But did she believe in him?
She tried hard to convince herself that she did; but at last she laid her weary head on the bed, and groaned in her young despair.
At the moment a rustling in the darkness broke the sad silence with a throb of terror.

She started to her feet.

She was exposed to all the rats in the universe now, for God was angry with her, and she could not pray.

With a stifled scream she darted to the door, and half tumbled down the stair in an agony of fear.
"What gars ye mak sic a din i' the hoose o' the Sawbath nicht ?" screamed Mrs Bruce.
But little did Annie feel the reproof.

And as little did she know that the dreaded rats had this time been the messengers of God to drive her from a path in which lies madness.
She was forced at length to go to bed, where God made her sleep and forget him, and the rats did not come near her again that night.
Curly and Alec had been in the chapel too, but they were not of a temperament to be disturbed by Mr Brown's discourse..