He began to covet the boy's submission disproportionately, and laid schemes for meeting with him.

But David evaded them all.
Other persons, however, succeeded better.

Whenever the revivalist fever attacks a community, it excites in a certain number of individuals, especially women, an indescribable zeal for proselytising.

The signs of 'conviction' in any hitherto unregenerate soul are marked at once, and the 'saved' make a prey of it, showing a marvellous cunning and persistence in its pursuit.
One day a woman, the wife of a Clough End shoemaker, slightly known to David, met him on the moors.
'Will yo coom to-night ?' she said, nodding to him.

'Theer'll be prayin' at our house--about half a dozen.' Then, as the boy stopped, amazed and hesitating, she fixed him with her shining ecstatic eyes.
'Awake, thou that sleepest,' she said under her breath, 'and Christ shall give thee light.' She had been carrying a bundle to a distant farm.