At last he spoke:
"I can't promise, Mr. Burrows."
"Howard! such an answer from _you_, to whom I have only needed to point
out what was right, in order to have it done!"
"But I can't trust myself, sir; I shall not feel to-morrow as I do now."
"That is, you feel like doing your duty today, but you expect, if you
wait until to-morrow, that you will feel less like it; so you mean to
wait. Is that right?"
The silence was much longer this time,--so long, that the boys began to
look curiously at the two figures over by the desk, and wonder why the
bell was not rung. But at last he raised those clear, truthful eyes
once more:
"Mr. Burrows, I'll try."
And the next Thursday evening, when in the house of prayer it was very
still, because Mr. Holbrook had just said, "Is there not _one_ here
to-night who wants us to pray for him, and if there is, will he not let
us know it _now_?" suddenly there was a row of astonished faces in the
seat where the schoolboys were sitting, because from among them arose
Howard Minturn, and his face was pale and grave, and his voice was
steady; they all heard his words:
"I want to be a Christian: will you pray for me?"
Oh, wouldn't they! Was there ever such another prayer as that which Mr.
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