be fit soon," she said impatiently; "though, thanks to Mr.
Akenside, I need not trouble about it at once."
"How would you like to go and stay with my mother at Ashworth, Kate?"
"Oh, Reuben," she said, drawing a deep breath, "how I would like it! I
haven't seen the country for ever so long. And I've never spent more
than a day in the country at a time. But what can make you say such a
thing?"
"It's my mother's own thought, Kate. She told me to ask you if you
would like to come to her for a bit."
"How good of her! Oh, I should like it. But, Reuben, there are so many
of you at home, and your mother's always so busy. I should be a trouble
to her, I'm afraid."
"You don't know my mother if you say that. She never makes a trouble of
anything. She gets through more in a day than most women, I'll be bold
to say, and yet she never seems cross or driven. I think it is because
she has a knack of taking hold of things by the smooth handle."
"She must be a good woman," said Kate thoughtfully. "But, Reuben, I
don't know about going. You've made the best of me to your mother, I
guess. But when she sees the kind of girl I am, she'll not like me. You
see, I never had no chance of being different."
"Maybe this is your chance, Kate."
"Ay, I've thought of that. Do you know, Reuben, I've prayed God many a
time since I've been ill to help me to be different when I got about
again."
"Then this is the answer to your prayer. Mother 'll help you. She'll
love you, Kate."
"Love me!" repeated the girl incredulously. "I like that. If she's the
kind of woman I take her to be, she's more likely to look down on me, I
should think."
"Well, she's not that kind of woman, anyway. And you said just now that
she was a good woman, Kate."
"But don't the good people always look down on the bad? I should, I
know, if I were good."
"You wouldn't be good if you felt so. And, indeed, no one is good, if
you come to that. No one ever was good save Jesus Christ. But some
of us are trying to follow in His steps, and to be good and true and
loving as He was."
"And didn't He look down upon wicked people?"
"Oh no, Kate. You know better than that. Don't you remember how kind
and good He was to many a poor outcast—how He forgave them and helped
them to become better? Why, that was one of the things that made the
Scribes and Pharisees so angry with Him. 'This Man receiveth sinners,'
they said."
"All religious folk are not like that," said Kate. "I've known them
that 'd shrink away from me as though I was something poisonous."
"Then they did not show the spirit of Christ," said Reuben. "A
Christian is one who calls Jesus Christ his Master, and is bound to
obey Him. Now one of the chief commands of Jesus to His servants is
that they should love others."
"You do that," said Kate, "and I suppose your mother's like you. I
thank her kindly, Reuben, and I'll go if she's sure she can do with me.
Maybe I'll get religion whilst I'm there."
"I hope you'll learn to know Him whom to know is life everlasting,"
said Reuben, reverently; "that is the only true religion, Kate."
A few days later Reuben had the pleasure of seeing Kate off by rail for
Ashworth.
With mingled hopes and fears, the girl set out to begin what was to be
for her in deepest verity a new life.
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