crown her noble life with the seal of forgiveness?”
“I have nothing to forgive,” whispered Faith, blushing deeply. “If Christ has forgiven there is nothing further.”
“And you will marry me, Faith, if I prove worthy?” he murmured. “For, oh, I love you, sweetheart, and I cannot live without you!”
“I will marry you–yes,” was the girl’s low answer, “if at the end of a year you are still in the faith–still carrying the light to the darkest places.”
There was just one kiss to seal the compact, but that kiss was a benediction, a holy consummation.
* * * * *
Meanwhile Mr. Denton was still sitting in his chair, although the big building was empty of all but its watchman.
His head was bowed down upon his bosom, as the year just passed spread panorama-like before his vision.
What had he accomplished of his Master’s work? He breathed a sigh that it had been so little.
He had tried to put justice in the place of its opposite, to install sweet liberty in the place of oppression. In his dealings with his fellow men he had been fair and equitable, even leaning toward mercy when opportunity offered.
In fact, he had incorporated the Spirit of Righteousness into the Temple of Mammon and molded worldly affairs after the principles of divine teaching.
And what to him had been the results? He smiled with grateful satisfaction as he briefly reviewed them.
There was a trifling shortage as compared with the accounts of previous years, so trifling that it astonished him when he reflected upon the amounts which he had paid his two partners. Beyond this the business of the store had been good and his books showed new accounts recently opened with wealthy persons, which assured him beyond doubt that they indorsed his methods.
Further than this, there were offers of capital from a dozen different sources. The sincere Christians of the city could not have expressed more tangibly their ardent desire to stand shoulder to shoulder with the merchant who had resolved to deal according to his conscience.
The outlook for the future was more than hopeful. He could see no obstacle in the path of his ultimate victory.
There should be no more grinding down in the work-rooms where his goods were made, no undercutting of prices to ruin a brother merchant.
He should be just with others and they must be just with him or he would refuse absolutely to have dealings with them.
Every employee of his establishment should be suitably remunerated, and by this treatment he felt assured that he would receive their ablest service.
Co-operation in his humane work was all that he needed, and here, on his desk and in his books, was ample proof of this assistance. He bowed his head in thanksgiving as he finished his reflections.
“Surely, with God all things are possible,” he murmured audibly, and then a thought of his son’s conversion and his wife’s gradual but sure return to reason with health brought a flow of happiness that irradiated his countenance.
A glimpse of starlit sky was visible through his window and Mr. Denton raised his eyes to it in solemn contemplation.
“Thy ways are not our ways,” he whispered humbly, “but though the cross is heavy and hard to bear, Thou wilt give Thy servant a just reward, and the end is peace–peace that passeth understanding.”
THE END.