"Amen," said Mr. Huntington, softly, "that boat is wide and deep, there is room for others." There were others who wished to enter, and the meeting did not close for another hour. Then there were hand-shakings and greetings, and Bernal Huntington's face shone with happiness, until Captain White whispered something in his ear, when it took on a hue of anxiety. He slipped through the throng of people to the door. There, toiling up the steps at this late hour, was a dark-robed, slender figure, alarmingly pale, even through her veil. "Chelda," he ejaculated. "I have come," she said, giving him her hand with weary, child-like trust. "Let me tell the people how bad I have been. Perhaps it will make my heart lighter." "Not to-night, my darling," he murmured, "you are not quite yourself. We will talk over just what you are to say." She sat down on the steps in a dazed manner. "Did you bring your carriage?" asked her lover. "No, I did not think of it, but I am not tired." "Poor soul," muttered Captain White. Then he turned to the pale young man at his elbow. "Run for a hack, Cousin Charlie, will you?" "Are you going to stay with me, Chelda?" whispered Mr. Huntington. She looked up, her face lighted by a gleam of inextinguishable love. "Yes, Bernal, if you will have me. I fell asleep after dinner and dreamed of my aunt. She told me to trust you." Captain White exchanged a few words with the clergyman, then rattled down the steps. A few minutes later he rushed into the room where his wife sat gently dropping tears on her death-book. "Put it away, Hippy,--put it away. The saints in there would all rejoice if they knew. Young Huntington is just bringing Chelda Gastonguay to you and Derrice to comfort, till he marries her. Start a new book, Hippy,--the book of life,--and start it with the sweetest word in the language." "That word is love," she said, quietly. "No, Hippy, no; and yet yes, for it's forgiveness, forgiveness,--the blotting out of sins, our minds at peace. Hippy, I feel a new man, but I haven't time to tell you now. I hear them at the door. Come, let us go welcome them." THE END. Transcriber's Note: Page 296: the dieresis in co-operation has been replaced by a hyphen. Page 297: the dieresis in re-embellished has been replaced by a hyphen. End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Deficient Saints, by Marshall Saunders