Part 23 (2/2)

”If I knew a single one of these Christian people I would certainly ask them what to do.” This she said talking still to herself. She had come quite away from the meeting, and was down in one of the rustic seats by the lake side. It struck her as very strange that she had not intimate acquaintance with a single Christian. She even traveled home and tried to imagine herself in conversation on this subject with some of her friends. To whom could she go? Mr. Wayne? Why, he wouldn't understand her in the least. What a strange letter that was which she wrote him!

Could it be possible that it was written only yesterday? How strange that she should have suggested to him to unite with the church! How strange that she should have thought of it herself!

There came a quick step behind her, and a voice said, ”Good-evening, Miss Erskine.” She turned and tried to recall the name that belonged to the face of the young man before her.

”You do not remember me?” he said, inquiringly. ”I was of the party who went to Jamestown on the excursion.”

”Oh, Mr. Flint,” she said, smiling, and holding out her hand. ”I beg pardon for forgetting; that seems about a month ago.”

”So it does to me; we live fast here. Miss Erskine, I have been looking for your party; I couldn't find them. Isn't Miss s.h.i.+pley in your tent?

Yes, I thought so. Well, I want to see her very much. I have something to tell her that I know will give her pleasure. Perhaps you would take a message for me. I want her to know that since last week, when she told me of her Friend who had become so dear to her, I have found the truth of it. He is my Friend now, and I want to thank her for so impressing me with a desire to know him that I could not give it up.”

Ruth looked utterly puzzled. Something in the young man's reverent tone, when he used the word ”Friend,” suggested that he could mean only the Friend for whom she herself was in looking; and yet--Flossy s.h.i.+pley!

What had _she_ to do with him?

”Do you mean,” she said, hesitatingly, and yet eagerly, for if he indeed meant that here was one for whom she had been looking; ”do you mean that you have become a Christian?”

”It is such a new experience,” he said, his face flus.h.i.+ng, ”that I have hardly dared to call myself by that name; but if to be a Christian means to love the Lord Jesus Christ, and to have given one's self, body and soul, to his service, why then I am a.s.suredly a Christian.”

This was it. There was no time to be lost. She had spent one night of horror, she could not endure another, and the day was drawing to its end. To be sure she felt no terror now, but the night might bring it back.

”How did you do it?” she asked, simply. ”How?” The very simplicity of the question puzzled him. ”Why, I just gave myself up to his keeping; I resolved to take a new road and follow only where he led. Miss s.h.i.+pley was the one who first made me think seriously about this matter; and then I went to the service that evening, and everything that was said and sung, was said and sung right at me. I was just forced into the belief that I had been a fool, and I wanted to be something else.”

”Miss s.h.i.+pley!” Ruth said, brought back by that name to the wonderment.

”You are mistaken. You can not mean Flossy. She isn't a Christian at all. She never so much as thinks of such things.”

”Oh, _you_ are mistaken.” He said it eagerly and positively. ”On the contrary, she is the most earnest and straightforward little Christian that I ever met in my life. Why, I never had anything so come to my soul as that little sentence that she said about having found a _Friend_.' I know it is the same one. I have seen her with you since, but not near enough to address. Her name is Flossy; I heard her called so that day on the boat.”

”Flossy!” Ruth said it again, in a bewildering tone, and rising as she spoke. ”I am going to find her; I want to understand this mystery. I will give her your message, Mr. Flint, but I think there is a mistake.”

Saying which she bade him a hasty good-afternoon, for the flutter of a scarlet shawl had reached her eyes. No one but Flossy wore such a wrap as that. She wanted to see her at once, and she _didn't_ want Mr.

Charlie Flint to be along. She went forward with rapid steps to meet her, and slipping an arm within hers, they turned and went slowly back over the mossy path.

”Flossy, I want you to tell me something. I have heard something so strange; I think it is not so, but you can tell me. I want to know if you think you are a Christian?”

I wonder if Flossy has any idea, even now, how strangely Ruth's heart beat as she asked that simple question. It seemed to involve a great deal to her. She waited for the answer.

There was no hesitation and no indecision about Flossy's answer. Her cheeks took a pink tint, but her voice was clear.

”I _know_ I am, Ruth. I do not even have to speak with hesitancy. I am so sure that Christ is my Friend, and I grow so much surer of it every day, that I can not doubt it any more than I can doubt that I am walking down this path with you.”

And then, again, Ruth's astonishment was in part lost in that absorbing question:

”How did you get to be one?”

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