It is the prayer of faith, not the prayer of agonised entreaty, that takes hold of strength.

Toyner failed again and again.

There was a vast difference now between this and his former life of failure, for now he never despaired, but took up the struggle each time just where he had laid it down, and moreover the intervals of sobriety were long, and the fits of drunkenness short and few; but there were not many besides Ann who noticed this difference.

And as for Toyner, the shame and misery of failure so filled his horizon that he could not see the favourable contrast--shame and misery, but never despair; that one word had gone out of his life.
One day a visitor came hurrying down the street to Toyner's home.

The stranger had the face of a saint, and the hasty feet of those who are conscious that they bear tidings of great joy.