The flowers which graced the banqueting table were sent by special messenger to Rachel, and the following day she pressed a few and kept them ever afterward among her precious relics. Aaron did not come home till late in the night, and he found Rachel waiting up for him. He delighted her by describing the incidents and speeches of the memorable evening. Aaron was a great smoker, and while they talked he smoked the silver-mounted pipe which he had grown to regard with an affection which was really spiritual. There are in the possession of many men and women dumb memorials of insignificant value which they would not part with for untold gold, and this silver-mounted pipe of Aaron's--Rachel's gift to him in the early years of their married life--was one of these. A special case had been made for it, and he handled it almost with the care and affection he bestowed upon his children. "Your health was proposed," said Aaron, "and the health of our little ones. What was said about you, my life, gave me much more pleasure than what was said about myself. It abashes one to have to sit and listen to extravagant praises far beyond one's merits, but it is the habit of men to run into extravagance." "They could say nothing, dear husband, that you do not deserve." "You, too!" exclaimed Aaron gayly. "It is well for me that you were not there, for you might have been called upon to give your testimony." "I should not have had courage." She fondly pressed his hand. "I am glad they spoke of me kindly." "They spoke of you truly, and my heart leaped up within me at what the good curé said of you, for it was he who proposed the toast. I appreciated it more from him than I should have done from anyone else, and he was quite sincere at the moment in all the sentiments he expressed, whatever he may have thought of himself afterward for asking his flock to drink the health of a Jewess. Well, well, it takes all sorts to make a world." "How much we have to be grateful for!" said Rachel, with a happy sigh. "Indeed, indeed--for boundless gratitude. Think of what we passed through in Gosport." He paused suddenly. The one experience which weighed upon his conscience brought a dark and troubled shadow into his face. "Why do you pause, dear? Has not my blindness proved a blessing to us? Do I miss my sight? Nay, I think it has made life sweeter. But for that we should not have come to this place, but for that we should not have had the means to do something toward the relief of a few suffering and deserving people. What good has sprung from it! Our Lord God be praised!" Aaron recovered himself.